THE TUHBLEB FIGEON. 



taxed feathers assume the natural black or cinnamon, and the 

 handsome " almond " becomes a common " kite." 



Therefore, good reader, set not your heart on " perfect 

 almonds." If you want variety, match blacl-s with cream- 

 colour, and breed magpies ; or cinnamon w-th black, and 

 produce cinnamon-splash. Let your first aim, however, be 

 to procure well-shaped birds. The breast should be full, the 

 body short, the neck slender, the eye pearly, and the beak 

 as straight as a goldfinch's. 



Tumblers are specially addicted to making a loud clapping 

 noise with their wings on rising into the air ; indeed, the better 

 " clappers " they are, the better they are liked. There is little 

 doubt that this peculiarity earned for this pigeon the ancient 

 appellation of Smiter. Speaking of them, quaint old WiUughby 

 says : — " I take these to be those which the forementioned 

 Hollander told Aldrovandus that his countrymen called 

 Draiiers. These do not only shake their wings as they fly, 

 but also, flying round about in a ring, especially over their 

 females, clap them so strongly, that they make a greater sound 

 than two battledores or other boards struck one against 

 another. Whence it comes to pass that their quiU-feathers 

 are almost wholly broken and shattered, and sometimes so 

 bad that they cannot fly." Smiters, or something very Kke 

 them, must have been known and kept so long back even 

 as Pliny's time; for we find him writing about some variety 

 of pigeon as follows : — " Tou would think they were 

 conscious of their own colours, and the variety with which 

 they are disposed; nay, they even attempt to make their 

 flight a means of clapping in the air, and tracing various 

 courses in it. By which ostentation they are betrayed to the 

 power of the hawk, as if bound, their feathers being entangled 

 in the action of making the noise, which is produced only by 

 the actual shoulders of their wings." 



Never let your tumbler fly with other pigeons. They will 

 not be able to fly near so high as he, and he, being a sociable 

 bird, will descend and fly with them for the sake of company ; 

 consequently his flight will be spoiled. A well-behaved bird 

 never tumbles, except while ascending or when coming down to 

 pitch. You may judge of the health of your birds by their 

 aerial performance. It the bird is not perfectly well, he will 

 not tumble at all. 



To break in young tumblers to a good flight, they should be 

 let out as soon after sunrise as possible, in company of two or 



