THE TUMBLER PIGEON. 



and remajzied long up, yet their flight is not swift, and conse- 

 quently they are frequently taken by hawks. They are most 

 remarkable for the quantity and length of feathers on the feet 

 I have had some with feathers six inches long, which stuck out 

 almost like a small pair of wings when the birds flew." 



The variety best known, however, is the common flying 

 tumbler; and of the sub- varieties of this kind there is 

 scarcely a colour common to the 

 domestic pigeon that may not be 

 found among the " common fliers." 

 Of the " whole " coloured ones, 

 there are blacks, blues, checqners, 

 silvers, duns, kites, reds, yellows, ^^ 

 bufis, drabs, ash-colours, andmealys. "^ 



There is a white sort, but these are 

 rare. In the mixed coloured birds, 

 however, nearly all of them show tumbler pigeons. 



some of the rare plumage. These 



variegated birds are variously known. A mottled is a whole- 

 coloured pigeon, barring white feathers sprinkled oyer the head, 

 neck, and shoulders ; and according to the colour, so is it called 

 a black, red, or mealy mottled. A gay mottle is one that re- 

 verses this order, except in tail and flight, which must be dark ; 

 the remainder of the plumage white, with a few dark feathers 

 interspersed. These, when regularly mottled, are sometimes 

 called ermine tumblers. A grizzle is one in which in each 

 feather is a mixture of white with some other colour, and is 

 termed a blue grizzle or black grizzle, according to the 

 " ground." Eed grizzle and strawberry are synonymous. A 

 haggle is a bird whose colours are between those of a mottle 

 and a grizzle. A splashed is something similar — ^between a 

 mottled and a pied. A pied is a pigeon whose colour is divided 

 into patches, which give rise to distinctive names. There is 

 the beard pied, or blue-beard, or black -beard, &o., according to 

 the ground coloxir. 



" To be accurate in marking, the under mandible should be 

 Ught, with a white patch under the beak, reaching from the 

 comers of the mouth to the eyes, and being nearly a finger's 

 breadth under the bill, and gradually dwindling to a point at 

 the eyes, so as to give the appearance of a white beard, from 

 which the name is derived. From seven to ten extreme 

 pinion or flight feathers mast be white on each side, as also 

 the whole tail, upper and urder tail coverts, and the featherti 



