Chap. V. DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. . 149 



informs mo that in the living bird the eye seems remarkably large 

 and prominent, and the same fact is noticed in the Persian treatise ; 

 but the bony orbit is barely larger than that in the rock-pigeon. 



Amongst the several breeds sent to me from Madras by Sir W. 

 Elliot there is a pair of the Kali Par, black birds with the beak 

 slightly elongated, with the skin over the nostrils rather full, and 

 with a little naked skin round the eyes. This breed seems more 

 closely allied to the Carrier than to any other breed, being nearly 

 intermediate between the Bussorah Carrier and the rock-pigeon. 



The names applied in different parts of Europe and in India to 

 the several kinds of Carriers all point to Persia or the surrounding 

 countries as the source of this Eace. And it deserves especial 

 notice that, even if we neglect the Kali Par as of doubtful origin, 

 we get a series broken by very small steps, from the rock-pigeon, 

 through the Bussorah, which sometimes has a beak not at all longer 

 than that of the rock-pigeon and with the naked skin round the 

 eyes and over the nostrils very slightly swollen and carunculated, 

 through the Bagdad sub-race and Dragons, to our improved English 

 Carriers, which present so marvellous a difference from the rock- 

 pigeon or Columba livia. 



Race III. — Runts. (Scanderoons : die Florentiner Tauben 

 and Hinkeltauben of Neumeister ; pigeon bagadais, pigeon 

 romain.) 



Beak long, massive; body of great size. 



Inextricable confusion reigns in the classification, affinities, and 

 naming of Bunts. Several characters which are generally pretty 

 constant in other pigeons, such as the length of the wings, tail, 

 legs, and neck, and the amount of naked skin round the eyes, are 

 excessively variable in Bunts. When the naked skin over the 

 nostrils and round the eyes is considerably developed and wattled, 

 and when the size of body is not very great, Bunts graduate in so 

 insensible a manner into Carriers, that the distinction is quite 

 arbitrary. This fact is likewise shown by the names given to them 

 in different parts of Europe. Nevertheless, taking the most distinct 

 forms, at least five sub-races (some of them including well-marked 

 varieties) can be distinguished, which differ in such important 

 points of structure, that they would be considered as good species 

 in a state of nature. 



Sub-race I. Scanderoon of English Writer^ (die Florentiner and 

 Hinkeltauben of Neumeister). — Birds of this sub-race, of which 

 1 kept one alive and ha^e since seen two others, differ from the 

 Bagadotten of Neumeister only in not having the beak nearly so 

 much curved downwards, and in the naked skin round the eyes 

 and over the nostrils being hardly at all wattled. Nevertheless 

 I have felt myself compelled to place the Bagadotten in Race IL, 

 or that of the Carriers, and the present bird in Race III., or that of 



