AVES. 
95 
the Improved English Pouter” (of which a figuro is given, 137), is 
perhaps the most distinct of nil domesticated Pigeons. 
Group II. includes three Paces: (1) “Carriers/’ (2) “Punts,” and 
(3) “Barhs.” The First have the bill long, narrow, and pointed, the eyes 
surrounded by much naked and generally carunculated skin, the neck and 
body much elongated. (The “English Carrier,” one of the four subraces 
into which it is divided, is figured, p. 140.) The Second have the bill long 
and massive, and the body of great size. (Five subraces are described.) 
The Third Pace of this group have the bill short, broad, and deep, the bare 
skin round the eyes broad and carunculated, the skin Over the nostrils 
slightly swollen. (The “ English Barb,” the only subrace mentioned, is 
figured, p. 145.) 
Group III. is artificial, and to it are assigned a heterogeneous collection of 
Jire Paces \ (1) “ Fantails,” (2) “ Turbits ” and “ Owls,” (3) “ Tumblers,” 
(4) “ Indian Frill-backs,” and (5) “Jacobins.” The First are remarkable fo^ 
the wonderful development of tail, consisting of many rectrices — according to 
one authority, of 42 1 In one subrace, the “ English Fan-tail,” which is figured 
(p. 147), the oil-gland is aborted } in the other, the “ Java Fan-tail,” it is Well' 
developed. The Second have the feathers divergent along the front of tho 
neck and breast, the bill short and rather thick, and the oesophagus SOUie*^ 
what enlarged. The subraces (if any) are not enumerated, but the “African 
Owl” is figured (p. 149). The Third Pace take their name from the habiC 
of tumbling backwards during flight j the body is generally Small, the bill 
usually short, sometimes excessively so, and conical. Four Siibraces are; 
described, one of them, the “ Lotan ” or “ Indian Ground-Tumbler,” being" 
very remarkable ; another, the “ Short-faced Tumbler,” is figured (p. 152)*' 
The Fourth Pace have the bill very short, and the feathers reversed. The Fifth 
have the feathers of the neck forming a hood, the wings and tail long, the bill 
moderately short. Of neither of these latter are any subraces mentioned* 
Group IV. greatly resembles Cohmba livia. It comprises two Paces t 
(I) “ Trumpeters,” and (2) Pigeons scarcely differing in structure from the 
wild stock. ' The First have a tuft of feathers at the base of the neck culling 
forward, the feet much feathered, and a very peculiar voice. They are 
larger than the wild C. livia. The Second are divided into five subraces. 
Besides these, some three or four other little-known breeds are mentioned, 
Passing over a section devoted to remarkable “Individual Variations” 
(pp. I58-IG2), we come to one wherein Mr. Darwin describes at some length 
the “ Osteological Characters ” (pp. 162-171) of the different Paces. These 
are exceedingly important, and prove that scarcely any part of the skeleton is 
constant, while the illustrations show, better even than the full-length figures 
of the birds, the remarkable nature of the modifications which have taken 
place in the head and parts of the sternal apparatus. Then follows a section 
on the “Effects of Disuse” (pp. 171-177), and the chapter closes with A 
“ Summary of tho Points of Difleronco between tlio several Domestic Paces, 
and between the Individual Ifirds ” (pp. 177-179). 
The remainder of Mr, ])arwin’s account of these birds we must pass over 
more briefly. It treats of their “ Aboriginal parent-stock,” the “ Wild Paces 
of Columha livia” (C. affinh, C. intermedia, C. leticonota, C. schimperi, and 
so forth, which are commonly accounted good species, hut differ much less 
than do nearly all tho domestic forms already described), “ Proofs of the 
