which ran down
its back not unlike a horse's mane. "When it is salacious it rises over
the hen and turns round three or four times, flapping its wings, then
reverses and turns as many times the other way." The Turner, on the
other hand, when it "plays to the female, turns only one way." Whether
these extraordinary statements may be trusted I know not; but the
inheritance of any habit may be believed, after what we have seen with
respect to the Ground-tumbler of India. MM. Boitard and Corbie describe
a pigeon[298] which has the singular habit of sailing for a
considerable time through the air, without flapping its wings, like a
bird of prey. The confusion is inextricable, from the time of
Aldrovandi in 1600 to the present day, in the accounts published of the
Draijers, Smiters, Finnikins, Turners, Claquers, &c., which are all
remarkable from their manner of flight. Mr. Brent informs me that he
has seen one of these breeds in Germany with its wing-feathers injured
from having been so often struck together; but he did not see it
flying. An old stuffed specimen of a Finnikin in the British Museum
presents no well-marked character. Thirdly, a singular pigeon {157}
with a forked tail is mentioned in some treatises; and as
Bechstein[299] briefly describes and figures this bird, with a tail
"having completely the structure of that of the house-swallow," it must
once have, existed, for Bechstein was far too good a naturalist to have
confounded any distinct species with the domestic pigeon. Lastly, an
extraordinary pigeon imported from Belgium has lately been exhibited at
the Philoperisteron Society in London,[300] which "conjoins the colour
of an archangel with the head of an owl or barb, its most striking
peculiarity being the extraordinary length of the tail and
wing-feathers, the latter crossing beyond the tail, and giving to the
bird the appearance of a gigantic swift (Cypselus), or long-winged
hawk." Mr. Tegetmeier informs me that this bird weighed only 10 ounces,
but in length was 151/2 inches from tip of beak to end of tail, and 321/2
inches from tip to tip of wing; now the wild rock-pigeon weighs 141/2
ounces, and measures from tip of beak to end of tail 15 inches, and
from tip to tip of wing only 263/4 inches.

I have now described all the domestic pigeons known to me, and have added a
few o