Chai-. \ DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. 145 



this is not the case. The boak h'kewise appears longer, Init it is 

 in fact a little shorter (about -03 of an inch), proportionally with 

 the size of the body, and relatively to the beak of the rock-pigeon. 

 The Pouter, though not bulky, is a large bird ; I measured one 

 which was 34 i inches from tip to tip of wing, and 19 inches from 

 tip of beak to end of tail. In a wild rock-pigeon from the Shetland 

 Islands the same measurements gave only 28i and W^. There are 

 many sub-varieties of the Pouter of different colours, but these I 

 pass over. 



Sub-rare II. Putrh Pouter. — This seems to be the parent-form of 

 our improved English Pouters. I kept a pair, but I suspect that 

 they were not pure birds. They are smaller than English pouters, 

 and less well developed in all their characters. Neumeister^ says 

 that the wings are crossed over the tail, and do not reach to its 

 extremity. 



Suh-7-are III Tlie LiJh Pouter. — I know this breed only from 

 description.'* It approaches in general form the Dutch Pouter, but 

 the inflated oesophagus assumes a spherical form, as if the pigeon 

 had swallowed a large orange, which had stuck close under the 

 beak. This inflated ball is represented as rising to a level with the 

 crown of the head. The middle toe alone is feathered. A variety 

 of this sub-race, called the claquant, is described by MM. Boitard 

 and Corbie ; it pouts but little, and is characterised by the habit 

 of violently hitting its wings together over its back, — a habit which 

 the English Pouter has in a slight degree. 



Sub-race IV. Common German Pouter. — I know this bird only 

 from the figures and description given by the accurate Neumeister, 

 one of the few writers on pigeons who, as I have fouud, may always 

 be trusted. This sub-race seems considerably different. The 

 upper part of the oesophagus is much less distended. The bird 

 stands less upright. The feet are not feathered, and the legs and 

 beak are shorter. In these respects there is an ajjproach in form 

 to the common rock-pigeon. The tail-feathers are very long, yet 

 the tips of the closed wings extend beyond the end of the tail ; and 

 the length of the wings, from tip to tip, and of the body, is greater 

 than in the English Pouter. 



-■&' 



Group II. . ' ■ 



This group includes three Races, namely, Carriers, Runts, 

 and Barbs, which are manifestly allied to each other. Indeed, 

 certain carriers and runts pass into each other by such in- 

 sensible gradations that an arbitrary line has to be drawn 

 between them. Carriers also graduate through foreign breeds 

 into the rock-pigeon. Yet, if well -characterised Carriers and 



' ' Das Ganze der Tanbenzucht : * Boitard and Corbie, ' Les Pigeons,' 



Weimar, 1837, pi. 11 and 12. &c., p. 177, pi, c. 



VOL. I. L 



