^9^ COMMON PIGEON. Class II. 



lijij mallard, by the curled feathers of the tail : 

 and the tame goofe betrays its defcent from the 

 wild kind, by the invariable whitenefs of its rump, 

 which they always retain in both Hates. 



Multitudes of thefe birds are obferved to mi- 

 grate into the fouth of England: and while the 

 beech woods were fuffered to cover large trads of 

 ground, they ufed to haunt them in myriads, reach- 

 ing in firings of a mile in length, as they went out 

 in the morning to it^di. They vifit us the latefl 

 of any bird of pafTage, not appearing till Novem- 

 her-, and retire in the fpring. 1 imagine that 

 the fummer haunts of thefe are in Sweden, for Mr. 

 Echnark makes their retreat thence coincide with 

 their arrival here * But many breed here, as I 

 have obferved, on the cliffs of the coaft of Wales, 

 and of the Hebrides. 

 Varieties. The varieties produced from the domeftic pi- 

 geon are very numerous, and extremely elegant; 

 thefe are diflinguilhed by names exprefllve of'^their 

 feveral properties, fuch as Tumblers, Carriers, Ja- 

 cobines. Croppers, Towters, Runts, Turbits, Owls, 

 Nuns, Sec. t The mod celebrated of thefe is the 

 Carrier. Carrier, which from the fuperior attachment that 



* J;;ia-;z. Jca^, IV. 593. 



t Vide m/. orn. Mocre's Columbarium, and a trcatife en 

 domeftic pigeons, publifned in 1765. The Jaft illullrates the 

 names of the birds, with feveral neat figures. 



pigeon 



