248 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



FIG. 196. Clean-legged 

 Red Tumbler l 



a few somersaults, alighted on their feet. These birds were 

 called Inside Tumblers, or Parlor Tumblers, to distinguish them 

 from the common Tumblers, which required more room for 

 i their evolutions than any ordinary building 

 ^t afforded. Although they are incapable of 



m^ flight, the Parlor Tumblers can rise a short 

 ^H 'tM distance before they fall. The Roller is a 

 jfl Tumbler which turns many somersaults so 



^HB^ rapidly that each revolution of its body is 



'^r;"*** m ma d e m a ver Y small space. A high-flying 

 Roller falls while rolling in the air. An In- 

 side Roller turns over and over backward 

 on the ground. 

 Breeders of common Tumblers do not give them liberty, but 

 release them from their loft only when they wish to see the birds 

 perform, and, by feeding them immediately upon their return, 

 coax and train them to return to the loft soon after being re- 

 leased. A good performer is soon exhausted by tumbling, and 

 is quite willing to return to the loft in a short time. But not all 

 birds of Tumbler stock are good and persistent performers, and 

 often birds that do 

 not perform prefer 

 liberty for a longer 

 period to the food 

 that is waiting for 

 them in the loft. 

 Birds have some- 

 times been com- 

 pelled to remain in 

 the air for a long 

 time. As a result of this treatment of poor Tumblers a type 

 of Tumbler has been produced which will perform more or less 

 when ascending or descending, but which, having risen to a 



1 Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Massachusetts. 



FIG. 197. Muffed, or Feather-legged, Tumblers 1 



