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. {156} 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 IV. Spots_ (Die Blass-Taube: 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;[296] and in 1735 Moore remarks that
they breed truly, as is the case at the present day.

_Sub-race 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.

* * * * *

Besides the several breeds now described, three or four other very
distinct kinds existed lately, or perhaps still exist, in Germany and
France. Firstly, the Karmeliten, or Carme Pigeon, which I have not
seen; it is described as of small size, with very short legs, and with
an extremely short beak. Secondly, the Finnikin, which is now extinct
in England. It had, according to Moore's[297] treatise, published in
1735, a tuft of feathers on the hinder part of the head,