92 
DARWINISM 
CHAP. 
Some English tumblers are almost equally persistent. A 
writer, quoted by Mr. Darwin, says that these birds generally 
begin to tumble almost as soon as they can fly ; “ at three 
months old they tumble well, but still fly strong; at five or 
six months they tumble excessively; and in the second year 
they mostly give up flying, on account of their tumbling so 
much and so close to the ground. Some fly round with the 
flock, throwing a clean summersault every few yards till they 
are obliged to settle from giddiness and exhaustion. These 
are called Air-tumblers, and they commonly throw from 
twenty to thirty summersaults in a minute, each clear and 
clean. I have one red cock that I have on two or three 
occasions timed by my watch, and counted forty summer¬ 
saults in the minute. At first they throw a single summer¬ 
sault, then it is double, till it becomes a continuous roll, 
which puts an end to flying, for if they fly a few yards over 
they go, and roll till they reach the ground. Thus I had one 
kill herself, and another broke his leg. Many of them turn 
over only a few inches from the ground, and will tumble two 
or three times in flying across their loft. These are called 
House-tumblers from tumbling in the house. The act of 
tumbling seems to be one over which they have no control, 
an involuntary movement which they seem to try to prevent. 
I have seen a bird sometimes in his struggles fly a yard or 
two straight upwards, the impulse forcing him backwards 
while he struggles to go forwards.” 1 
The Short-faced tumblers are an improved sub-race which 
have almost lost the power of tumbling, but are valued for 
possessing some other characteristics in an extreme degree. 
They are very small, have almost globular heads, and a very 
minute beak, so that fanciers say the head of a perfect bird 
should resemble a cherry with a barleycorn stuck in it. Some 
of these weigh less than seven ounces, whereas the wild rock- 
pigeon weighs about fourteen ounces. The feet, too, are 
very short and small, and the middle toe has twelve or 
thirteen instead of fourteen or fifteen scutellae. They have 
often only nine primary wing-feathers instead of ten as in all 
other pigeons. 
1 Mr. Brent in Journal of Horticulture , 1861, p. 76 ; quoted by Darwin, 
Animals and Plants under Domestication , vol. i. p. 151. 
