CHAPTEE XXIV. 



THE RUNT. 



rPHE title of Bunts is given by the English fanciers to any very large variety of 

 -*- pigeon. It has been in use since the time of Willughby, who states : — 



'■'The greater tame pigeon, called in Italian Tronfo and Astumellato ; in 

 English, a Eunt ; a name (as I suppose) corrupted from the Italian Tronfo : 

 though, to say the truth, what this Italian word Tronfo signifies, and^consequently 

 why this kind of pigeon is so called, I am altogether ignorant. Some call them 

 Columbce Russicc?, Eussia Pigeons ; whether because they are brought to us out of 

 Eussia, or from some agreement of the names Eunt and Eussia, I know not. These 

 seem to be the Campania pigeons of Pliny. They vary much in colour, as most 

 other domestic birds ; wherefore it is to no purpose to describe them by their 

 colours. 



" Perchance these may be the same with those which, Aldrovandus tells us, are 

 called by his countrymen Colombe sotto banche, that is, pigeons under forms or 

 benches, from their place ; of various colours, and bigger than the common wild 

 pigeons inhabiting dovecotes." 



AToore, in his " Columbarium," describes several varieties of Eunts, as the 

 Leghorn, Spanish, Friesland, and Eoman. His directions are not very definite ; 

 nevertheless, as the author of the oldest English work on the subject, his remarks 

 are worth reproducing. He writes as follows : — 



" The Leghorn Eunt is a stately large pigeon, seven inches or better in the legs, 

 close feathered and fast fleshed, extremely broad-chested and very short in the 

 back ; he carries his tail when he walks somewhat turned up like a duck, but when 

 he plays, he tucks it down. His neck is longer than any other pigeon, which he 

 carries bending like a goose or a swan. He is goose-headed, and his eye lies hollow 

 in his head, with a thin skin round it, much like the Dutch Tumbler, but broader; 

 his beak is very short for so large a bird, with a small wattle on it, and the upper 

 chap a little bending over the under. 



" They are a very tender bird, and great care ought to be taken of their young 

 ones. I was offered seventeen shillings for a single cock, and Sir Dolbey Thomas 

 would have given me a guinea and a half for the same bird. There are few true 

 original ones of this breed in England ; and, if matched to a Spanish Eunt, they 

 will breed a very large pigeon, closer in flesh and feather than the Spanish Eunt, 

 and will breed much faster. I have killed of their young ones, which when on the 



