CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



THE LEGHORN RUNT PIGEON. 



The Leghorn runt ia a bird of quite an original type, and no doubt got 

 the name of runt because it approached or equalled in size the Spanish 

 runt. The peculiarity of this race of pigeons is to stand very high off 

 the ground on long unfeathered legs, to be short in the back, broad in 

 the breast and body, to have a short erect tail, and a long swan 

 neck, lite the letter " S." The beak ia thick and rather short, and they 

 have but little eye wattle. 



Pigeons of this type of a large size were known in Moore's time ; but 

 whether those he wrote about, and those 1 o which the author of the 

 "Treatise" (1765) refers when he says, at page 110, "I have had a hen 

 of the Leghorn breed that weighed two pounds two ounces, avoirdupoiae 

 weight," were of such a pronounced type aa my illustration, is what I 

 am not at all sure of. 



I belieTC that pigeons of the Leghorn type have been distributed 

 throughout Europe from the shores of the Mediterranean. If they 

 originally came from the East they are not to be met with there now, 

 so far as I have seen. In Germany, pigeons of this group go by the 

 name of Hilhnertauhen, that is, fowl or gallinaceous pigeons, a name 

 given them on account of their short, erect, henlike tails. Prom their 

 long legs and abnormally short tails, they are the only pigeons which, 

 when taken in the hand, aa pigeon fanciers handle a pigeon, have the 

 feet projecting beyond the tail. The flights are carried in three different 

 ways, croaaed over the tail, meeting the tail on each side, or their 

 extremities touching each other below the tail. The last mode is the 

 only correct one, and is in keeping with the whole shape of the bird. 



