[3] ‘Les Pigeons de Volière et de Colombier’ Paris 1824. During forty-five years the sole occupation of M. Corbié was the care of the pigeons belonging to the Duchess of Berry. Bonizzi has described a large number of coloured varieties in Italy: ‘Le variazioni dei colombi Domestici,’ Padova, 1873.
[4] ‘Coup d’Oeil sur l’Ordre des Pigeons’ par Prince C. L. Bonaparte, Paris, 1855. This author makes 288 species, ranked under 85 genera.
[5] As I so often refer to the size of the C. livia, or rock-pigeon, it may be convenient to give the mean between the measurements of two wild birds, kindly sent me by Dr. Edmondstone from the Shetland Islands.
| Inches | |
| From feathered base of beak to end of tail: | 14·25 |
| From feathered base of beak to oil-gland: | 9·50 |
| From tip of beak to end of tail: | 15·02 |
| Of tail-feathers: | 4·62 |
| From tip to tip of wing: | 26·75 |
| Of folded wing: | 9·25 |
| Beak: | |
| Length from tip of beak to feathered base: | ·77 |
| Thickness, measured vertically at distal end of nostrils: | ·23 |
| Breadth, measured at same place: | ·16 |
| Feet: | |
| From end of middle toe (without claw) to distal end of tibia: | 2·77 |
| From end of middle toe to end of hind toe (without claws): | 2·02 |
| Weight: 14-1/4 ounces. |
[6] This drawing was made from a dead bird. The six following figures were drawn with great care by Mr. Luke Wells from living birds selected by Mr. Tegetmeier. It may be confidently asserted that the characters of the six breeds which have been figured are not in the least exaggerated.
[7] ‘Das Ganze der Taubenzucht:’ Weimar, 1837, pl. 11 and 12.
[8] Boitard and Corbié, ‘Les Pigeons,’ etc., p. 177, pl. 6.
[9] ‘Die Taubenzucht,’ Ulm, 1824, s. 42.
[10] This treatise was written by Sayzid Mohammed Musari, who died in 1770: I owe to the great kindness of Sir W. Elliot a translation of this curious treatise.
[11] ‘Poultry Chronicle,’ vol. 2, p. 573.