Chap. V. DESCRIPTION OF BREEDS. 153 



and up wright in front, so that some fanciers say 18 "the head -should 

 resemble a cherry with a barley-corn stuck in it." These are the smallest 

 kind of pigeons. Mr. Esquilant possessed a blue Baldhead, two years old, 

 which when alive weighed, before feeding- time, only 6 oz. 5 drs. ; two others, 

 each weighed 7 oz. We have seen that a wild rock-pigeon weighed 

 14 oz. 2 drs., and a Eunt 34 oz. 4 drs. Short-faced Tumblers have a 

 remarkably erect carriage, with prominent breasts, drooping wings, and 

 very small feet. The length of the beak from the tip to the feathered 

 base was in one good bird only - 4 of an inch ; in a wild rock-pigeon it 

 was exactly double this length. As these Tumblers have shorter bodies 

 than the wild rock-pigeon, they ought of course to have shorter beaks; 

 but proportionally with the size of body, the beak is -28 of an inch 

 too short. So, again, the feet of this bird were actually "45 shorter, and pro- 

 portionally -21 of an inch shorter, than the feet of the rock-pigeon. The 

 middle toe has only twelve or thirteen, instead of fourteen or fifteen 

 scutellse. The primary wing-feathers are not rarely only nine instead of 

 ten in number. The improved short-faced Tumblers have almost lost 

 the power of tumbling ; but there are several authentic accounts of their 

 occasionally tumbling. There are several sub-varieties, such as Baldheads, 

 Beards, Mottles, and Almonds ; the latter are remarkable from not acquiring 

 their perfectly-coloured plumage until they have moulted three or four 

 times. There is good reason to believe that most of these sub-varieties, 

 some of which breed truly, have arisen since the publication of Moor's 

 treatise in 1735. 19 



Finally, in regard to the whole group of Tumblers, it is impossible to 

 conceive a more perfect gradation than 1 have now lying before me, from 

 the rock-pigeon, through Persian, Lotan, and common Tumblers, up to 

 the marvellous short-faced birds ; which latter, no ornithologist, judging 

 from mere external structure, would place in the same genius with the 

 rock-pigeon. The differences between the successive steps in this series 

 are not greater than those which may be observed between common dove- 

 cot-pigeons (C. livia) brought from different countries. 



Race VIII. — Indian Fkill-back. 



Beak very short ; feathers reversed. 



A specimen of this bird, in spirits, was sent to me from Madras by Sir W. 

 Elliot. It is wholly different from the Frill-back often exhibited in 

 England. It is a smallish bird, about the size of the common Tumbler, 

 but has a beak in all its proportions like our short-faced Tumblers. The 

 beak, measured from the tip to the feathered base, was only -46 of an inch 

 in length. The feathers over the whole body are reversed or curl backwards. 

 Had this bird occurred in Europe, I should have thought it only a mon- 

 strous variety of our improved Tumbler; but as short-faced Tumblers are 

 not known in India, I think it must rank as a distinct breed. Probably 



18 J. M. Eaton's ' Treatise on Pigeons,' 19 J. M. Eaton's Treatise, edit. 1858, 



1*52, p. 9. p. 76 . 



