L68 DOMESTIC PIGEONS : Chap. V. 



lection of Pouters, the wings and tail varied greatly in length ; and 

 were sometimes so much elongated that the birds could hardly play 

 upright. In the relative length of the few first primaries I have 

 observed only a slight degree of variability. Mr. Brent informs me 

 that he has observed the shape of the first feather to vary very 

 slightly. But the variation in these latter points is extremely slight 

 compared with the differences which may be observed in the natural 

 species of the Columbidae. 



In the beak I have seen very considerable differences in birds of 

 the same breed, as in carefully bred Jacobins and Trumpeters. In 

 Carriers there is often a conspicuous difference in the degree of 

 attenuation and curvature of the beak. So it is indeed in many 

 breeds: thus I had two strains of black Barbs, which evidently 

 differed in the curvature of the upper mandible. In width of mouth 

 I have found a great difference in two Swallows. In Fantails of 

 first-rate merit I have seen some birds with much longer and thinner 

 necks than in others. Other analogous facts could be given. We 

 have seen that the oil-gland is aborted in all Fantails (with the 

 exception of the sub-race from Java), and, I may add, so hereditary 

 is this tendency to abortion, that some, although not all, of the 

 mongrels which I reared from the Faintail and Pouter had no oil- 

 gland ; in one Swallow out of many which I have examined, and in 

 two Nuns, there was no oil-gland. 



The number of the scute Ua3 on the toes often varies in the same 

 breed, and sometimes even differs on the two feet of the same indi- 

 vidual ; the Shetland rock-pigeon has fifteen on the middle, and six 

 on the hinder toe; whereas I have seen a Punt with sixteen on the 

 middle and eight on the hind toe ; and a short-faced Tumbler with 

 only twelve and five on these same toes. The rock-pigeon has no 

 sensible amount of skin between its toes ; but I possessed a Spot 

 and a Nun with the skin extending for a space of a quarter of an 

 inch from the fork, between the two inner toes. On the other hand, 

 as will hereafter be more fully shown, pigeons with feathered feet 

 very generally have the bases of their outer toes connected by skin. 

 I had a red Tumbler, which had a coo unlike that of its fellows, 

 approaching in tone to that of the Laugher : this bird had the habit, 

 to a degree which I never saw equalled in any other pigeon, of often 

 walking with its wings raised and arched in an elegant manner. I 

 need say nothing on the great variability, in almost every breed, in 

 size of body, in colour, in the feathering of the feet, and in the 

 feathers on the back of the head being reversed. But I may mention 

 a remarkable Tumbler 28 exhibited at the Crystal Palace, which had 

 an irregular crest of feathers on its head, somewhat like the tuft on 

 the head of the Polish fowl. Mr. Bult reared a hen Jacobin with 

 the feathers on the thigh so long as to reach the ground, and a cock 

 having, but in a lesser degree, the same peculiarity : from these two 

 birds he bred others similarly characterised, which were exhibited 



28 Described and figured in the ' Poultry Chronicle,' vol. Hi., 1855, p. 82. 



