DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 199 



general characters to tlie original wild stock ; but the 

 varieties which the skill and ingenuity of man have intro- 

 duced into what are called the " fancy breeds " are almost 

 innumerable. Many of these differ so widely from each 

 other, as from their common parents, that the uninitiated 

 tind it difficult to believe that they all spring from the 

 same species. In the remarkable modifications thus efiected, 

 it is not too much to say that every part of the bird is in- 

 volved : the bill is changed, the character of the plumage 

 is changed, even the feet are changed to a considerable ex- 

 tent ; while the colour ranges from pure white to jet-black 

 through almost every possible combination of the interven- 

 ing tints. In one variety even the number of feathers in 

 the tail has been largely increased. 



Nearest in form to the common pigeon come the Tum- 

 blers ; of which Willoughby says : " These birds are small 

 and of diverse colours. They have strange motions, turn- 

 ing themselves backward over their heads, and show like 

 footballs in the air." They are distinguished from the 

 original stock by their small head, bill, and feet. As for 

 their colours, what can we possibly say in our restricted 

 space? There are blacks, blues, checkers, reds, yellows, 

 duns, silvers, blue and black grizzles, and the like ; their 

 name is legion. 



We pass on to the Jacobins. These have the feathers 

 of the sides of the head and neck curled, so as to compose 

 a kind of ruff. Or, to quote Willoughby again, " they are 

 called by the Low Dutch Caj^j^ers, because on the hinder 

 part of the head, or nape of the neck, certain feathers, re- 

 flected upward, encompass the head behind, almost after 



