The Cockatiel

(Nymphicus hollandicus)

The Primary Colour Varieties

NSL Lutino (NSL Ino)	Recessive
This autosomal recessive Lutino form (description as for the more common sex-linked form below) is present in Europe although breeders find it a difficult variety due to the reduced viability of the young. There is good but not conclusive evidence, quoted by Inte Onsman, to suggest that the recessive ino gene is allelic with (forming a multiple allelic series) the fallow gene. It appears to be present in low numbers in The Netherlands and in the USA.
Fallow	Recessive
Melanin black is changed to melanin brown and diluted in both feathers and body tissue. Grey areas of plumage changed to a buff or tan colour; eyes are red; bill and feet paler; in hens yellow areas around head and face are more prominent.
Recessive Silver (Dilute)	Recessive
Melanin is diluted or reduced in feathers and variably in body tissue. Grey areas of plumage changed to a lighter (or silvery) shade; eyes are red in this European variety which is also common in the USA.
Australian Pastel Silver (East Coast Silver)	Recessive
Melanin is diluted or reduced in feathers but retained in body tissue, beak, and nails. Grey areas of plumage changed to a lighter (or silvery) shade which is a lighter on the chest than the back and wings. The tones are very solid and even. Youngsters fledge a light silver-grey colour and, whilst hens change little, cocks darken quite considerably on the first moult. The Pastel Silver is probably the most widely bred of a group of dilute recessive varieties present in Australia which also includes the West Coast Silver and the Silver Spangle. Little information is available on their origins and genetic relationships.
Pied	Recessive
Melanin is eliminated in patches in both feathers and body tissue. Grey areas of plumage patterned with clear areas which may be white or reveal underlying yellow or cream; feet and legs may have flesh coloured patches. The effect is very variable; perhaps confusingly, those birds with the least grey remaining are known as ‘heavy’ Pieds whilst those which appear near normal are ‘light’ Pieds. Unlike most pieds in other species the patterning of the Pied Cockatiel is more or less symmetrical on each side. Note: there is a minimally pied form known as the White Nape which appears in pied stocks and is not visually significant nor fully understood. Many breeders believe the appearance of a white nape patch indicates that a bird is split for Recessive Pied. However, earlier information(3) suggests that the White Nape is the result of a distinct and separate dominant gene.
Dark-eyed Clear (Yellow, White)	Recessive
Melanin is eliminated in feathers but not in body tissue. This is an old variety, documented in older European books(1,2), but abandoned and virtually forgotten because it is so similar in appearance to the more easily bred Lutino (Ino). However, the recessive ‘clear’ gene may maintain an elusive presence in Lutino and Pied stocks. Such birds draw comment from time to time when their occurrence is recognised in Lutino lines, and I suspect that many so-called ‘Clear Pieds’ are probably of this variety. (A situation echoed in the Zebra Finch). Very similar in appearance to the Lutino, but said to show rather less yellow and have normally pigmented eyes, feet, etc.

Whiteface	Recessive*
Psittacin yellow and orange are comletely eliminated. Ground colour is pure white and grey areas of plumage, having no yellow or cream underlay, have a rich charcoal colouration. Equivalent to Blue in other species.
Paleface	Recessive*
Psittacin yellow and orange are both reduced in intensity to about half that of the normal. Yellow to cream ground colour may be described as cream to white and the orange ear-coverts become yellow-orange. Equivalent to Parblue in other species.
*Whiteface and *Paleface form a	Multiple allelic series
Although both these varieties are recessive to normal, it is found that the Paleface is dominant to the Whiteface and they form a mutiple allelic series. This has a number of consequences: a normal Grey can be split for Whiteface or split for Paleface, but not both together: there are two types of Paleface, the pure (double-factor or homozygous) Paleface or the Paleface split Whiteface; the Whiteface cannot be split for Paleface; etc. (See relevant section of The Parblue Puzzle part 4.)

Dominant Silver (English Dominant Dilute)

Incomplete- dominant

Melanin is reduced, in the feathers only, in a variable manner. In single-factor form cocks usually retain a dark skull-cap and many of the light grey or silver feathers are lighteer in the centre. Hens are often near normal in appearance in nest feather and even when adult are usually somewhat darker. In double-factor examples melanin dilution may be very marked, to the extent that some can be confused with Lutinos at first glance. This colour factor is seen at its best when combined with the Whiteface which largely removes any tendency towards brownish tones.

Dominant Yellowcheek

Dominant

Psittacin orange is reduced or eliminated, giving a Cockatiel in which the orange ear-coverts are changed to peach or even merge into the general yellow of the face. Note the distinction between the Yellowcheek and the Pastelface. In the Pastelface yellow and orange are reduced equally; in the Yellowcheek, orange alone is reduced or eliminated. Present only in the USA, doubts have been expressed about the validity of this form. However, I am indebted to Leslie Huegerich of the USA for her confirmation from personal experience breeding these birds that it is a distinct primary variety. The variability of expression suggests the possibility that this might be an incomplete-dominant, but this has not yet been established.

SL Lutino (SL Ino)	Sex-linked recessive*
Originating in the USA, melanin is substantially eliminated in feathers and body tissue of these birds. Absence of grey colouration in feathers reveals the true extent of psittacin yellow and orange ground colour (yellow striations are evident on tail of hen); bill and feet flesh coloured; red eyes on hatching may deepen significantly with maturity. Selective breeding can produce examples with enhanced yellow colouration, frequently given names such as ‘Primrose’, ‘Daffodil’, or ‘Buttercup’, to drive them up the desirability stakes.
Platinum (Australian)	Sex-linked recessive*
This is another variety in which melanin is diluted or reduced in a way which has given rise to its name. It has an allelic relationship with the ino which gives rise to an intermediate form in the male called the Platino. This mechanism is briefly described below. (Note: this type of interaction is quite common in other species where the name Lime is increasingly used in Green birds.)
*Lutino and *Platinum are	Co-dominant Sex-linked recessives
The Ino and Platinum alleles are both recessive to the wild-type allele but are co-dominant with each other. Hens can possess, on their single X-chromosome, just one of this series of alleles - Normal or wild-type, platinum, or ino - and take on the characteristics given by that one allele. There are only these three forms in the hen and a hen cannot be a split. In contrast cocks have two X-chromosomes and are more varied both visually and genetically. Cocks have four visual forms - Normal, Platinum, Platino, and Ino. A Normal cock can be pure, or it can be split platinum or ino, but not both together. A Platinum has two platinum alleles. A Platino has one platinum allele and one ino allele. An Ino has two ino alleles.
Cinnamon	Sex-linked recessive
Melanin black is changed toward melanin brown and somewhat diluted. Grey areas of plumage changed to a softer grey-brown; plum eyes and lighter feet; in hens yellow areas around head and face are more prominent. Well coloured specimens not seen frequently.
Pearl and Lacewing	Sex-linked recessive
Different forms of the same variety in which there is a reduction in melanin, seen as clear areas of differing size at the centre of grey feathers. This gives an overall lacing or spangling effect which is more prominent in the Lacewing due to larger clear areas. There appears to be an enhancement or increase in the amount of yellow psittacin pigment produced in the clear areas. Hens retain their patterning into adulthood whereas cocks almost invariably revert to near-normal feathering as they mature. Many believe this variety to be the equivalent of the Opaline in the budgerigar.
Yellowcheek	Sex-linked recessive
Psittacin orange is reduced or eliminated, giving a Cockatiel in which the orange ear-coverts are changed to peach or even merge into the general yellow of the face. Note the distinction between the Yellowcheek and the Pastelface. In the Pastelface yellow and orange are reduced equally; in the Yellowcheek, orange alone is reduced or eliminated.

Some popular composite varieties

Albino (Whiteface Ino)	Sex-linked recessive + Recessive
Combining Whiteface, which loses psittacin yellow and orange, with Ino, which substantially eliminates melanin, wipes the slate virtually clean of pigmentation and produces the all white Albino.
Pearl-Lutino Lacewing-Lutino	Sex-linked recessive + Sex-linked recessive
This is an interesting composite variety (involving crossover and recombination) which shows that in the Pearl (or Lacewing) there is modification in the pattern of distribution of psittacin as well as melanin pigmentation. The ino gene removes melanin and reveals a patterning of yellow which coincides with the central clear areas of the ordinary Pearl form. Barring on the underside of the tail is also evident.
Lacewing (Cinnamon-ino)	Sex-linked recessive + Sex-linked Recessive
Knowing that the combination of Cinnamon and Ino in the budgerigar produced a novel form known as the Lacewing, breeders were alert to the possibility that the same form might occur in the Cockatiel either accidentally or by design once these two varieties came together. Inevitably, once birds of the expected phenotype started to occurr they were labelled as Lacewings. Although breeding results sometimes seemed to cast doubts on the validity of some of these claims it is probable that at least a proportion of such birds are true Lacewings.

New or doubtful forms

Greygreen ‘Olive’, or ‘Emerald’

Recessive

A new colour form about which little is known at present. Melanin deposition appears to be altered in such a way that it interacts with psittacin yellow to give a colouration which may be described as grey green or olive green. (See article The Greygreen or ‘Olive’ Cockatiel in these pages for a little more informatiom.) Similar effects have been previously noted on occasions in the UK and perhaps elsewhere. The question which remains is whether this is a new type of dilute variety or a pre-existing form in which selection, conscious or unconscious, has brought about or exagerated these effects.

I am grateful to Chris Radziun-Woodham, Terry Martin, and Leslie Huegerich, for their assistance in defining some of the varieties listed above.

References cited:

1. Parrots, by W de Grahl; Ward Lock Ltd., London 1981. (First published in 1979 by Eugen Ulmer GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany.)

2. The T F H Book of Cockatiels, by Wilfried Loeding; T F H Publications Inc., New Jersey, USA, 1982. (First Published in 1979 as Nymphensittiche: Haltung, Pflege, Zucht; by W Keller & Co., Stuttgart, Germany.)

3. Encyclopedia of Cockatiels, by George A Smith; T F H Publications Inc., New Jersey, USA. PS-743; ISBN 0-87666-958-5.

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