_Physical Characteristics._--As a race they are of small stature varying in colour from the dark tan of the Arab to the whitish hue of the Servian and the Pole. In fact there are some white-coloured Gipsies, especially in Servia and Dalmatia, and these are often not easily distinguishable from the native peoples, except that they are more lithe and sinewy, better proportioned and more agile in their movements than the thick-set Slavs and the mixed race of the Rumanians. By one feature, however, they are easily distinguishable and recognize one another, viz. by the lustre of their eyes and the whiteness of their teeth. Some are well built; others have the features of a mongrel race, due no doubt to intermarriage with outcasts of other races. The women age very quickly and the mortality among the Gipsies is great, especially among children; among adults it is chiefly due to pulmonary diseases. They love display and Oriental showiness, bright-coloured dresses, ornaments, bangles, &c.; red and green are the colours mostly favoured by the Gipsies in the East. Along with a showy handkerchief or some shining gold coins round their necks, they will wear torn petticoats and no covering on their feet. And even after they have been assimilated and have forgotten their own language they still retain some of the prominent features of their character, such as the love of inordinate display and gorgeous dress; and their moral defects not only remain for a long time as glaring as among those who live the life of vagrants, but even become more pronounced. The Gipsy of to-day is no longer what his forefathers have been. The assimilation with the nations in the near East and the steps taken for the suppression of vagrancy in the West, combine to denationalize the Gipsy and to make "Români Chib" a thing of the past.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The scientific study of the Gipsy language and its origin, as well as the critical history of the Gipsy race, dates (with the notable exception of Grellmann) almost entirely from Pott's researches in 1844.
I. _Collections of Documents, &c._--Lists of older publications appeared in the books of Pott, Miklosich and the archduke Joseph; Pott adds a critical appreciation of the scientific value of the books enumerated. See also _Verzeichnis von Werken und Aufsätzen ... über die Geschichte und Sprache der Zigeuner, &c._, 248 entries (Leipzig, 1886); J. Tipray, "Adalékok a czigányokról szóló írodalomhoz," in _Magyar Könyvszemle_ (Budapest, 1877); Ch. G. Leland, _A Collection of Cuttings ... relating to Gypsies_ (1874-1891), bequeathed by him to the British Museum. See also the _Orientalischer Jahresbericht_, ed. Müller (Berlin, 1887 ff.).