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THE TUMBLER. 
Owl Pigeon. The eye, too, is of a pencil, or gravel colour, very 
different from the Turbit's ; the head is rounder, and the frill rarely 
so long.' 
The Turbit's chief points of excellence are thus succinctly 
reckoned — a short bill, a full frill, and a small round head. Those 
of the Owl are thus enumerated — beak short and hooked; head 
round, yet well developed ; frill rose-shaped ; size small ; general 
appearance wild ; coloiu* blue or silver, with black bars across the 
wings, and a light powdery end of each colour about the neck. In 
France they have a white variety of the Turbit, which they call 
Pigeon Cravate Blanche. The breeding places for Owls should be 
private and secluded, on account of their Avild shy nature. 
THE TUMBLEE. 
This bird is among the most beautiful, as it is certainly the most 
amusing, of the inhabitants of our dovecotes. He is the aerial 
acrobat of the feathered tribe, tlirowing back summersaults, and 
spinning about high up above the tree tops, in a most surprising 
manner. 
' These birds,' saith Willoughby, ' are small and of diverse colours. 
They have strange motions, turning themselves backward over their 
heads, and show like footballs in the air.' Among the prettiest of 
them are those called Kites, which are self, or whole-coloured — that 
is, all black, or all cinnamon, in various shades, or cream colour. 
There are besides, those that have streaks, or markings of other 
colours, and these are termed ' splashes ; ' so we have the myrtle 
splash, cinnamon splash Tumblers, &c. But the whole, or uni- 
formly coloured birds are most telling in a group, and the most 
ornamental. The Almond Tumbler is consideued the choicest 
variety by * the fancy,' and very beautiful are these tri-coloured 
birds, about which the anonymous author of a Treatise upon Fancy 
Pigeons observes : — ' I have had some so remarkably beautiful in 
feather, that their flight, tail, back, and rump, have resembled a bed 
of the best and finest broken tulips that can be imagined, or a 
piece of the best and most highly polished tortoiseshell ; for the 
more they are variegated, particularly in the flight (that is the wing 
feathers), and tail (provided the ground be yellow), the more they 
are esteemed. I have had some in my collection that have had few 
feathers in them but what have combined the three colours, black, 
yellow and white, variously and richly interspersed. In short, then, 
their beauty far surpasses all description, and nothing but the eye 
can convey a just idea of them.' And yet the little Tumbler, when 
performing his aerial evolutions, however beautifully variegated 
his plumage may be, looks only of one uniform dirt-colour; its 
intricate markings are all lost to the eye, except it be kept almost 
wholly as a cage-bird. 
