104 PIGEONS. 



most, and that by themselves, after being well acquainted with your house. The 

 morning is the best time for this diversion ; and, after they are come down, throw 

 them a little hempseed, or rape and canary, to entice them in, and so keep them 

 confined until the next day. 



" Thirdly, if possible, get one or two that have been used to flying high, for 

 they will train your young ones up the sooner. 



" Besides these things, the fanciers have observed particular seasons when a 

 Tumbler will make a more extravagant flight than ordinary, as, for instance, when 

 she sits upon eggs, and a few days after having fed off the soft meat. I can't find 

 any philosophical reason to be given for this, yet, as it is confirmed by observation-, 

 I thought it worth taking notice of. 



" Another time, when they will make a very extraordinary flight, is when you 

 observe ravens, crows, or any other birds wantonly playing at a great height in the 

 air. This may be very easily accounted for, there being at such a time something 

 in the temperament of the air suitable to the genius of those birds, that delight in 

 the upper regions of the atmosphere. 



" Here I must advise the fancier not to turn out his Tumblers when there 

 appear any signs of a rising fog, for by this means the sight of their habitation is 

 intercepted, and many a good flight lost for ever. 



" A high wind will likewise drive them too far from home, so that if they are 

 not entirely lost, they may lie out all night, and so be exposed to the cats or 

 various other accidents. 



"Lastly, never turn out your hen Tumbler when she is with egg, for besides 

 that she is at that time sick and unfit to fly, so likewise by her long flight she may 

 drop her egg, an instance of which I have known, and so prevent the increase of 

 your breed," 



The author of the anonymous "Treatise" of 1765 repeats this account, copying 

 from Moore, as usual, without any acknowledgment, and he adds : " The bald- 

 pated Tumblers, which are of various colours in their body, as blacks, blues, &c, 

 with a clean white head, a pearl eye, white flight and white tail, are esteemed 

 good flyers, and are very pretty, even when flying in the air, for the contrast of the 

 feather appears at that distance, when the weather is cleai- and fine ; but the blue 

 ones are reputed to rise higher than any other colour. There are also some called 

 blue or black-bearded, that is, either of those colours having a long white spot 

 from the under jaw and cheek, a little way down the throat, and regularly shaped, 

 which has a pretty effect as an ornament ; and if they run clean in the flight and 

 tail, as before mentioned in the bald-pated ones, they are accounted handsome." 



The " Treatise" also contains an original article on the Almond Tumbler, which, 

 at the date of its publication, had evidently arrived at the dignity of being regarded 

 as a valuable high-class variety. 



The Rev. E. S. Dixon, in " The Dovecote and the Aviary," in his usually 

 pleasant and lively style, thus describes the habits of the ordinary flying 

 Tumbler :— 



