200 



The Irish Nainralisf. October, 



Proceeding along the Sound in a southerly direction, and 

 not far from Darby's Point, were several trawlers, and it was 

 interesting to watch ihe Cormorants diving and coming up 

 just in front of the bow of a boat, at the sight of \vhich they 

 instantly dived again to escape collision. Some of the birds 

 swam quickly across the bow, and when alongside, looked 

 anxiousl}' at the fishermen. Here the Cormorants were 

 thickly distributed on the water; in one small area I counted 

 sixteen fishing. In the fields I noticed three Rock-Doves 

 among the cut corn. From their build and general demeanour 

 1 came to the conclusion that two were cocks and the third a 

 hen. I watched them closely with the binocular for several 

 minutes as they picked up the corn, and noticed that on the 

 ground they did not coo. The bird which I suspected to be 

 the hen rose and alighted on the wall of an adjoining field, 

 and was soon joined by one of the remaining birds which 

 had followed her with a loud clapping of wings. The sexes 

 now became manifest, for the first bird passively received the 

 addresses of the second, wiiich pattered up and down in front 

 of her, after the fashion of all male domestic pigeons, spreading 

 his tail, which he dragged on the ground, and, at the same 

 time, cooing with, inflated crop. Moreover, the male bird 

 "took possession" of a sod of turf which was lying on the 

 wall, and proudly pirouetted up and down it as though master 

 of the ceremonies, driving off the other cock bird which in 

 the meantime had approached the hen and endeavoured to 

 court her. Assuming that the Rock-Dove of the present day 

 resembles a generalized ancestral Rock-Dove in its habits, it 

 would seem that this habit of "taking possession " of certain 

 spots on the house-top or dove-cot, so well known to the keeper 

 of domestic birds, had already existed in the wild ancestor 

 (ColiiDiba livia), and has been handed down to the domesticated 

 descendants. In the light of Darwin's evidence, which goes 

 to prove that all our domestic breeds are descendants of the 

 wild Rock-Dove, we have here an interesting example of 

 conservation of habit over thousands of vears."" 



i"The earhest kiiowu record of pigeons is in the fifth Kg\ptiau 

 Dynasty, about 3000 B.C.. as was pointed out to me by Professor 

 Lepsius ; but Mr. Birch informs me that pigeons were given in a bill of 

 fare in the previous dynasty." (Darwin, " Origin of Species,") 



