Chap. VI HISTORY OF THE PRINCIPAL RACES. 221 



figures ; four breeds, however, existed in the year 1600 which 

 evidently were allied both to Barbs and Carriers. To show how 

 difficult it is to recognise some of the breeds described by Aldroyandi 

 I will give the different opinions in regard to the above four k'inds, 

 named by him C. indica, cretensis,gutturosa, and persica. Willughby, 

 thought that the Columba indica was a Turbit, but the eminent 

 fancier Mr. Brent believes that it was an inferior Barb : C. cretensis, 

 with a short beak and a swelling on the upper mandible, cannot be 

 recognised : C. (falsely called) gutturosa, which from its rostrum, 

 breve, crassum, et tuberosum seems to me to come nearest to the Barb, 

 Mr. Brent believes to be a Carrier ; and lastly, the (7. persica et 

 turcica, Mr. Brent thinks, and I quite concur with him, was a short- 

 beaked Carrier with very little wattle. In 1687 the Barb was known 

 in England, and Willughby 'describes the beak as like that of the 

 Turbit; but it is not credible that his Barbs should have had a beak 

 like that of our present birds, for so accurate an observer could not 

 have overlooked its great breadth. 



English Carrier. — We may look in vain in Aldrovandils work for 

 any bird resembling our prize Carriers ; the 0. persica et turcica of 

 this author comes the nearest, but is said to have had a short thick 

 beak ; therefore it must have approached in character a Barb, and 

 have differed greatly from our Carriers. In Willughby's time, in 

 16/7, we can clearly recognise the Carrier, yet he adds, " the bill is 

 not short, but of a moderate length ;" a description which no one 

 would apply to our present Carriers, so conspicuous for the extra- 

 ordinary length of their beaks. The old names given in Europe to 

 the Carrier, and the several names now in use in India, indicate 

 that Carriers originally came from Persia; and Willughby's de- 

 scription would perfectly apply to the Bussorah Carrier as it now 

 exists in Madras. In later times we can partially trace the progress 

 of change in our English Carriers : Moore, in 1735, says " an inch and 

 a half is reckoned a long beak, though there are very good Carriers 

 that are found not to exceed an inch and a quarter." These birds 

 must have resembled or perhaps been a little superior to the Carriers, 

 previously described, now found in Persia. In England at the 

 present day " there are," as Mr. Eaton 43 states, " beaks that would 

 measure (from edge of eye to tip of beak) one inch and three-quarters, 

 and some few even two inches in length." 



From these historical details we see that nearly all the 

 chief domestic races existed before the year 1600. Some 

 remarkable only for colour appear to have been identical with 

 our present breeds, some were nearly the same, some con- 

 siderably different, and some have since become extinct. 

 Several breeds, such as Finnikins and Turners, the swallow- 

 tailed pigeon of Bechstein and the Carmelite, seem to have 



43 'Treatise on Pigeons,' 1852, p. 41. 



