The Exhibition Tippler is a sprightly bird with a full erect carriage and active personality. When on show it will give the reviewer a zestful impression of a bird with vigor and enthusiasm. When taken in hand it should be a good full, tight, feeling bird. Its nature being that of a duration flying bird dictates that the bird on show must always be first one of perfect ready to fly condition.

This bird in its show stance will be one of erect station, up, on its toes, chest out, head straight out, buffs exposed, as if it was ready to take off. Never will this bird cower or crouch in a corner, nor should it ever be unduly frightened or struggle while it is being judged.

Head (5 pts.): Round and/or showing a little squarish indication of flatness. The fullness of head should start right at the waffle, rising to a well defined full top skull. Any indication of a long, narrow, pinched, face must be avoided

Body (10 pts.): Small to medium and well proportioned. Should be cobby in appearance, broad across the breast, tapering to a wedge at the tail. A long bird should definitely be avoided. There should be no indication of a humped back. To the touch, the feathers should be as silk, the body should always suggest good muscular tone and trimness. (See measurements for more detail).

Neck (5 pts.): Medium length, short rather than long bullish in appearance, avoiding any indication of a gullet, (loose skin or hanging crop)..

Wings (5 pts.): Tightly folded onto the sides of the body with the secondaries resting firmly on the rump. Secondaries which rise above the back (sailing wings) are definitely not desired. The wings should be folded neatly, riding on the tail, not crossing or drooping below the tail.

Tail (5 pts.): Neat, narrow, and straight (neither tipping up nor drooping down in line with the body), extending no more than ½ inch from the tips of the primaries. The tail should be made up of 12 pennae (tail feathers) and be tightly packed with a width of no more than one and one half feather widths. Should be no more than ½ inch off the floor while in show stance.

Beak (6 pts.): Set straight, medium in size, and definitely avoiding the long, pinched look. Black in color. Bleached bone color beak is acceptable in the dilute colors.

Wattle (2 pts.): Should blend in with the beak and head. It should be powder white with a fine smooth texture.

Eyes (10 pts.): Bright pearl in color and have a round well defined pupil. In all color classes anything but pearl is not desirable.

Cere (3 pts.): Thin and fine in texture, definitely not coarse, gray or darker in

color, flesh is acceptable only in the dilutes.

Legs (3 pts.): Sturdy and medium to short in length. Hocks should be substantial and blend smoothly into the body. The tarsus (shank) should be bright red, smooth textured, and free of feathers.

Feet (2 pts.): Bright red, smooth, and free of feathers. The toe nails should be black. Bleached bone is acceptable in dilutes.

Feathers (10 pts.): The bird should be covered by a smooth feather system, without protrusion of loose broken or deformed feathers. Feathers should be of a silky texture, close and tight tiffing on the body, wings, and tail.

Type (10 pts.): Proportioned in such a way as to present an evenly balanced appearance in all respects. Should be sprightly in manner and stand very erect, appearing to thrust its chest forward. Ideally while on show the bird should be up on its front toes with its back toe off the surface.

Condition (10 pts.): First and very important, the bird will be in good hard flying condition avoiding light, skinny, and out of shape birds. The birds hygiene must be clean and free of dirt stains, etc. There must not be any missing or molting feathers. The bird must be totally free of infestation or any signs of such.

Markings: Dictated by the specific color classes to follow. The NETA will recognize the following classes for show purposes and judging purposes:
Print: In any color should be full tipped with its specific color on all primaries, secondaries and tail feathers. May have a self or barred tail. Flecking, grizzling, ticking is allowed on the head, neck, and breast. The wing shields, back, rump, and belly should be white, free of any color for purposes of color points.
Mottled: In any color should have no foul feathers in its primaries, secondaries, or tail. The motile effect, tigerlng, should at all times appear evenly wherever found on the bird. The more mottled the bird the more attention should be paid to the allotted color points.
Grizzled: In any color should have no foul feathers and be fully tipped in its genetic color. It must possess two well defined bars on each wing. Like the motile, the grizzle must be evenly dispersed on each side of the bird.
Bars: In any color will have no foul feathers and be fully tipped in their genetic color. They must possess two well defined bars on each wing. The color should be rich and evenly dispersed, clear of smut, ticking, etc.
AOC (All Other Colors): This class is established to allow selfs, checks, rare colors, etc., to compete evenly and without prejudice on a judges part. This is not to say that (orange) a washed out red self will be awarded its full color points. Nor will a poor ash, almond, tortoiseshell, etc. Like in all other classes, foul feathers not be tolerated. All AOC birds will be a full, rich evenly dispersed color.

Ideal Measurements: Body length in show stance from front of breast to tip of tail: Cocks 10", hens smaller. Height while in show stance from top of skull to the balls of the feet: Cocks 10", hens smaller. Body width from outside of wing butts: 4". Beak length measured from mandible gap to tip of beak: ~" to ?/8". Feet measured in hand from ball of foot to knuckle of first joint below the shank: 1¼" to 1%".

These measurements are not meant to be absolute, only guidelines for developing the well rounded type bird that the written standard and points called for. Keeping in mind always that the Flying Tippler is a small to medium sized bird, weighing from 10 to 14 ounces.

It is the intent and hope of the National Exhibition Tippler Association to promote the raising, showing, and competition of the flying tippler wherever and whenever possible. That this will build unity among the breeders in the show halls bringing with its qualified judging, uniform decisions, respect for the breed and national recognition for what is one of the most unique and beautiful breeds of birds in the world.