DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 19 



and large feet; some of the sub-breeds of runts "have tery 

 long necks, others very long wings and tails, othcs sinmj^ 

 larl}^ short tails. The barb is allied to the carreer, but, 

 instead of a long beak, has a very short and broad one. 

 The pouter has a much elongated body, wings and legs; 

 and its enormously developed crop, which it glories in 

 inflating, may well excite astonishment and even laughter. 

 The turbit has a short and conical beak with a line of 

 reversed feathers down the breast; and it has the habit of 

 continually expanding, slightly, the upper part of the 

 esophagus. The Jacobin has the feathers so much reversed 

 along the back of the neck that they forma hood; and it has, 

 proportionally to its size, elongated wing and tail feathers. 

 The trumpeter and laugher, as their names express, utter 

 a very different coo from the other breeds. The fantail 

 has thirty or even forty tail-feathers, instead of twelve or 

 fourteen — the normal number in all the members of the 

 great pigeon family: these feathers are kept expanded and 

 are carried so erect that in good birds the head and tail 

 touch: the oil-gland is quite aborted. Several other less 

 distinct breeds might be specified. 



/ In the skeletons of the several breeds, the development 

 f of the bones of the face, in length and breadth and curva- 

 ture, differs enormously. The shape, as well as the breadth 

 and length of the ramus of the lower jaw, varies in a highly 

 remarkable manner. The caudal and sacral vertebra vary 

 in number; as does the number of the ribs, together with 

 their relative breadth and the presence of processes. The 

 size and shape of the apertures in the sternum are highly 

 variable; so is the degree of divergence and relative size of 

 the two arms of the furcula. The proportional width of 

 the gape of m.outh, the proportional length of the eye- 

 lids, of the orifice of the nostrils, of the tongue (not always 

 in strict correlation with the length of beak), the size of 

 the crop and of the upper part of the esophagus; the 

 development and abortion of the oil-gland; the number of 

 the primary wing and caudal feathers; the relative length 

 of the wing and tail to each other and to the body; the 

 relative length of the leg and foot; the number of scutellie 

 on the toes, the development of skin between the toes, are 

 all points of structure which are variable. The period at 

 which the perfect plumage is acquired varies, as does the 



