Chap. VI. 



THEIR PARENTAGE. 



203 



hardly a single well-ascertained instance is known of hybrids 

 between two true species of pigeons being fertile, inter se, or 

 even when crossed with one of their pure parents. 



Sixthly. — Excluding certain important characteristic differ- 

 ences, the chief races agree most closely both with each other 

 and with C. livia in all other respects. As previously observed, 

 all are eminently sociable ; all dislike to perch or roost, and 

 refuse to build in trees ; all lay two eggs, and this is not a 

 universal rule with the Columbidae ; all, as far as I can hear, 

 require the same time for hatching their eggs ; all can endure 

 the same great range of climate ; all prefer the same food, and 

 are passionately fond of salt; all exhibit (with the asserted 

 exception of the Finnikin and Turner which do not differ much 

 in any other character) the same peculiar gestures when court- 

 ing the females ; and all (with the exception of Trumpeters 



(MS. report to me from Mr. James 

 Hunt) a male hybrid from Turtur 

 vulgaris and a domestic pigeon " paired 

 with several different species of 

 pigeons and doves, but none of the 

 eggs were good." Hybrids from C. 

 cenas and gymnophthalmos were sterile. 

 In Loudon's ' Mag. of Nat. Hist.' vol. 

 vii. 1834, p. 154, it is said that a male 

 hybrid (from Turtur vulgaris male, 

 and the cream-coloured T. risoria 

 female) paired during two years with 

 a female T. risoria, and the latter laid 

 many eggs, but all were sterile. 

 MM. Boitard and Corbie'C Les Pigeons,' 

 p. 235) state that the hybrids from 

 these two turtle-doves are invariably 

 sterile both inter se and with either 

 pure parent. The experiment was 

 tried by M. Corbie " avec une espeee 

 d'obstination ;" and likewise by M. 

 Mauduyt, and by M. Vieillot. Tem- 

 minck also found the hybrids from 

 these two species quite barren. There- 

 fore, when Bechstein (' Naturgesch. 

 Deutschlands Vogel,' B. 4, s. 101) 

 asserts that the hybrids from these 

 two turtle-doves propagate inter se 

 equally well with pure species, and 

 when a writer in the ' Field ' news- 

 paper (in a letter dated Nov. 10th, 

 1853) makes a similar assertion, it 



would appear that there must be some 

 mistake ; though what the mistake is 

 I know not, as Bechstein at least must 

 have known the white variety of T. 

 risoria : it would be an unparalleled 

 fact if the same two species sometimes 

 produced extremely fertile, and some- 

 times extremely barren, offspring. In 

 the MS. report from the Zoological 

 Gardens it is said that hybrids from 

 Turtur vulgaris and suraiensis, and 

 from T. vulgaris and Ectopistcs migra* 

 torius, were sterile. Two of the latter 

 male hybrids paired with their pure 

 parents, viz. Turtur vulgaris and the 

 Lctopistes, and likewise with T. risoria 

 and with Columba cenas, and many 

 eggs were produced, but all were 

 barren. At Paris, hybrids have been 

 raised (Isid. Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire, 

 ' Hist. Nat. Geherale,' torn. iii. p. 180) 

 from Turtur auritus with T. cam- 

 bayensis and with T. suratensis ; but 

 nothing is said of their fertility. At 

 the Zoological Gardens of London the 

 Goura coronata and victoria produced 

 a hybrid which paired with the pure 

 G. coronata, and laid several eggs, but 

 these proved barren. In 1860 Columba 

 gymnophthalmos and maculosa pro- 

 duced hybrids in these same gardens, 



