324 FANCY PIGEONS. 



they are all the better for unlimited freedom, as in country 

 places they gather much green food, and other things service- 

 able in the rearing of young birds, which they could not 

 procure if kept confined. 



Foreign Tumblers. 



Numerous varieties of the Tumbler exist throughout India, 

 Persia, and Asia Minor, according to recent wi'iters who have 

 referred to pigeons in their works. In 1885, some common- 

 looking Tumblers, undistinguished by specific marking, but 

 which could not rise a yard from the ground without 

 tumbling, were brought to Dundee in a vessel from Cal- 

 cutta. When I resided in Calcutta (from 1865 to 1872) I 

 knew many fanciers who kept large numbers of Tumblers, 

 which no doubt are, in their numerous varieties, the most 

 universally fancied of all pigeons. There is a breed of blue 

 Tumblers in Calcutta, similar in size and shape to the com- 

 mon British Tumbler, but with the eye wattle — which is 

 very narrow — of a dark blue, like that of a Mahomet Pigeon ; 

 they have clear white irides. 



The Turkish Roller. — These Tumblers were introduced 

 from Smyrna by Mr. H. P. Caridia, and first described, in 

 1874, by Mr. Ludlow, of Birmingham. They are longer in 

 head and beak than our Tumblers, the head being flatter, 

 and wanting the high forehead, and the beak thicker and 

 stronger. The neck is rather short, as are the legs. The 

 back is hollow, and the tail is carried rather elevated, and 

 over the flights. The tail is peculiar, being long, and com- 

 posed of from fourteen to twenty-two feathers, the average 

 being about sixteen; these feathers have no approach or 

 resemblance to a fan tail, but lie one over the other, in 

 two divisions, showing a slight parting, or split, between 

 them. As is common with other varieties having an abnor- 

 mal number of tail feathers, a double feather growing from 

 one quill is often seen in this breed. The oil gland above 



