THE PASSENGER PIGEON IN PENNSYLVANIA 79 



ped with white, forming portions of rings set obliquely 

 on the side of the neck. The head, chin and part qf 

 the neck are blue-gray; the remainder of the neck and 

 the breast are purple-red ; the upper parts of the body 

 are slate-gray, with wings a darkened hue, and pri- 

 mary quill feathers have black shafts, outer edges bor- 

 dered with white; the under surface of the body is 

 several shades of gray ; the beak, orange, and eyes are 

 topaz-yellow ; base of beak is nearly white. It is one 

 of the commonest of European birds, breeding in al- 

 most every copse of trees and inhabiting the forest 

 grounds in great abundance. They are held in great 

 estimation for the table, especially the squalls just be- 

 fore they are able to fly. They are caught Ijv boys 

 who tie a string about their legs, fastening them to the 

 branches while young, so they will l)e there in their 

 nests when wanted. 



Domestic pigeons are chiefly .modifications of the 

 Blue Rock-Pigeon, (Columba* livia), and if permitted 

 to mix freely display a tendency to revert to the orig- 

 inal type of rock-dwellers, with simple plumage and 

 black bars across the wings. The adult bird is about 

 a foot in length. It is common over most of Europe, 

 Northern Africa, and has even been found in Japan. 

 The pouter, the jacobin, trumpeter and the fantail are 

 all developed from this original race-stock by careful 

 management and selective breeding, we have been told 

 by fanciers. The homing instinct has been developed 

 for ages, and before the electric telegraph was utilized 

 the carrier pigeon carried messages in many parts of 



