Origin: An exhibition pigeon of Toy type related to the Frillback. Developed in England in the 1920's and standardized in that country in 1926.

General Impression: The Ptarmigan is so named because of its body shape which brings to mind the wild Ptarmigan. It is a pigeon bred for its feather properties. Of small size its plumage is entirely white. Crested and plainheaded varieties are recognized.

Carriage: Fairly upright, with the eyes being almost over the legs.

Head and Neck: The head is round and dove-like. The beak is nearly straight and light in color. The beak is of a medium length and thickness with the upper beak curved at the tip.

Crest: The shell crest is evenly formed, containing no gaps and extends around the back of the skull from ear to ear.

Eye and Cere: The eye color is hazel approaching black. The cere is thread-like and flesh colored.

Wattle: Fine in texture and not well developed.

Neck: Well cut at the throat, short merging well into the chest. The throat is devoid of a gullet.

Body: Fairly cobby in the chest, wedge shaped towards the tail. The body is small to medium in size with cocks weighing about 15 ounces and hens weighing about 13 ounces.

Wings: Held firmly against the sides of the body. The flights are moderately short and should rest nicely upon the tail. On the wings the feathers are "ruffled" to resemble snowflakes. But these snowflakes should not approach the amount of curl that is found on Frillbacks. These curls should extend evenly over the wing shield.

Tail: Fairly short and closely carried clear of the ground.

Legs: Short and straight. Groused legged with the hock feathers not too well developed.

Note: For shell crested birds add 15 or less points for the formation of the crest making a grand total of 115 possible points for the shell crested variety.