116 On the domestic Pigeons of Spain. 



Classes. 



1. A red skin about the eyes j a large tubercle upon the 

 beak. Span, paloma fiamenca. Val. peter d'ull (columla 

 turcica Linn.*). 



2. No bare skin surrounding the eyes ; beak long. Span. 

 paloma comun grandi: Val. peter (col. hispan. Linn.). 



Third Sul -division. 

 Character. — A middle-sized body; a more bold and more 

 vigorous flight than that of the preceding. 



Classes. 



1. The feet feathered to the nails. Span, paloma comun 

 calzada: Val. rctquer calsal (columba dasypus Linn.). 



2. The feet destitute of feathers. Span, paloma comun : 

 Val. roqucr. 



Explanations. 



The pigeons comprised in the preceding division form a 

 part of the first division of Linnaeus (cauda cequali), which 

 includes the pigeons which have the feathers of the tail of 

 an equal length. In the first division we find a great many 

 classes well characterized, because amateurs have taken great 

 care to preserve them unmixed : on this account, however, 

 their broods are less abundant. The most beautiful, and the 

 most numerous, are, undoubtedly, those of the first sub- 

 division. 



First Division. 



First Sub-division. 

 The pigeons comprised in this first division are nearly of 

 the same size as the wild pigeons. Span, paloma campesina. 

 They have oval heads, less lengthened towards the beak than 

 the former; the beak short, conical, with very small tuber- 

 cles upon the beak ; the eyes brilliant, almost always sdr- 

 xounded with a bare flesh-coloured skin ; the feet not fur- 

 nished with feathers. Many of them have a kind of small 

 crown, but the feathers of which, in place of falling one 

 over another, support each other towards the hinder part of 



• This is the Turkish pigeon, a very scarce breed, and whose colours are 

 variegated. 



the 



