CHAP. iv.J EUNTS IN ITALY. EFFECTS OF CROSSING. 97 



nota is high ; but Ecco ! Signore, you have had a flask 

 of the famous Montefiascone il re di vino ! and two 

 Pigeons ! " 



The reader must have another instance ; all the bet- 

 ter that it is not a modern one. 



" Wee came home by the island of Nisida, some two 

 miles in compasse, belonging to one gentleman, who in 

 it keeps all creatures tame by force, haueing no way to 

 get from him, in sight of Caprea, once the delight of 

 Tiberius, and so under the mountain Pausilippo again, 

 with torches in our hands, it being night before wee 

 could reach it, which wee passed safely ; the better by 

 reason that the holy virgin is gouuernesse of this cauerri, 

 and hath a chappell dedicated to her in the middle of it. 

 By this time you must coniecture wee had a good stomach 

 to our supper, which wee made of pigeons, the best heare 

 without controuersy in the world, as big as pullets."* 



Notwithstanding the disproportion of size and incon- 

 gruity of habits, Runts breed freely with other domestic 

 Pigeons. One of my cock Runts mated with a Bald-pate : 

 all their offspring, except one bird, resembled their father 

 entirely, and their mother not at all. Those were all 

 eaten, so we did not see what their young would turn out 

 to be. Another male Runt mated with a Nun, with like 

 result; all conventual character disappeared from the 

 offspring, and the illegitimate family suffered extinction 

 in a pie. Mr. James Kemp had a hybrid between a 

 Brown Runt and a White Fantail, in which the fan tail 

 was quite obliterated. The bird had no brown feathers, 

 being principally white : so that it resembled neither 



* Mr. Edward Browne to Mr. Craven, 1664. 



H 



