st distinct forms, at least five sub-races
(some of them including well-marked varieties) can be distinguished,
which differ in such important points of structure, that they would be
considered as good species in a state of nature.

_Sub-race I. Scanderoon of English writers_ (Die Florentiner and
Hinkel-Taube of Neumeister).--Birds of this sub-race, of which I kept
one alive {143} and have since seen two others, differ from the
Bagadotten of Neumeister only in not haying the beak nearly so much
curved downwards, and in the naked skin round the eyes and over the
nostrils being hardly at all wattled. Nevertheless I have felt myself
compelled to place the Bagadotten in Race II., or that of the Carriers,
and the present bird in Race III., or that of the Runts. The Scanderoon
has a very short, narrow, and elevated tail; wings extremely short, so
that the first primary feathers were not longer than those of a small
tumbler pigeon! Neck long, much bowed; breast-bone prominent. Beak
long, being 1.15 inch from tip to feathered base; vertically thick;
slightly curved downwards. The skin over the nostrils swollen, not
wattled; naked skin round the eyes, broad, slightly carunculated. Legs
long; feet very large. Skin of neck bright red, often showing a naked
medial line, with a naked red patch at the distant end of the radius of
the wing. My bird, as measured from the base of the beak to the root of
the tail, was fully 2 inches longer than the rock-pigeon; yet the tail
itself was only 4 inches in length, whereas in the rock-pigeon, which
is a much smaller bird, the tail is 4-5/8 inches in length.

The Hinkel or Florentiner-Taube of Neumeister (Table XIII., fig. 1)
agrees with the above description in all the specified characters (for
the beak is not mentioned), except that Neumeister expressly says that
the neck is short, whereas in my Scanderoon it was remarkably long and
bowed; so that the Hinkel forms a well-marked variety.

_Sub-race II. Pigeon Cygne and Pigeon Bagadais of Boitard and Corbie_
(Scanderoon of French writers).--I kept two of these birds alive,
imported from France. They differed from the first sub-race or true
Scanderoon in the much greater length of the wing and tail, in the beak
not being so long, and in the skin about the head being more
carunculated. The skin of the neck is red