intense body colour) which were presented to HM King George V in, it is believed, 1935. These birds came from a strain which had been cultivated by Harold E Pier of Peakhurst, New South Wales, over the previous seven years. More generally these birds were called Australs, and significantly, Yellowwings and Whitewings. They were, in fact, almost certainly the breed we now know as Clearwings or crosses between the Clearwing and Greywing mutations which we now know as Full-Bodied Greywings. The correct identification and classification of the two quite distinct Greywing and Clearwing mutations was clearly understood by some Australian breeders by 1936, and probably considerably earlier, but the first article to appear in Britain which clearly set out the genetic behaviour of the two mutations was written by R B Browne of Hornsby, New South Wales and published in the Budgerigar Bulletin in June 1937. It was endorsed by Prof F A E Crew in the same issue. In it Mr Browne described the two mutations, Greywing and Clearwing, correctly identified the full body-coloured Greywing as simply a bird bred by crossing a Greywing and Clearwing together, and gave detailed and exact information regarding their genetic relationship. So, with hindsight, we can see that the Clearwing mutation was being bred in Australia at least as early as 1926, but was not generally recognised as a separate mutation until the mid-1930s due to confusion with the well established Greywings. Breeders in Britain were unable to contribute much to the Greywing-Clearwing debate, as Clearwings were unknown here until August 1936, when Mr E Walker of Sydney brought over the first Clearwings for Messrs Mott and Marshall, believed to be of Birmingham, and in the same year Mr R J Watts was given a pair by Mr Ernest W Jones, the chairman of the Budgerigar Club of New South Wales. Genetics The Clearwing mutation is one of the few that affect different areas of the body selectively. Like many budgerigar mutations, it is the black melanin pigment that is affected. This pigment is present in the medulla or inner cells of the barbs of all the feathers which appear green (or blue in the white series), and in the cortex or outer cells of the barbs of all the feathers which appear black. The Clearwing mutation causes a large reduction in the number of pigment granules in the cortex, but only a