490 



JOURNAL OP HORTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ June 13, ISra. 



Pigeons went in at the door. His birds tnmbled on the ground 

 as cats might have done. Report said that nearly any good 

 Air Tumbler would in his hands become a ground Tumbler. 

 Some of the birds I saw had not been on a house for months ; 

 indeed, if a bird not quite broken in spirit attempted to rise he 

 would knock it down with his cap. I could say more, but per- 

 haps this is BufBcient for aright appreciation of ground tumbling. 

 Though I hold no opinion as to the voluntariness or involun- 

 tariness of tumbling, except in the unscientific sense of its 

 being natural or unnatural, I cannot help thinking that the 

 Tumbler which soars into the sky and does his " balancing " far 

 away from the false balances of this naughty world, is a far 

 more agreeable spectacle than the one which tumbles on the 

 gi-oimd, and can liy no better than a Duck. — Old Bob Ridley. 



WHY DO PIGEONS TUMBLE? 



I AM glad to recognise in " Scotch Thistle " a Pigeon fancier 

 akin to a naturalist— a close observer of the birds, and one who 

 reasons from what he observes. This is that higher order of 

 fancier which I am specially pleased to welcome. There is not 

 only room for various tastes in the fancy — and where, as I have 

 often said, will you find so many and diiJerent classes of birds 

 to catch the taste ? — but, also, persons may take to Pigeons and 

 enjoy Pigeons variously. One likes to see them iiy about his 

 home and feed from his hand; another goes in for points, pro- 

 perties, and prizes ; then a third, as " Scotch Thistle," watches 

 their habits and reasons thereon, watching, too, the habits of 

 each individual bird. 



I see that " Scotch Thistle " has embraced the later views 

 of Mr. Brent as to why Pigeons tumble. These views are con- 

 tained in an article in vol. vi. of this Jom'nal, page 104 (in the 

 number of February 2nd, 1864). I make no doubt that " Scotch 

 Thistle " is well acquainted with that paper, as he refers to 

 Mr. Brent's reception of some House Tumblers from Mr. Paton, 

 which was as far back, I think, as 1860. 



Now, I shall be very loth to give up the theory that the 

 natiu'ally-bred older class of Tumblers, of which the Baldhead 

 is a good specimen — a high-liying and moderately-performing 

 bii'd. Tumbler also in form, compact, neat-headed, pearl-eyed ; 

 not the long mousey-headed coarse bird that the Roller is, ill- 

 shaped, bad-coloured, and of low caste — I shall be loth to think 

 that he, the Baldhead, really, when flying over my head in 

 the merriest of merry moods, just beginning to enjoy life with 

 his young mate, is yet a diseased creature. If I must yield to 

 plain clear reasoning — well, I will. I'll then give up the theory 

 of the older fanciers and the pleasanter theory, but with great 

 regi'et. 



How many old-cherished beliefs one has to give up. The 

 pretty tale about the building of Rome, and Romulus and Remus, 

 is now said to be a myth. The Duke's " Up, Guards, and at 

 them," was never uttered. Chevy Chase, perhaps, will be 

 proved by some hard reasoner never to have been fought. We 

 are now told that humpbacked Kiug Richard had no hump ; that 

 Robespierre was a gentle angel ; so, also, says Mr. Froude, was 

 Heniy "VIH. (How his wives* heads happened to come off I 

 cannot see : perhaps, like the heads of wax dolls, they were 

 stitched on and the stitches came undone, as is the custom with 

 was dolls). But to return to Tumblers. I make no manner of 

 doubt that there are classes of Tumblers, or rather Rollers, 

 which suffer from some brain disease, and hence their actions. 

 The most extreme case is that of the Lowtan or Ground Tiimb- 

 lers of India, which roll over and over on the ground, not unlike 

 Pigeons in their death struggles when their necks are -wi'ung. 

 These, no doubt, are diseased, epileptic birds, but they are not 

 Tumblers at all, the word Lowtan, says an authority, niL-aning 

 to roll on the ground. I pass on next to the House TuinbUr, one 

 degree in disease removed from the Lowtan, which in struggling 

 to fly a few feet high rolls back. Such a bird, says Brent, will 

 after great struggles overcome the involuntary turning and reach 

 the desired height, but out of breath. Brent says, also, he had 

 a bird who used to rise 2 feet aud then fall back, evidently de- 

 sirous of reaching the roof and flying as a bird, but its disease 

 prevented it, and back again it fell. No one can doubt but this, 

 too, is a case of disease ; but these birds are diseased in a less 

 degi-ee than the Lowtans, but should be called House Rollers, 

 not Tumblers. Next come the Rollers, so frequently called in 

 bird shops Birmingham Rollers. " These Inrds," says Brent, 

 " whilst flying sometimes roll until they touch the ground, and 

 not unfrequently kill themselves. I had," he adds, " two young 

 cocks which killed themselves on the spot in the past summer 

 from this cause." 



Thus we have Ground Rollers, House Rollers ("some rapi^ing 

 their heads in flying down from a perch, and so afraid to come 

 down and feed," says Brent), and Flying Rollers. These I hold 

 to be all sufferers in different degi-ees from some disorder of the 

 brain, all fearful of hm-ting themselves, and not Tumblers at all 

 —to my mind giving no more pleasure than seeing persons in 

 fits. I pass these Rollers by, and now come to aiiother class of 

 bird, the result in form of careful selection, still being a far 



more natural class of birds than the Short-faced Tumblere, as 

 they can and do rear their own young perfectly, and they have 

 perfect powers of flight, unlike, for instance, the tender Almond. 

 This class of bird was the Tumbler proper of the older fanciers, 

 the same two hundred years ago as now. It was not bred from 

 the Rollers or Dutch Tumblers, because, holding my theory to 

 be true, disease being always increased by domestication (a high 

 fancy Pigeon is almost the weakest), it is strong aud vigorous, 

 and the disease of rolling does not exist in it ; its brain is clear 

 of it, but if bred from it, that disease would have appeared, not 

 in a milder form, but in an increased degree. 



I now speak of not-roUing, but falling Pigeons, of the Tumbler 

 proper — a fancy bird, but not a weakened bird — a fancy bird 

 for returning to the Baldhead as a type of the old variety of 

 Tumbler proper. He has a clear white head, separated by a 

 straight line from another colour. Great care must have been 

 bestowed to get at first and then to continue (to breed true) that 

 clear white head, a very snowball. The bird has also clear 

 pearl eyes, the result of careful breeding, a sharpish-pointed not 

 Dove-house-shaped beak, rounded head, and clear flight and tail, 

 with rounded undove-house-like form. AU this proves careful 

 fancy breeding and selection. The same is true more or less of 

 any of the right and proper-shaped clean-legged Flying Tumb- 

 lers, whether Beards, Mottles, or whole-coloui-s. They all possess 

 a shape and carriage so far removed from the original bird that 

 they are entitled to be called fancy Pigeons. In addition, these 

 birds possess two peculiarities of flight — they mount up into the 

 air straight over their dwelling, they do not shoot in one direc- 

 tion like the Carrier kind of Pigeons, but ascend, rising higher 

 and higher, keeping compactly together in a close mass, and 

 making circles, not straight lines. Apart from the tumbUug the 

 flight is very interesting. I have Baldheads which sometimes 

 go clear out of sight. I keep my eye on the place where I lost 

 them, and then I see them come into sight again. High flying 

 of such a character everyone hkes to see, and I admii'e the 

 daring power of the little bird thus ascending and ascending, 

 and yet with it.s heart and eye on its home. I often, when 

 watching mine, use at them the words Wordsworth uses iu 

 regard to the Skylark — 



" Type of the wise, who soar, bat never roam, 

 True to the Mndred points of Heaven and home." 



Nest, and iu addition to this marvellous wing-power pleasantly 

 exhibited to the eye, its master, the Tumbler, has a power of 

 turning a somersault clearly and cleanly, and if its wings bo 

 white, which I think they always should be, the effect is better 

 still, as they twinkle, so to speak, and look very pretty, con- 

 trasting with the dark body of the bird, aud show well against 

 the sky. Then the tumble I still believe to be the result of 

 joyousness, as I think no sick bird tumbles, nor a hen -svith egg. 

 Then yoimg birds begin by backing, but get to tumble as they 

 become quite adult. That this tumbhng is not disease but 

 arises fi'om sportiveness, is, I think, partly proved from this, 

 that in close and high-bred birds it does not increase but di- 

 minishes, and in them is, we know, very rare. The *' flapping," 

 and "sailing," and "backing" of some Tumblers is, I think, 

 joyous too, but a kind of make-up on the bird's part for not 

 tumbhng, or failm-es in attempting. Then, at pairing time they 

 tumble most, and that time is the most joyful time of all to a 

 bird. I can understand the horror of a bird roHiug down from 

 air aud being robbed of its fly, and its own disgust, but I can 

 also understand the joy of the feathered acrobat iu tumbling 

 over in his air-bath. Still, I own " Scotch Thistle's " theory 

 and Mr. Brent's later theory may be right, but I am not pre- 

 pared at present to yield up the older and much more agreeable 

 theory. Everyone likes to see a good Tumbler, and I believe 

 the taste, a pm'e healthy one, is reviving. The marvellous 

 height of the flight, its circling movement, and the occasional 

 tumbles of the bird in it, give pleasure to my mind, because both 

 flight and tumbles owe their origin, according to my belief, to 

 pleasure. On a fine briUiaut day, a day often preceding wet. 

 Rooks in their joy at the day's brightness and balminess rattle 

 their wings. The Homing varieties of Pigeons dart and rusk 

 off extra joyously on some occasions. Excess of animal spirits 

 is shown by the Pouter's flappings and pufUngs, and to my mind 

 by the Tumbler's soarings and tumblings ; but I make a wide 

 distinction between an outpouring of Nature's joyfuLness, aud 

 the manifestation of disease in all the RoUers, whether Ground, 

 House, or Flying. I may be wrong, but I hope I am not. Of 

 the number — by far the gi'eater number — of Tumblers, we 

 know they do not tumble ; eye, head,anarkings, all correct, but 

 no aiirial performance. " Scotch Thistle " would say they have 

 overcome the fault; I, that they fail in the beauty of tumbling. 



In conclusion, I would make a few remarks upon the cul- 

 tivation of Tumblers at Birmingham. Much as all fanciers owe 

 to Mr. Ludlow's pencil, I regi'et that he chose the cross-breed 

 between Roller and Tumbler as his only specimen of the Flying 

 Tumbler. The bird, with a pedigree of two centmles, deserved 

 a portrait; indeed, I shoidd like to see a group of all the older 

 varieties of the Tumbler, with the legs free from one single 

 feather. Mr. Hallam's articles on the Birmingham Tumblers 



