178 DOMESTIC PIGEONS. Chap. v. 



length together, but sometimes independently of each other and 

 of the size of the body. The number and position of the tail- 

 feathers vary to an unparalleled degree. The primary and 

 secondary wing-feathers occasionally vary in number, apparently 

 in correlation with the length of the wing. The length of the 

 leg and the size of the feet, and, in connection with the latter, 

 the number of the scutellse, all vary. A web of skin sometimes 

 connects the bases of the two inner toes, and almost invariably 

 the two outer toes when the feet are feathered. 



The size of the body differs greatly : a runt has been known 

 to weigh more than five times as much as a short-faced 

 tumbler. The eggs differ in size and shape. According to Par- 

 mentier, 40 some races use much straw in building their nests, 

 and others use little ; but I cannot hear of any recent corrobora- 

 tion of this statement. The length of time required for hatch- 

 ing the eggs is uniform in all the breeds. The period at which 

 the characteristic plumage of some breeds is acquired, and at 

 which certain changes of colour supervene, differs. The degree 

 to which the young birds are clothed with down when first 

 hatched is different, and is correlated in a singular manner with 

 the future colour of the plumage. The manner of flight, and 

 certain inherited movements, such as clapping the wings, 

 tumbling either in the air or on the ground, and the manner 

 of courting the female, present the most singular differences. 

 In disposition the several races differ. Some races are very 

 silent ; others coo in a highly peculiar manner. 



Although many different races have kept true in character 

 during several centuries, as we shall hereafter more fully see, 

 yet there is far more individual variability in the truest breeds 

 than in birds in a state of nature. There is hardly any exception 

 to the rule that those characters vary most which are now most 

 valued and attended to by fanciers, and which consequently are 

 now being improved by continued selection. This is indirectly 

 admitted by fanciers when they complain that it is much more 

 difficult to breed high fancy pigeons up to the proper standard 

 of excellence than the so-called toy pigeons, which differ from 



40 Temininck, 'Hist. Nat. Gen. des Pigeons et des Gallinaces,' torn, i., 1813, 

 p. 170. 



