ROCK DOVE. 



293 



The changes, however, in some fancy Pigeons are not con- 

 fined to the feathers, but modifications in form are effected 

 even in the bones. A comparison of the Short-faced Tum- 

 bler and the Carrier exhibits the first named with a very small 

 round head, and a short, straight, conical beak, not more 

 than half an inch in length, while the beak of the Carrier 

 Pigeon measures an inch and a half in length, with a pro- 

 portionally elongated head. The properties of the Carrier 

 Pigeons, and some allied varieties, have also excited consi- 

 derable interest from the certainty with which they find 

 the place where they were bred, and that, in some cases, 

 from an almost increbible distance. When, however, the 

 training these birds undergo is explained, the experience 

 thereby attained, their powers of vision uninterrupted from 

 the elevation they take, and some recollection of prominent 

 objects with their bearing upon the locality of the desired 

 point, the difficulty is greatly diminished. These birds are 



