tip; therefore nearly
twice as long as that of the rock-pigeon, which measured only .77.
Whenever I compare proportionally any part in the carrier and
rock-pigeon, I take the length of the body from the base of the beak to
the end of the tail as the standard of comparison; and according to
this standard, the beak in one {140} Carrier was nearly half an inch
longer than in the rock-pigeon. The upper mandible is often slightly
arched. The tongue is very long. The development of the carunculated
skin or wattle round the eyes, over the nostrils, and on the lower
mandible, is prodigious. The eyelids, measured longitudinally, were in
some specimens exactly twice as long as in the rock-pigeon. The
external orifice or furrow of the nostrils was also twice as long. The
open mouth in its widest part was in one case .75 of an inch in width,
whereas in the rock-pigeon it is only about .4 of an inch. This great
width of mouth is shown in the skeleton by the reflexed edges of the
ramus of the lower jaw. The head is flat on the summit and narrow
between the orbits. The feet are large and coarse; the length, as {141}
measured from end of hind toe to end of middle toe (without the claws),
was in two specimens 2.6 inches; and this, proportionally with the
rock-pigeon, is an excess of nearly a quarter of an inch. One very fine
Carrier measured 311/2 inches from tip to tip of wing. Birds of this
sub-race are too valuable to be flown as carriers.

_Sub-race II. Dragons; Persian Carriers._--The English Dragon differs
from the improved English Carrier in being smaller in all its
dimensions, and in having less wattle round the eyes and over the
nostrils, and none on the lower mandible. Sir W. Elliot sent me from
Madras a Bagdad Carrier (sometimes called khandesi), the name of which
shows its Persian origin; it would be considered here a very poor
Dragon; the body was of the size of the rock-pigeon, with the beak a
little longer, namely, 1 inch from the tip to the feathered base. The
skin round the eyes was only slightly wattled, whilst that over the
nostrils was fairly wattled. The Hon. C. Murray, also, sent me two
Carriers direct from Persia; these had nearly the same character as the
Madras bird, being about as large as the rock-pigeon, but the beak in
one specimen was as much as 1.15 in length; the skin over