142 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



Chap. V. 



broad mouth measured internally, — the narrow head, — the feet propor- 

 tionally a little longer than in the rock-pigeon, — and the general appear- 

 ance, all show that this bird is an undoubted Carrier ; yet in one specimen 

 the beak was of exactly the same length as in the rock-pigeon. In the 

 other specimen the beak (as well as the opening of the nostrils) was only 

 a very little longer, viz. by -08 of an inch. Although there was a con- 

 siderable space of bare and slightly carunculated skin round the eyes, 

 that over the nostrils was only in a slight degree rugose. Sir W. Elliot 

 informs me that in the living bird the eye seems remarkably large and 

 prominent, and the same fact is noticed in the Persian treatise ; but the 

 bony orbit is barely larger than that in the rock-pigeon. 



Amongst the several breeds sent to me from Madras by Sir W. Elliot 

 there is a pair of the Kala Par, black birds with the beak slightly elongated, 

 with the skin over the nostrils rather full, and with a little naked skin 

 round the eyes. This breed seems more closely allied to the Carrier than to 

 any other breed, being nearly intermediate between the Bussorah Carrier 

 and the rock-pigeon. 



The names applied in different parts of Europe and in India to the 

 several kinds of Carriers all point to Persia or the surrounding countries 

 as the source of this Eace. And it deserves especial notice that, even if we 

 neglect the Kala Par as of doubtful origin, we get a series broken by very 

 small steps, from the rock-pigeon, through the Bussorah, which sometimes 

 has a beak not at all longer than that of the rock-pigeon and with the 

 naked skin round the eyes and over the nostrils very slightly swollen and 

 carunculated, through the Bagdad sub-race and Dragons, to our improved 

 English Carriers, which present so marvellous a difference from the rock- 

 pigeon or Col umbo, livia. 



Eace III. — Bunts. (Scanderoons : Die Florentiner-Taube 

 and Hinkel-Taube of Neumeister : Pigeon Bagadais, Pigeon 

 Bomain.) 



Beak long, massive ; body of great size. 



Inextricable confusion reigns in the classification, affinities, and naming 

 of Eunts. Several characters which are generally pretty constant in other 

 pigeons, such as the length of the wings, tail, legs, and neck, and the 

 amount of naked skin round the eyes, are excessively variable in Eunts. 

 When the naked skin over the nostrils and round the eyes is considerably 

 developed and wattled, and when the size of body is not very great, Eunts 

 graduate in so insensible a manner into Carriers, that the distinction is 

 quite arbitrary. This fact is likewise shown by the names given to 

 them in different parts of Europe. Nevertheless, taking the most dis- 

 tinct forms, at least five sub-races (some of them including well-marked 

 varieties) can be distinguished, which differ in such important points of 

 structure, that they would be considered as good species in a state of 

 nature. 



Sub-race I. Scanderoon of English writers (Die Elorentiner and Hinkel- 

 Taube of Neumeister). — Birds of this sub-race, of which I kept one alive 



