ROCK DOVE. 279 



and, although he cannot express his grief in words, yet his 

 language of woe is equally intelligible. The melancholy and 

 plaintive sound of his cooing, the dull and ruffled appearance 

 of his whole frame, his disordered feathers, and listless step, are 

 sufficient evidences of the sincerity of his attachment, and the 

 keenness of his sufferings. I am told that instances have oc- 

 curred when the bird has actually perished from grief ; but 

 this I cannot credit ; — at all events, it is long before he can 

 again persuade himself to attach himself to another female. 



" It is very difficult to speak with any degree of accuracy 

 respecting the probable length of the lives of these birds. I 

 have never known an instance where any of them have been 

 found dead from poverty or any disease, except from accident 

 or wounds. From many circumstances I should think they 

 live to a considerable old age. Mr. Andrew Duncan, sheriff- 

 substitute of Shetland, mentioned to me that he had seen one 

 tamed which lived in that state fully twenty years. It lost a 

 wing several years previous to its death ; and this, no doubt, 

 might accelerate its end. 



" Our Rock Pigeon seems to possess the same instinct which 

 the Carrier has, namely that of conveying intelligence from 

 place to place, or rather of finding its way back to the place 

 which it has been taught to regard as its home. Mr. Duncan 

 tells me he had one tamed some years ago in Lerwick ; and 

 after keeping it about the house for some time it became so pert 

 and troublesome that he resolved to send it to the country. It 

 was accordingly put into a close basket, and sent off to its future 

 place of destination, which was at least ten miles from town ; 

 but, to Mr. Duncan's astonishment, next morning it was found 

 sitting above the door of his house in town, having returned 

 the instant it was let loose. 



" It is easy to distinguish the male from the female by the 

 size and plumage. The male is considerably larger, and has a 

 brilliant metallic lustre around his neck, which the female has 

 not in the same degree. Her appearance is altogether more 

 subdued than his, her size smaller, and her plumage of a dun- 

 ner colour. The pair now sent, I am told by those whom I 

 consider judges, are the best specimens of these birds that it is 



