g of the nostrils) was only a very
little longer, viz. by .08 of an inch. Although there was a
considerable space of bare and slightly carunculated skin round the
eyes, that over the nostrils was only in a slight degree rugose. Sir W.
Elliot informs me that in the living bird the eye seems remarkably
large and prominent, and the same fact is noticed in the Persian
treatise; but the bony orbit is barely larger than that in the
rock-pigeon.

Amongst the several breeds sent to me from Madras by Sir W. Elliot
there is a pair of the _Kala Par_, black birds with the beak slightly
elongated, with the skin over the nostrils rather full, and with a
little naked skin round the eyes. This breed seems more closely allied
to the Carrier than to any other breed, being nearly intermediate
between the Bussorah Carrier and the rock-pigeon.

The names applied in different parts of Europe and in India to the
several kinds of Carriers all point to Persia or the surrounding
countries as the source of this Race. And it deserves especial notice
that, even if we neglect the Kala Par as of doubtful origin, we get a
series broken by very small steps, from the rock-pigeon, through the
Bussorah, which sometimes has a beak not at all longer than that of the
rock-pigeon and with the naked skin round the eyes and over the
nostrils very slightly swollen and carunculated, through the Bagdad
sub-race and Dragons, to our improved English Carriers, which present
so marvellous a difference from the rock-pigeon or _Columba livia_.

RACE III.--RUNTS. (Scanderoons: Die Florentiner-Taube and Hinkel-Taube of
Neumeister: Pigeon Bagadais, Pigeon Romain.)

_Beak long, massive; body of great size._

Inextricable confusion reigns in the classification, affinities, and
naming of Runts. Several characters which are generally pretty constant
in other pigeons, such as the length of the wings, tail, legs, and
neck, and the amount of naked skin round the eyes, are excessively
variable in Runts. When the naked skin over the nostrils and round the
eyes is considerably developed and wattled, and when the size of body
is not very great, Runts graduate in so insensible a manner into
Carriers, that the distinction is quite arbitrary. This fact is
likewise shown by the names given to them in different parts of Europe.
Nevertheless, taking the mo