Chap. V. DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. 139 



terised by the habit of violently hitting its wings together over its back,— 

 a habit which the English Pouter has in a slight degree. 



Sub-race IV. Common German Pouter.— I know this bird only from the 

 figures and description given by the accurate Neumeister, one of the few 

 writers on pigeons who, as I have found, may be always trusted. This 

 sub-race seems considerably different. The upper part of the oesophagus 

 is much less distended. The bird stands less upright. The feet are not 

 feathered, and the legs and beak are shorter. In these respects there is 

 an approach in form to the common rock-pigeon. The tail-feathers are 

 very long, yet the tips of the closed wings extend beyond the end of the 

 tail ; and the length of the wings, from tip to tip, and of the body, is greater 

 than in the English Pouter. 



Group II. 



This group includes three Kaces, namely, Carriers, Runts, and 

 Barbs, which are manifestly allied to each other. Indeed, certain 

 carriers and runts pass into each other by such insensible grada- 

 tions that an arbitrary line has to be drawn between them. 

 Carriers also graduate through foreign breeds into the rock- 

 pigeon. Yet, if well-characterised Carriers and Barbs (see 

 figs. 19 and 20) had existed as wild species, no ornithologist 

 would have placed them in the same genus with each other 

 or with the rock pigeon. This group may, as a general rule, 

 be recognised by the beak being long, with the skin over the 

 nostrils swollen and often carunculated or wattled, and with 

 that round the eyes bare and likewise carunculated. The mouth 

 is very wide, and the feet are large. Nevertheless the Barb, 

 which must be classed in this same group, has a very short beak, 

 and some runts have very little bare skin round their eyes. 



Kace II. — Carriers. (Turkische Taube: Pigeons Turcs : 



Dragons.) 



Beak elongated, narrow, pointed; eyes surrounded by much 

 naked, generally carunculated skin ; neck and body elongated. 



Sub-race I. The English Carrier.— This is a fine bird, of large size, close 

 feathered, generally dark-coloured, with an elongated neck. The beak 

 is attenuated and of wonderful length : in one specimen it was 1-4 inch 

 in length from the feathered base to the tip ; therefore nearly twice as 

 long as that of the rock-pigeon, which measured only -77. Whenever I 

 compare proportionally any part in the carrier and rock-pigeon, I take the 

 length of the body from the base of the beak to the end of the tail as the 

 standard of comparison ; and according to this standard, the beak in one 



