180 PIGEONS. 



spit were full as large as middling spring fowls : where note that these, and all 

 other Runts, increase in their hulk till they are three or four years old. 



" As to their feather, they are various, but the best that I have seen were either 

 black or red mottled. 



' ' There is a vast difference in these birds ; and I have seen very bad ones that 

 have been brought from Leghorn, little better than a common Runt. However, 

 this is the genuine true description of the Leghorn Runt, which is more valued 

 than any other sort of Runts. 



" This pigeon was originally bred either at Pisa? in the Duke of Tuscany's 

 dominions, or at Pisse in Peloponnesus, and from thence brought to Leghorn, and 

 so transmitted to us ; but I rather judge the latter, because it answers the descrip- 

 tion of the pigeon which Willughby, in his ' Ornithology,' calls Columba Turcica 

 seu Persiea, the Turkish or Persian pigeon. 



" The Spanish Runt, as may readily be perceived by its name, comes originally 

 from Spain, and is the longest bodied of all pigeons ; I have seen them three-and- 

 twenty inches long, from the apex of the beak to the extremity of the tail. They 

 are thick and short-legged, loose-feathered and loose-fleshed, and don't walk erect 

 as the Leghorn Runt does. 



" There are of all feathers in this kind of bird, but, being short-legged, are 

 apt to sit too heavy upon their eggs, and by that means break them, to prevent 

 which inconvenience the best way is to put chalk eggs under them, and set their 

 eggs under a pair of smaller Runts, or Powting Horsemen, which are more kindly 

 breeders, not forgetting to give your Spanish Runts a pair of young ones at the 

 time when they ought to hatch, that they may feed of their soft meat, which they 

 always prepare against that time. 



" IJiave seen a pigeon very much resembling the Spanish Runt, with longer 

 legs, but I rather take these Runts to come from Mexico, Peru, or some other 

 parts of the Spanish "West Indies. 



" The Friesland Runt comes from Friesland, and is one of the larger sort of 

 middle-sized Runts ; its feathers stand all reverted, and I cannot see for what it 

 can be admired except for its ugliness. 



" There are other sorts of Runts, as the Roman Runt, which is so big and heavy 

 it can hardly fly ; and the Smyrna Runt, which is middle-sized and feather-footed. 

 I have seen the feathers growing on the outside of each foot, that they look as if 

 they carried wings on their feet. I have measured some of these feathers which 

 have been four inches and a half long. These birds are very apt to drag their 

 eggs and young ones out of the nest, if not kept clean and dry. To these we may 

 add the common Runt, which are kept purely for the dish, and generally in locker- 

 holes or inn-yards, or other places, and are well known to everybody ; they are 

 good feeders, and therefore good nurses, for any of the more curious sorts of 

 pigeons." 



The compilers of the " Treatise " of 1765, and of Girton, repeat the statements 

 of Moore without any addition of importance. 



