18 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



with long massive beak and large feet; some of the sub- 

 breeds of runts have very long necks, others very long wings 

 and tails, others singularly short tails. The barb is allied 

 to the carrier, but, instead of a long beak, lias a very short 

 and broad one. The pouter has a much elongated body, 

 wings and legs ; and its enormously developed crop, which 

 it glories in inflating, may well excite astonishment and 

 even laughter. The turbit has a short and conical beak with 

 a line of reversed feathers down the breast ; and it has the 

 habit of continually expanding, slightly, the upper part of 

 the oesophagus. The Jacobin has the feathers so much 

 reversed along the back of the neck that they form a hood ; 

 and it has, proportionally to its size, elongated wing and 

 tail feathers. The trumpeter and laugher, as their names 

 express, utter a very different coo from the other breeds. 

 The fantail has thirty or even forty tail-feathers, instead of 

 twelve or fourteen — the normal number in all the members 

 of the great pigeon family ; these feathers are kept ex- 

 panded and are carried so erect that in good birds the head 

 and tail touch ; the oil-gland is quite aborted. Several other 

 less distinct breeds might be specified. 



In the skeletons of the several breeds, the development 

 of the bones of the face, in length and breadth and curva- 

 ture, differs enormously. The shape, as well as the breadth 

 and length of the ramus of the lower jaw, varies in a highly 

 remarkable manner. The caudal and sacral vertebrae vary 

 in number; as does the number of the ribs, together with 

 their relative breadth and the presence of processes. The 

 size and' shape of the apertures in the sternum are highly 

 variable; so is the degree of divergence and relative size of 

 the two arms of the furcula. The proportional width of 

 the gape of mouth, the proportional length of the eyelids, 

 of the orifice of the nostrils, of the tongue (not always in 

 strict correlation with the length of beak), the size of the 

 crop and of the upper part of the oesophagus; the develop- 

 ment and abortion of the oil-gland ; the number of the 

 primary wing and caudal feathers ; the relative length of 

 the wing and tail to each other and to the body ; the rela- 

 tive length of the leg and foot; the number of scutellse on 

 the toes, the development of skin between the toes, are all 

 points of structure which are variable. The period at which 

 the perfect plumage is acquired varies, as does the state of 

 the down with which the nestling birds are clothed when 

 hatched. The snape and size of the eggs vary. The man* 



