150 ORTHOGENETIC EVOLUTION IN PIGEONS. 



The more usual colors are "grizzled blues and sandy reds or mealies." The 

 feathers appear as if they had been curled evenly with curling-tongs; they are longer 

 and more pliable than in other pigeons. "The longer these feathers are, and the 

 more evenly curled or frilled, the greater is the value of the specimen." 



According to Mr. Prutz, 10 the feathers of this race are not smooth and rounded 

 at the end, but terminate in a point which is rolled up into a frill or curl that looks 

 forward. This author recognizes the identity of the "frills" with the "undulations" 

 ("sanfte Wellen") or flutes of the primaries, but he does not attempt to show 

 that such undulations are very common, and that they represent the initial step 

 to this interesting feather variation. 



Two varieties of this race are distinguished: (a) the Hungarian or Australian 

 frill-back (smooth head, muffed, and with frills longer than in b); (b) the Dutch 

 or French frill-back (frills not so high as in a, eyes are pale yellow, head has shell- 

 crest or hood, and the legs are naked or muffed). 



De Roo 11 points out the differences between pigeons with "frilled" plumage and 

 "silky" plumage. Of the "silky" variety (Pigeons frises, ou de soie) he asserts 

 (pages 140-143) that the feathers are "similar to those of the negro hen of Mozam- 

 bique" ("poule de soie"). This race does not have the power of flying, the barbs 

 of the feathers being separated, hair-like, and curled, resembling hair rather than 

 feathers. It is further stated that the peculiar structure of the feathers — barbs 

 long and not adherent — is found in "all races of domestic pigeons, and can not 

 therefore be a race character." 12 



The true frill-backs (Pigeons frises milanais) are not to be confounded with the 

 preceding. The frill-backs have only the feathers of the wing and back frilled, 

 while the Pigeons frises, ou de soie, have a very fine silky or hairy plumage, the barbs 

 of the feathers being separated, hair-like, and falling like fringes of silk. The frill- 

 back has the head crested or smooth, the legs feathered or naked, and its feathers 

 recurved or curled in a spiral. This race can fly well, and can find a part of its own 

 food if compelled to do so. 



Fowls. 



Tegetmeier 13 (page 268) says : 



Frizzled fowls, or those with feathers more or less completely recurved, are not un- 

 common in many parts of the East. In a large collection of the domesticated birds of 

 nearly every country in the world, formed by Mr. C. Darwin, and placed at our service, 

 many specimens occur with recurved feathers, some with short frizzled hackles only, and 

 others with the peculiar plumage passing over the entire body. 



10 Mustertauben Buch, plate pages 64,0.5; description pages 07, (i8. 



11 Monographic des pigeons domestiques, Paris, 1883. 



,2 "Par leur conformation, ces oiseaux se rattachent a toutes les races de pigeons connues. car, a ma connaissance, 

 il existe des pigeons trembleurs paon de soie, Columba laticauda setacca; des pigeons pattus frises, Columba pedibus 

 crispa, en allemand, wollechte Tauben; des pigeons bagadais bataves de soie, Columha tuberculosa setacea batava, etc., 

 etc. La quality d'avoir les barbes des plumes decomposers, longues et non adhcrentes entre elles, ne saurait done 

 etre conside>ee eomme une caract6ristique de race, puisqu'on rencontre dans toutes les races de pigeons domestiques 

 des individus ou des varietes revetus de ce plumage." De Roo says that Aldrovandi regarded this pigeon as a true 

 species, and named it Columba crispis permis. I find that Boitard and Corbie (page 165) give all the names, but do 

 not distinguish the frill-back from the silk pigeon, as does de Roo. Temminck (page 454) and Buffon (page 51S) 

 both refer to the frill-hack. 



"This is Gallus crispus of Brisson, Callus pennis revolutis of Linnaeus, Gallina frislandica of Willoughby, and, 

 Tegetmeier thinks, the "monstrous hens" of Aldrovandus. 



