Chap. V. DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. 159 



differing in general appearance and form of beak from the common 

 Tumbler. Mr. Brent states that these birds generally begin to 

 tumble " almost as soon as they can well fly ; at three months old 

 " they tumble well, but still fly strong ; at five or six months they 

 " tumble excessively ; and in the second year they mostly give up 

 " flying, on account of their tumbling so much and so close to the 

 " ground. Some fly round with the flock, throwing a clean summer- 

 " sault every few yards, till they are obliged to settle from giddiness 

 •' and exhaustion. These are called Air Tumblers, and they com- 

 " monly throw from twenty to thirty summersaults in a minute, 

 " each clear and clean. I have one red cock that I have on two or 

 " three occasions timed by my watch, and counted forty summer- 

 " saults in the minute. Others tumble differently. At first they 

 " throw a single summersault, then it is double, till it becomes a 

 " continuous roll, which puts au end to flying, for if they fly a few 

 "yards over they go, and roll till they reach the ground. Thus I 

 " had one kill herself, and another broke his leg. Many of them 

 " turn over only a few inches from the ground, and will tumble two 

 "or three times in flying across their loft. These are called House- 

 " tumblers, from tumbling in the house. The act of tumbling seems 

 " to be one over which they have no control, an involuntary move- 

 " ment which they seem to try to prevent. I have seen a bird some- 

 " times in his struggles fly a yard or two straight upwards, the 

 " impulse forcing him backwards while he struggles to go forwards, 

 " If suddenly startled, or in a strange place, they seem less able to 

 " fly than if quiet in their accustomed loft." These House-tumblers 

 difler from the Lotan or Ground Tumbler of India, in not requiring 

 to be shaken in order to begin tumbling. The breed has probably 

 been formed merely by selecting the best common Tumblers, though 

 it is possible that they may have been crossed at some former period 

 with Lotans. 



Sub-race IV. Short-faced Tumblers. — These are marvellous birds, 

 and are the glory and pride of many fanciers. In their extremely 

 short, sharp, and conical beaks, with the skin over the nostrils but 

 little developed, they almost depart from the type of the Columbidse. 

 Their heads are nearly globular and upright in front, so that some 

 fanciers say '* " the head should resemble a cherry with a barley- 

 corn stuck in it." These are the smallest kind of pigeons. Mr. 

 Esquilant possessed a blue Baldhead, tv,'o years old, which when 

 alive weighed, before feeding-time, only 6oz. 5drs. ; two others, 

 each weighed 7 oz. We have seen that a wild rock-pigeon weighed 

 14 oz. 2 drs., and a Eunt 34 oz. 4 drs. Short-faced Tumblers have 

 a remarkably erect carriage, with prominent breasts, drooping wings, 

 and very small feet. The length of the beak from the tip to the 

 feathered base was in one good bird only "4 of an inch ; in a wild 

 rock-pigeon it was exactly double this length. As these Tumblers 

 have shorter bodies than the wild rock-pigeon, they ought of course 



'» J. M. Eaton's ' Treatise on Pigeons,' 1852, p. 9. 



