100 NUNS. [CHAP. iv. 



produced, when two have been reared, have mostly, if not 

 always, been one " turned " and one smooth-pated bird, 

 exactly as their parents. The older Ornithologists fur- 

 nish no hint of Archangel Pigeons, that we have been 

 able to find. A cock of this kind is now assiduously 

 courting one of our cream-coloured Tumblers ; but I am 

 unable to describe the result of their crossing with other 

 domestic breeds, which they doubtless will do. They are 

 sufficiently prolific to be kept as stock birds ; but they 

 are at present too valuable, either as presents or for 

 exchange, to be consigned to the hands of the cook. 

 Still it is with the higher rather than the lower class 

 of Pigeon-fanciers that they are in much request. 

 Bigoted Tumbler-breeders and panting blowers-up of 

 Powters will look on a pair of glowing Archangels 

 with almost the same contemptuous glance that they 

 would bestow on a parcel of " Duffers," or dovehouse 

 Pigeons, packed up to be shot at for a wager. 



NUNS are dear little creatures. The former breed 

 belongs to the "gravel eyes," these are pleasing in- 

 stances of the "pearl eye," the iris being delicately 

 shaded from pink into white. Their colouring is vari- 

 ous. " The most beautiful specimens," says Temminck, 

 " are those which are black, but have the quill feathers 

 and the head white: they are called Nonnains-Maurins." 

 But the most usual sort, and exceedingly pretty birds 

 they are, are what Buffon styles coquille hollandais, or 

 Dutch shell Pigeons, " because they have, at the back 

 of their head,, reversed feathers, which form a sort of 

 shell. They are also of short stature. They have the 

 head black, the tip (the whole ?) of the tail and the 

 ends of the wings (quill feathers) also black, and all the 



