size of their bodies, as in the adult
bird; and in this respect they differ greatly from all other breeds,
which slowly acquire during growth their various characteristic
qualities.

Since the year 1765 there has been some change in one of the chief
characters of the short-faced Tumbler, namely, in the length of the
beak. Fanciers measure the "head and beak" from the tip of the beak to
the front corner of the eyeball. About the year 1765 a "head and beak"
was considered good,[357] which, measured in the usual manner, was 7/8
of an inch in length; now it ought not to exceed 5/8 of an inch; "it is
however possible," as Mr. Eaton candidly confesses, "for a bird to be
considered as pleasant or neat even at 6/8 of an inch, but exceeding
that length it must be looked upon as unworthy of attention." Mr. Eaton
states that he has never seen in the course of his life more than two
or three birds with the "head and beak" not exceeding half an inch in
length; "still I believe in the course of a few years that the head and
beak will be shortened, and that half-inch birds will not be considered
so great a curiosity as at the present time." That Mr. Eaton's opinion
deserves attention cannot be doubted, considering his success in
winning prizes at our exhibitions. Finally in regard to the Tumbler it
may be concluded from the facts above given that it was originally
introduced into Europe, probably first into England, from the East; and
that it then resembled our common English Tumbler, or more probably the
Persian or Indian Tumbler, with a beak only just perceptibly shorter
than that of the common dovecot-pigeon. With respect to the short-faced
Tumbler, which is not known to exist in the East, there can hardly be a
doubt that the whole wonderful change in the size of the head, beak,
body, and feet, and in general carriage, has been produced during the
last two centuries by continued selection, aided probably by the birth
of a semi-monstrous bird somewhere about the year 1750.

_Runts._--Of their history little can be said. In the time of Pliny the
pigeons of Campania were the largest known; and from this fact alone
some authors assert that they were Runts. In Aldrovandi's time, in
1600, two sub-breeds existed; but one of them, the short-beaked, is now
extinct in Europe.

_Barbs._--Notwithstanding