microscopically, wrote to him, "It would be better to describe this form as the fallow Budgerigar rather than cinnamon." At the time it was believed that Dr Steiner used the word by analogy with fallow or undeveloped land, to mean the melanin pigment was undeveloped, but as an alternative meaning for 'fallow' (and also for its German equivalent) is 'pale yellow' or 'light brown', it seems far more likely that it was this meaning that was intended. When the English Fallow appeared a few years later it was so similar in appearance to the German Fallow that for a time they were both called Fallows. Later, English, German and Scottish Fallows were proved to be distinct and separate mutations by test matings made independently by T G Taylor, Mrs Amber Lloyd of Walton-on-Thames and Frank Wait, and qualified names were then introduced to distinguish them. It was found that birds of any two of the mutations produced only normal black-eyed young when paired together. Genetics The Scottish Fallow is an autosomal mutation causing recessive changes to the form of the melanin pigment. There is no universally accepted genetic symbol for either the locus or mutant allele, so the simple symbol fs+ will be adopted here for the wild-type allele at this locus, and the symbol fs for the Scottish Fallow mutant allele, in keeping with the most widely used name in budgerigar circles. In its visual effect, the Scottish Fallow mutation is recessive to its wild-type allele, so a bird possessing a single Scottish Fallow allele (the heterozygote, fs+/fs) is identical in appearance to the wild-type light green. That is, the presence of a single wild-type allele is sufficient to permit the full production and normal distribution of the black melanin pigment. Among the budgerigar fancy such a bird is said to be a Light Green split Scottish fallow, usually written Light Green/Scottish fallow. In a bird which has two Scottish Fallow alleles (the homozygote, fs/fs), the lack of the wild-type allele means that normal black melanin pigment cannot be produced. Instead a pigment giving a brown appearance is substituted, resulting in brown markings where black would appear in the Normal. Notes References External links World Budgerigar Organisation (WBO) WBO Colour Guide Fallow Budgerigars, Ken Gray Fallow Budgerigars hug book Classifying and defining Fallow colour morphs in Parrots, Terry Martin The Fallows, Ghalib Al-Nasser The Fallows, Cyril Rogers Budgerigar colour