92 DARWINISM 



Some English tumblers are almost equally persistent. A 

 writer, quoted by Mr. Darwin, says that these birds generally 

 begin to tumble almost as soon as they can fly ; " at three 

 months old they tumble well, but still fly strong ; at five or 

 six months they tumble excessively ; and in the second year 

 they mostly give up flying, on account of their tumbling so 

 much and so close to the ground. Some fly round with the 

 flock, throwing a clean summersault every few yards till they 

 are obliged to settle from giddiness and exhaustion. These 

 are called Air- tumblers, and they commonly throw from 

 twenty to thirty summersaults in a minute, each clear and 

 clean. I have one red cock that I have on two or three 

 occasions timed by my watch, and counted forty summer- 

 saults in the minute. At first they throw a single summer- 

 sault, then it is double, till it becomes a continuous roll, 

 which puts an end to flying, for if they fly a few yards over 

 they go, and roll till they reach the ground. Thus I had one 

 kill herself, and another broke his leg. Many of them turn 

 over only a few inches from the ground, and will tumble two 

 or three times in flying across their loft. These are called 

 House -tumblers from tumbling in the house. The act of 

 tumbling seems to be one over which they have no control, 

 an involuntary movement which they seem to try to prevent. 

 I have seen a bird sometimes in his struggles fly a yard or 

 two straight upwards, the impulse forcing him backwards 

 while he struggles to go forwards." 1 



The Short-faced tumblers are an improved sub-race which 

 have almost lost the power of tumbling, but are valued for 

 possessing some other characteristics in an extreme degree. 

 They are very small, have almost globular heads, and a very 

 minute beak, so that fanciers say the head of a perfect bird 

 should resemble a cherry with a barleycorn stuck in it. Some 

 of these weigh less than seven ounces, whereas the wild rock- 

 pigeon weighs about fourteen ounces. The feet, too, are 

 very short and small, and the middle toe has twelve or 

 thirteen instead of fourteen or fifteen scutellae. They have 

 often only nine primary wing-feathers instead of ten as in all 

 other pigeons. 



1 Mr. Brent in Journal of Horticulture, 1861, p. 76 ; quoted by Darwin, 

 Animals and Plants under Domestication, vol. i. p. 151. 



