cole] PIGEOXS 37 



been developed to an extreme, and the birds are furthermore 

 trained to inflate the crop and show off at the owner's command. 

 Another curious habit is that of tumbling, which, as the name 

 suggests, is developed in the Tumbler pigeon. This occurs in all 

 degrees. In some birds it consists in turning one to two or three 

 back somer-saults while they are flying high in the air, while oth- 

 ers will tumble in the confines of an ordinary pigeon fly. Again 

 there are those commonly called Parlor Tumblers, which are 

 unable to fly at all. attempts at flight resulting in a back somer- 

 sault. In others still this habit is carried to such an extreme that 

 if the birds are the least bit excited, they will roll over and over 

 backwards across the floor the distance of several feet. This 

 habit suggests that of the Japanese dancing mouse, which contin- 

 ually runs about in circles. The attempt has been made to show 

 in the case of the latter animal, that the habit is associated with 

 a defective development of the semi-circular canals of the ear; 

 but it seems fully as probable that in both instances these pe- 

 culiar actions may be due to deficiencies in the central nervous 

 system. 



Finally, as to color, there is a great variety of patterns, but 

 the same patterns or their elements are to be found recurring in 

 many of the different breeds. The "self" or solid-colored 

 pigeons may be white, black, dun. red or yellow. Blue and silver 

 birds are self colored except that they have black wing bars, a 

 black tip to the tail, and a lighter rump. There is no end of spe- 

 cial patterns, but these differ from the patterns in fowls in that 

 they largely involve areas rather than patterns of the individual 

 feathers themselves, such as striped, spangled, barred, etc. 

 Breeding for color in pigeons, is a fascinating pursuit and has 

 for ages occupied a large share of the attention of the fancier. 

 Xevertheless. the relations in inheritance of the different colors 

 and color patterns is very poorly understood and offers a good 

 field for scientific research. 



Pigeons, furthermore, offer excellent material for students 

 of animal habits and behavior. One who becomes familiar with 

 them soon learns to recognize the different stages of the nesting 

 cycle, and the influence of unusual conditions upon the regular 

 development of instincts. In this respect, pigeons offer much 

 better material than the polygamous poultry. Their life is largely 

 one of activity, and much of it is devoted to love-making, the 

 rearing of young, and fighting in defense of personal rights or 

 simply to bully the other birds in the loft. 



Breeders of pigeons mark their birds by means of some 



