[This is a considerably larger bird than the rock-pigeon, and with the
beak, proportionally with the size of body, a little (viz. by .04 of an
inch) longer. The feathers, especially on the wing-coverts, have their
points curled upwards or back-wards.]
SUB-RACE 11/III. NUNS (PIGEONS COQUILLES).
[These elegant birds are smaller than the rock-pigeon. The beak is actually
1.7, and proportionally with the size of the body .1 of an inch shorter
than in the rock-pigeons, although of the same thickness. In young birds
the scutellae on the tarsi and toes are generally of a leaden-black colour;
and this is a remarkable character (though observed in a lesser degree in
some other breeds), as the colour of the legs in the adult state is subject
to very little variation in any breed. I have on two or three occasions
counted thirteen or fourteen feathers in the tail; this likewise occurs in
the barely distinct breed called Helmets. Nuns are symmetrically coloured,
with the head, primary wing-feathers, tail, and tail-coverts of the same
colour, namely, black or red, and with the rest of the body white. This
breed has retained the same character since Aldrovandi wrote in 1600. I
have received from Madras almost similarly coloured birds.]
SUB-RACE 11/IV. SPOTS (DIE BLASSTAUBEN; PIGEONS HEURTES).
[These birds are a very little larger than the rock-pigeon, with the beak a
trace smaller in all its dimensions, and with the feet decidedly smaller.
They are symmetrically coloured, with a spot on the forehead, with the tail
and tail-coverts of the same colour, the rest of the body being white. This
breed existed in 1676 (5/22. Willughby 'Ornithology' edited by Ray.); and
in 1735 Moore remarks that they breed truly, as is the case at the present
day.]
SUB-RACE 11/V. SWALLOWS.
[These birds, as measured from tip to tip of wing, or from the end of the
beak to the end of the tail, exceed in size the rock-pigeon; but their
bodies are much less bulky; their feet and legs are likewise smaller. The
beak is of about the same length, but rather slighter. Altogether their
general appearance is considerably different from that of the rock-pigeon.
Their heads and wings are of the same colour, the rest of the body being
white. Their flight is said to be peculiar. This seems to be a modern
breed, which, however, originated before the year 1795 in Germany, for it
is described by Bechstein.
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