[I am not sure that I am right in placing these Runts in a distinct sub-
race; yet, if we take well-characterised birds, there can be no doubt of
the propriety of the separation. They are heavy, massive birds, with
shorter necks, legs, and beaks than in the foregoing races. The skin over
the nostrils is swollen, but not carunculated; the naked skin round the
eyes is not very wide, and only slightly carunculated; and I have seen a
fine so-called Spanish Runt with hardly any naked skin round the eyes. Of
the two varieties to be seen in England, one, which is the rarer, has very
long wings and tail, and agrees pretty closely with the last sub-race; the
other, with shorter wings and tail, is apparently the Pigeon romain
ordinaire of Boitard and Corbie. These Runts are apt to tremble like
Fantails. They are bad flyers. A few years ago Mr. Gulliver (5/11. 'Poultry
Chronicle' volume 2 page 573.) exhibited a Runt which weighed 1 pound 14
ounces; and, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, two Runts from the south
of France were lately exhibited at the Crystal Palace, each of which
weighed 2 pounds 2 1/2 ounces. A very fine rock-pigeon from the Shetland
Islands weighed only 14 1/2 ounces.]
SUB-RACE 3/IV. TRONFO OF ALDROVANDI (LEGHORN RUNT?).
[In Aldrovandi's work published in 1600 there is a coarse woodcut of a
great Italian pigeon, with an elevated tail, short legs, massive body, and
with the beak short and thick. I had imagined that this latter character so
abnormal in the group, was merely a false representation from bad drawing;
but Moore, in his work published in 1735, says that he possessed a Leghorn
Runt of which "the beak was very short for so large a bird." In other
respects Moore's bird resembled the first sub-race or Scanderoon, for it
had a long bowed neck, long legs, short beak, and elevated tail, and not
much wattle about the head. So that Aldrovandi's and Moore's birds must
have formed distinct varieties, both of which seem to be now extinct in
Europe. Sir W. Elliot, however, informs me that he has seen in Madras a
short-beaked Runt imported from Cairo.]
SUB-RACE 3/V. MURASSA (ADORNED PIGEON) OF MADRAS.
[Skins of these handsome chequered birds were sent me from Madras by Sir W.
Elliot. They are rather larger than the largest rock-pigeon, with longer
and more massive beaks. The skin over the nostrils is rather full and very
slightly carunculated, and they have some naked skin round the eyes; feet
large. This breed is intermediate between the rock-pigeon and a very poor
variety of Runt or Carrier.
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