ble in the air, as well as in the manner above described
on the ground. Sir W. Elliot, however, writes to me from Madras, that
he is informed that they tumble exclusively on the ground, or at a very
small height above it. He also {151} mentions another sub-variety,
called the Kalmi Lotan, which begins to roll over if only touched on
the neck with a rod or wand.

_Sub-race III. Common English Tumblers._--These birds have exactly the
same habits as the Persian Tumbler, but tumble better. The English bird
is rather smaller than the Persian, and the beak is plainly shorter.
Compared with the rock-pigeon, and proportionally with the size of
body, the beak is from .16 to nearly .2 of an inch shorter, but it is
not thinner. There are several varieties of the common Tumbler, namely,
Baldheads, Beards, and Dutch Rollers. I have kept the latter alive;
they have differently shaped heads, longer necks, and are
feather-footed. They tumble to an extraordinary degree; as Mr. Brent
remarks,[290] "Every few seconds over they go; one, two, or three
summersaults at a time. Here and there a bird gives a very quick and
rapid spin, revolving like a wheel, though they sometimes lose their
balance, and make a rather ungraceful fall, in which they occasionally
hurt themselves by striking some object." From Madras I have received
several specimens of the common Tumbler of India, differing slightly
from each other in the length of their beaks. Mr. Brent sent me a dead
specimen of a "House-tumbler,"[291] which is a Scotch variety, not
differing in general appearance and form of beak from the common
Tumbler. Mr. Brent states that these birds generally begin to tumble
"almost as soon as they can well fly; at three months old they tumble
well, but still fly strong; at five or six months they tumble
excessively; and in the second year they mostly give up flying, on
account of their tumbling so much and so close to the ground. Some fly
round with the flock, throwing a clean summersault every few yards,
till they are obliged to settle from giddiness and exhaustion. These
are called Air Tumblers, and they commonly throw from twenty to thirty
summersaults in a minute, each clear and clean. I have one red cock
that I have on two or three occasions timed by my watch, and counted
forty summersaults in the minute. Others tumble