Chap. V. DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. 163 



Race HI.— Scarcely differing in structure from the wild 



Columbia livia. 



Sub-race I. laughers. Size less than the Bock-pigeon ; voice very 

 peculiar. — As this bird agrees in nearly all its proportions with the 

 rock-pigeon, though of smaller size, I should not have thought it 

 worthy of mention, had it not been for its peculiar voice — a character 

 supposed seldom to vary with birds. Although the voice of the 

 Laugher is very different from that of the Trumpeter, yet one of my 

 Trumpeters used to utter a single note like that of the Laugher. I 

 have kept two varieties of Laughers, which differed only in one 

 variety, being turn-crowned ; the smooth-headed kind, for which I 

 am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Brent, besides its peculiar note, 

 used to coo in a singular and pleasing manner, which, independently, 

 struck both Mr. Brent and myself as resembling that of the turtle- 

 dove. Both varieties come from Arabia. This breed was known by 

 Moore in 1735. A pigeon which seems to say Yak-roo is mentioned 

 in 1600 in the ' Ayeen Akbery, ' and is probably the same breed. 

 Sir W. Elliot has also sent me from Madras a pigeon called Yahui, 

 said to have come from Mecca, which does not differ in appearance 

 from the Laugher ; it has "a deep melancholy voice, like Yahu, 

 often repeated." Yahu, yahu, means Oh God, oh God; and 

 Sayzid Mohammed Musari, in the treatise written about 100 years 

 ago, says that these birds " are not flown, because they repeat the 

 name of the most high God." Mr. Keith Abbott, however, informs 

 me that the common pigeon is called Yahoo in Persia. 



Sub-race II. Common Frill-back (die Strupptaube). Beak rather 

 longer than in the rock-pigeon ; feathers reversed. — This is a consider- 

 ably larger bird than the rock-pigeon, and with the beak, propor- 

 tionally with the size of body, a little (viz. by - 04 of an inch) longer. 

 The feathers, especially on the wing-coverts, have their points curled 

 upwards or back-wards. 



Sub-race III. Nuns (Pigeons coquilles). These elegant birds are 

 smaller than the rock-pigeon. The beak is actually 1*7, and propor- 

 tionally with the size of the body "1 of an inch shorter than in the 

 rock-pigeons, although of the same thickness. In young birds the 

 scutellae on the tarsi and toes are generally of a leaden-black colour ; 

 and this is a remarkable character (though observed in a lesser 

 degree in some other breeds), as the colour of the legs in the adult 

 state is subject to very little variation in any breed. I have on two 

 or three occasions counted thirteen or fourteen feathers in the tail ; 

 this likewise occurs in the barely distinct breed called Helmets. 

 Nuns are symmetrically coloured, with the head, primary wing- 

 feathers, tail, and tail-coverts of the same colour, namely, black or 

 red, and with the rest of the body white. This breed has retained 

 the same character since Aldrovandi wrote in 1600. I have received 

 from Madras almost similarly coloured birds. 



Sub-race IV. S/ots (die Blasstauben ; pigeons heurtes). — These 



