Beeton's book of poultry and domestic animals - Thurman Lodge ...

THE TUHBLEB FIGEON.
taxed feathers assume the natural black or cinnamon, and the
handsome " almond " becomes a common " kite."
Therefore, good reader, set not your heart on " perfect
almonds." If you want variety, match blacl-s with creamcolour,
and breed magpies ; or cinnamon w-th black, and
produce cinnamon-splash. Let your first aim, however, be
to procure well-shaped birds. The breast should be full, the
body short, the neck slender, the eye pearly, and the beak
as straight as a goldfinch's.
Tumblers are specially addicted to making a loud clapping
noise with their wings on rising into the air ; indeed, the better
" clappers " they are, the better they are liked. There is little
doubt that this peculiarity earned for this pigeon the ancient
appellation of Smiter. Speaking of them, quaint old WiUughby
says :— " I take these to be those which the forementioned
Hollander told Aldrovandus that his countrymen called
Draiiers. These do not only shake their wings as they fly,
but also, flying round about in a ring, especially over their
females, clap them so strongly, that they make a greater sound
than two battledores or other boards struck one against
another. Whence it comes to pass that their quiU-feathers
are almost wholly broken and shattered, and sometimes so
bad that they cannot fly." Smiters, or something very Kke
them, must have been known and kept so long back even
as Pliny's time; for we find him writing about some variety
of pigeon as follows — : " Tou would think they were
conscious of their own colours, and the variety with which
they are disposed; nay, they even attempt to make their
flight a means of clapping in the air, and tracing various
courses in it. By which ostentation they are betrayed to the
power of the hawk, as if bound, their feathers being entangled
in the action of making the noise, which is produced only by
the actual shoulders of their wings."
Never let your tumbler fly with other pigeons. They will
not be able to fly near so high as he, and he, being a sociable
bird, will descend and fly with them for the sake of company
consequently his flight will be spoiled. A well-behaved bird
never tumbles, except while ascending or when coming down to
pitch. You may judge of the health of your birds by their
aerial performance. It the bird is not perfectly well, he will
not tumble at all.
To break in young tumblers to a good flight, they should be
let out as soon after sunrise as possible, in company of two or
;