=Tumbler and Tippler Pigeons.= The flying powers of pigeons have been developed for other purposes as well as for traveling long distances. In rising or descending in flight a pigeon sometimes turns a somersault in the air. This trait has been developed in certain races so that many birds will perform the feat very often. These races are called Tumblers. They are found all over Europe and Asia and in a few localities in America. The common Tumblers perform in the air, usually at some distance from the ground, the tumbling of individual birds being an occasional feature of the evolutions of a flock circling about in the vicinity of its home. From this common Tumbler more highly specialized types have been developed. The breeding of these types has become something of an art, and in some cases the sport of flying them has become a well-organized recreation. [Illustration: Fig. 195. Squab-breeding Homers. (Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts)] By breeding together specimens which performed well when flying, Tumblers were finally produced in which the tumbling propensity was so exaggerated that they could not fly but, after a few somersaults, alighted on their feet. These birds were called Inside Tumblers, or Parlor Tumblers, to distinguish them from the common Tumblers, which required more room for their evolutions than any ordinary building afforded. Although they are incapable of flight, the Parlor Tumblers can rise a short distance before they fall. The Roller is a Tumbler which turns many somersaults so rapidly that each revolution of its body is made in a very small space. A high-flying Roller falls while rolling in the air. An Inside Roller turns over and over backward on the ground. [Illustration: Fig. 196. Clean-legged Red Tumbler[18]] [Illustration: Fig. 197. Muffed, or Feather-legged, Tumblers[18]] [18] Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Massachusetts.