Violet budgerigar mutation

The effect depends on whether the violet factor is single or double and whether the dark and blue mutations are present.

The colours of the recognised blue series varieties, including visual violet, are shown on the right.

[1] In Europe, the first mention of a bird which might have been a visual violet was by C af Enehjelm in 1935 in Copenhagen.

His first true violet, mentioned above, was bred from an apparent dark green/blue cock obtained from a friend and a cobalt hen.

In 1924, in England, and 1932, in Australia, birds called "Royal Blues" were bred, but these were not Violets.

[5] In the UK the opinion of the highly respected budgerigar breeder, C H Rogers, writing in 1937,[6] was that a true violet was first seen in England at the Cambridge Diploma Show that year.

Their true nature remained hidden, only being revealed when they were mated to birds of the blue series.

That is, there are three distinct phenotypes, possessing zero (the wild type), one (the single factor heterozygote) and two (the double factor homozygote) Violet alleles, with the heterozygote having an intermediate appearance between the wild-type and the homozygote.

The heterozygotes of Violet—the SF Violet Greens and Blues—correspond to the splits of the recessive mutations.

[1] It seems more likely that the unexpected breeding results which prompted the view were caused by incorrectly identifying birds carrying single and double violet factors.