Origin: Czechoslovakia (Bohemia). The Czech name is Stavak, the German is Steller.

Overall Impression: Slim, erect pouter with medium-length legs, pear-shaped globe, uncommonly rich color; lively breed that enjoys free flight and performs easily. A breed quality is the typical flight consisting of loud slapping and falling with its high-set, narrow well-closed wings. The globe and tail are not to droop downward as the bird falls while in flight.

Breed Characteristics:

Head: Oval, plainheaded.

Eyes: A pure-pearl ring runs around the pupil with the remainder of the iris being light-colored; more or less small veins visible throughout. Whites with or without a snip and gansel marked have bull eyes. Eye cere appropriately wide and flat; the ideal is red although pink is accepted for the time being.

Beak: Medium in length and thickness; basic color is orange or yellow shading to wax-colored at the tip. Wattle flat and undeveloped.

Globe: Long neck; globe medium-sized, pear-shaped showing a waist at its beginning.

Breast: Not protruding and not too wide.

Back: Long, sloping downward; shoulder well-rounded, not sticking out.

Wings: Powerful, lying on the tail, tips not crossing or crossing Only slightly.

Tail: Narrow, forming a slightly bowed sloping line with the back; not touching the ground.

Legs: Unfeathered, medium long, not set wide apart; hocks visible; toe nails light or corresponding to feather color.

Feathering: Tightly feathered.

Color Classes: Selfs in: white, black, red, yellow, blue bar, blue barless, blue check, silver, mealy, cream bar; silver, red, and yellow check. All colors also with a white snip or white flights. Tigered and splashed in black, red, yellow, and blue. Gansel marking in black, red, yellow, blue, and blue check. White with a colored snip in black, red, yellow, and blue. White barred in black, red, yellow, and blue.

Color and Markings: All colors to be rich and lustrous with much sheen, especially on the neck. Sheen is blue/green in blacks and blues; in reds, depending on the light, red to copper-red to green. Pink sheen in yellows. Cream bars to be biscuit-colored without grey on the breast and belly. Bars to be clean-colored, run the width of the wing and not run together. White-flighted with 5 to 9 white flights. Even-flighted preferred. The snip is not to touch the eye cere and should be placed right above the beak. Tigered to have a white head with colored flecks, also the upper third of the globe, the neck, wing shield, shoulders, and back. The following areas must be colored: lower part of the globe, the breast, the underside of the body, flights, and tail. Splashed have white ground color with an even distribution of color. Flights and tail are splashed, solid white is permissible. (Birds with only a small amount of white or color are not splashes but are faultily colored). Gansel marked have the magpie marking, colored back, white head and colored forehead marking which may not extend to the eye cere. Gansels also have a medium-sized white bib marking on the upper globe.

Areas to be Evaluated and Rated: Overall impression - Body build and bearing -Station - Globe - Even and lustrous color - Eye and eye cere color - Beak color - Markings (Note: Because birds are often flown, worn flights are not faulty).