586 AVES— PIGEON. 



alternately till the young are excluded, which is from eighteen to twenty 

 days, according to the warmth of the season. If, during this term, the 

 female delays to return at the expected hour, the male follows, and drives 

 her to the nest ; and should he in his turn be dilatory, she retaliates with 

 equal severity. 



The hen pigeon is, however, so constant to her eggs, that one, whose legs 

 were frozen and dropped off, continued to sit, notwithstanding the pain 

 which she endured with the loss of her limbs, till her young were hatched. 

 Her legs were frozen by the nest being too near the entrance of the dovecote, 

 and consequently exposed to the cold air. 



The young ones, when hatched, require no food for the three first days, 

 only wanting to be kept warm, which is an employment the female takes 

 entirely upon herself. During this period she never stirs out, except for a 

 few minutes, to take a little food. From this they are fed for eight or ten 

 days, with corn, or grain, of different kinds, which the old ones gather in 

 the fields, and keep treasured up in their crops, whence they throw it up 

 again into the mouths of their young ones, who very greedily demand it. 

 So great is the produce of this bird in its domestic state, that near fifteen 

 thousand may, in the space of four years, be produced from a single pair. 



Most birds drink by sipping at intervals; the pigeon takes along continued 

 draught, like a quadruped. 



Those pigeons which are called carriers, and are used to convey letters, 

 are easily distinguished from all others, by their eyes, which are compassed 

 about with a broad circle of naked white skin, and by being of a dark blue 

 or blackish color. It is from their attachment to their native place, and 

 particularly where they have brought up their young, that these birds are 

 employed in several countries as the most expeditious carriers. They are 

 first brought from the place where they were bred, and whither it is intended 

 to send them back with information. The letter is tied under the bird's 

 wing, and, after feeding it well, lest it should stop by the way to eat, it is 

 let loose to return. The little animal no sooner finds itself at liberty, than 

 its passion for its native spot directs all its motions. It is seen, upon these 

 occasions, flying directly into the clouds to an amazing height ; and then, 

 with the greatest certainty and exactness, directing itself by some surprising 

 instinct towards home, which lies sometimes at many miles distance. It 

 is said, that, in the space of an hour and a half, they sometimes perform a 

 journey of forty miles. 



The varieties of the tame pigeon are so numerous, that it would be a vain 

 attempt to mention them all. 



