92 THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRD LIFE 



selected for speed of wing. The first division in- 

 cludes the tumblers and rollers. 



The art of tumbler and roller flying has attained 

 its greatest perfection in England. Of late years, 

 however, it has been much practised in the United 

 States. Birmingham, England, is the center of 

 the sport, and from that place have radiated most 

 of the present performing breeds. Birmingham 

 contains a big population of pigeon-fanciers and 

 their annual Christmas competition has a world- 

 wide reputation. 



The process of tumbling or rolling consists of 

 the turning of a backward somersault, or a series 

 of them, by the birds in mid-air. This agility is 

 developed to a greater or less extent throughout 

 the entire breed. The Birmingham roller excels 

 in the art, being capable of executing twenty or 

 more backward flips in succession. So swift are 

 the revolutions that the eye finds it difficult to 

 follow them. A flock or kit of a dozen birds, fly- 

 ing high and suddenly spinning over and over, is 

 not only a startling sight, but the movement is 

 one of extraordinary grace. 



The tumbler tumbles not from any exuberance 

 of spirits but because there is no help for it. 

 The bird has been bred for generations to tumble. 

 As in the case of the waltzing mouse, a defect of 

 the inner ear, or possibly of the brain, has been 

 fixed in the breed by artificial selection, and there- 

 fore the individual is incapable at times of 



