146 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



Chap. V. 



animals may perhaps be called) comes into play in the classification of 

 domestic varieties, as with species in a state of nature. 



Fanciers, with some truth, compare the head and beak of the Barb to 

 that of a bullfinch. The Barb, if found in a state of nature, would cer- 

 tainly have been placed in a new genus formed for its reception. The 

 body is a little larger than that of the rock-pigeon, but the beak is more 

 than *2 of an inch shorter ; although shorter, it is both vertically and hori- 

 zontally thicker. From the outward flexure of the rami of the lower 

 jaw, the mouth internally is very broad, in the proportion of - 6 to - 4 to 

 that of the rock-pigeon. The whole head is broad. The skin over the 

 nostrils is swollen, but not carunculated, except slightly in first-rate birds 

 when old ; whilst the naked skin round the eye is broad and much carun- 

 culated. It is sometimes so much developed, that a bird belonging to Mr. 

 Harrison Weir could hardly see to pick up food from the ground. The 

 eyelids in one specimen were nearly twice as long as those of the rock- 

 pigeon. The feet are coarse and strong, but proportionally rather shorter 

 than in the rock-pigeon. The plumage is generally dark and uniform. 

 Barbs, in short, may be called short-beaked Carriers, bearing the same 

 relation to Carriers that the Tronfo of Aldrovandi does to the common 

 Bunt. 



Group III. 



This group is artificial, and includes a heterogeneous collec- 

 tion of distinct forms. It may be defined by the beak, in well- 

 characterised specimens of the several races, being shorter than 

 in the rock-pigeon, and by the skin round the eyes not being 

 much developed. 



Eace V. — Fantails. 



Sub-race I. European Fantails (Pfauen-Taube ; Trembleurs). Tail ex- 

 panded, directed upwards, formed of many feathers ; oil-gland aborted ; body 

 and beak rather short. 



The normal number of tail-feathers in the genus Columba is 12; but 

 Fantails have from only 12 (as has been asserted) up to, according to 

 MM. Boitard and Corbie, 42. I have counted in one of my own birds 

 33, and at Calcutta Mr. Blyth 12 has counted in an imperfect tail 34 feathers. 

 In Madras, as I am informed by Sir W. Elliot, 32 is the standard number; 

 but in England number is much less valued than the position and ex- 

 pansion of the tail. The feathers are arranged in an irregular double 

 row ; their permanent expansion, like a fan, and their upward direction, 

 are more remarkable characters than their increased number. The tail 

 is capable of the same movements as in other pigeons, and can be depressed 

 so as to sweep the ground. It arises from a more expanded basis than in 



; Annals and Mag. of Nat. History,' vol. xix., 1847, p. 105. 



