far as tumbling is concerned, existed in India before the year 1600;
and at this period diversified modes of flight, such as flying at
night, the ascent to a great height, and manner of descent, seem to
have been much attended to, as at the present time, in India.
Belon[355] in 1555 saw in Paphlagonia what he describes as "a very new
thing, viz. pigeons which flew so high in the air that they were lost
to view, but returned to their pigeon-house without separating." This
manner of flight is characteristic of our present Tumblers, but it is
clear that Belon would have mentioned the act of tumbling if the
pigeons described by him had tumbled. Tumblers were not known in Europe
in 1600, as they are not mentioned by Aldrovandi, who discusses the
flight of pigeons. They are briefly alluded to by Willughby, in 1687,
as small pigeons "which show like footballs in the air." The
short-faced race did not exist at this period, as Willughby could not
have overlooked birds so remarkable for their small size and short
beaks. We can even trace some of the steps by which this race has been
produced. Moore in 1735 enumerates correctly the chief points of
excellence, but does not give any description of the several
sub-breeds; and from this fact Mr. Eaton infers[356] that the
short-faced Tumbler had not then come to full perfection. Moore even
speaks of the Jacobin as being the smallest pigeon. Thirty years
afterwards, in 1765, in the Treatise dedicated to Mayor, short-faced
Almond Tumblers are fully described, but the author, an excellent
fancier, expressly states in his Preface (p. xiv.) that, "from great
care and expense in breeding them, they have arrived to so great
perfection and are so different from what they were 20 or 30 years
past, that an old fancier would have condemned them for no other reason
than because they are not like what used to be thought good when he was
in the fancy before." {210} Hence it would appear that there was a
rather sudden change in the character of the short-faced Tumbler at
about this period; and there is reason to suspect that a dwarfed and
half-monstrous bird, the parent-form of the several short-faced
sub-breeds, then appeared. I suspect this because short-faced Tumblers
are born with their beaks (ascertained by careful measurement) as
short, proportionally with the