VARIETIES OF TUMBLERS. 
329 
Again, to quote from the 'Treatise,' the Almond Tumbler is 
described as a very small pigeon, with a short body, short legs, a 
full chest, a thin neck, a very short and spindle beak, and a round 
button head, with the iris of the eye of a good bright pearl colour. 
And whose perfection is perhaps as great, if not the greatest 
curiosity in the whole fancy of Pigeons, and would take up a small 
volume to expatiate on, and enter such a description as it would 
admit of and really deserve.' What can we say after this ? Nothing, 
except that the author is not by any means alone in his enthusiastic 
admiration of this merry little dancer upon nothing, which throws 
himself into the air, as boys do into a bath on a hot Midsummer 
day, and sports and revels there. 
All Pigeon fanciers take delight in Almond Tumblers, and 
they have so, as they call it, improved upon the original breed 
by crosses and other contrivances, that their proteges have be- 
come monstrosities. And so we have Timiblers now that have the 
traditional name without any of the amusing qualities of the 
original birds. Dixon says, ' Tumblers have been bred with beaks so 
small that they cannot feed their ovrn young, and with their frames 
so compact that they cannot fly to the top of their breeder's 
bedstead. They are called Tumblers only because, if they could fly, 
they would tumble. The variation of the species has been pushed to 
its utmost possible limits.' 
Among the varieties of the Tumbler breed are the old English 
Tumbler, which has become nearly extinct ; it is smaller than the 
ordinary sort, and an extremely high flier ; its ordinary colour is blue. 
The G-erman feather-footed breed, a large handsome bird, and a good 
breeder ; the general colour of the plumage is black, with white 
feather festoons about the feet, called ' slippers.' But the best 
variety known is the common Flying Tumbler, of which there are 
as many sub-varieties as there are colours in the rainbow. They are 
distinguished by different names, according to the variations in their 
plumage. Thus, we have among the ' whole ' coloured birds, blacks, 
blues, checquers, silvers, duns, reds, yellows, buffs, drabs, ash colours, 
and mealy ; among the variegated, or mixed colour birds, the 
black, red, or mealy mottled ; the mottled are whole-coloured birds 
except having white feathers sprinkled over the head, neck and 
shoulders. The gay mottled reverses this order, except in tail and 
flight, which must be dark; the remainder of the plumage white 
with a few dark feathers interspersed. AYhen the mottling is regular, 
these birds are sometimes called Ermine Tumblers. Then there is 
the grizzle, blue or black, according to the ground, and the red grizzle 
or the strawberry, the terms being synonymous ; the haggle, whose 
colours are between a grizzle and a mottle; a splashed and pink 
Tumbler, whose colours are divided into patches, which again give 
rise to distinctive names. And so on ad infinitum. Then there is 
the Bald-headed Tumbler, sometimes called the Piebald, or the Bald- 
pate, for shortness. And if variety is charming, here is enough of it 
