They have a body colour almost as deep as the corresponding normal variety and with the rich sheen of the Clearwing, but with medium grey markings marginally darker than the parent Greywing.
The tail and flight feathers are like the parent Greywing, but the cheek patches are violet, almost as dark as those of the corresponding normal.
In 1919 Mrs Ransome[5] or Ranson[2] of Wimbledon, London, sent an example of a variety she was breeding to J W Marsden, which she called Jades.
G F Hedges established a Greywing strain from birds obtained, it is believed, from the Blanchard aviaries in Toulouse, France.
By the late 1920s the Greywing had been recognised by the British Budgerigar Society as a standard variety, and most of the top breeders had stocks.
Greywings continued to increase during the 1930s, but the new mutations appearing around that time, such as the Cinnamon, Opaline, Ino, Grey and Clearwing, began to compete for the attention of breeders.
The effect is to reduce the number of melanin granules in both the cortical and medullary cells of feather barbs over the whole body by around 50%.