210 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



Chap. VI. 



Hence it would appear that there was a rather sudden change in the cha- 

 racter of the short-faced Tumbler at about this period ; and there is reason 

 to suspect that a dwarfed and half-monstrous bird, the parent-form of the 

 several short-faced sub-breeds, then appeared. I suspect this because 

 short-faced Tumblers are born with their beaks (ascertained by careful 

 measurement) as short, proportionally with the size of their bodies, as in 

 the adult bird; and in this respect they differ greatly from all other breeds, 

 which slowly acquire during growth their various characteristic qualities. 



Since the year 1765 there has been some change in one of the chief 

 characters of the short-faced Tumbler, namely, in the length of the beak. 

 Fanciers measure the "head and beak" from the tip of the beak to the 

 front corner of the eyeball. About the year 1765 a "head and beak" was 

 considered good, 42 which, measured in the usual manner, was $■ of an inch 

 in length ; now it ought not to exceed f of an inch ; " it is however pos- 

 sible," as Mr. Eaton candidly confesses, " for a bird to be considered as 

 pleasant or neat even at f of an inch, but exceeding that length it must be 

 looked upon as unworthy of attention." Mr. Eaton states that he has 

 never seen in the course of his life more than two or three birds with 

 the "head and beak" not exceeding half an inch in length; "still I 

 believe in the course of a few years that the head and beak will be 

 shortened, and that half-inch birds will not be considered so great a 

 curiosity as at the present time." That Mr. Eaton's opinion deserves 

 attention cannot be doubted, considering his success in winning prizes at 

 our exhibitions. Finally in regard to the Tumbler it may be concluded 

 from the facts above given that it was originally introduced into Europe, 

 probably first into England, from the East ; and that it then resembled 

 our common English Tumbler, or more probably the Persian or Indian 

 Tumbler, with a beak only just perceptibly shorter than that of the 

 common dovecot-pigeon. With respect to the short-faced Tumbler, which 

 is not known to exist in the East, there can hardly be a doubt that the 

 whole wonderful change in the size of the head, beak, body, and feet, and 

 in general carriage, has been produced during the last two centuries by 

 continued selection, aided probably by the birth of a semi-monstrous bird 

 somewhere about the year 1750. 



Runts— Oi their history little can be said. In the time of Pliny the 

 pigeons of Campania were the largest known; and from this fact alone 

 some authors assert that they were Bunts. In Aldrovandi's time, in 

 1600, two sub-breeds existed ; but one of them, the short-beaked, is now 

 extinct in Europe. 



Barbs. — Notwithstanding statements to the contrary, it seems to me 

 impossible to recognise the barb in Aldrovandi's descriptions and figures; 

 four breeds, however, existed in the year 1600 which were evidently allied 

 both to Barbs and Carriers. To show how difficult it is to recognise some 

 of the breeds described by Aldrovandi, I will give the different opinions 

 in regard to the above four kinds, named by him C. Indica, Cretensts, Out- 

 titrosa, and Persica. Willughby thought that the Columba Indica was a 



42 J. M. Eaton's 'Treatise on the 

 Breeding and Managing of the Almond 



Tumbler, 1851. Compare p. v. of Pre- 

 face, p. 9, and p. 32. 



