Chapter XV. 



<X SEVERAL VARIETIES OF EAST INDIAN PIGEONS. X> 



The Sherajee Pigeon. 



HE Sterajee, so named in Bengal, but called 

 Sherazie in Northern India, is a favourite 

 pigeon throughout Hindostan. The name is, 

 no doubt, derived from the city of Sheraz, 

 in Persia, where it might possiby have origi- 

 nated. This pigeon is, in shape and size, very similar to the 

 tight-feathered Trumpeters common in this country before 

 the so-called Russians were introduced. The head and beak 

 of the Sherajee are of the common type, the latter neither 

 short, nor long and thin; and birds of good colour always 

 have a reddish tinge on the eye ceres, beak wattles, and 

 the edges of the mouth. The irides are dark hazel colour, 

 the head is unhooded, and the legs and feet are feathered. 

 Long toe feathers, spreading out on each side, are much 

 admired. The marking of the Sherajee is peculiar to it- 

 self, nothing similar to it being found in any other variety 

 that I know of. The upper mandible is coloured, except 

 with those colours that are generally accompanied by a, flesh- 



