THB TAME PIOIOV. 



THE TAME PIGEON. (^Columha livia,) 



Passing over the common barn fowl and the parti idge 

 pheasant, quail, and grouse, we come to the common tame 

 Pigeon, as a specimen of the genus Columhaj of which there 

 are many species. The tame Pigeon is well known as to 

 the shape, but the colour varies so much, that it eludes the 

 rules of classification. They prefer a gregarious life, and 

 abide often, to the number of five or six thousand, in a iot 

 purposely built for them in the neighbourhood of a farm- 

 yard, with proper holes to nestle in. The female Pigeon 

 through the whole species, lays two eggs at a time, which 

 produce generally a male and a female. It is pleasing to 

 see how eager the male is to sit upon the eggs, in order 

 that his mate may rest and feed herself. The young ones, 

 when hatched, require no food for the first three days, 

 warmth is their only nourishment; they are then fed from 

 the crop of the mother; who has the power of forcing up the 

 half-digested peas which she has swallowed to give them to 

 her young. The young ones, open-mouthed, receive this 

 tribute of affection, and are thus fed three times a day. 



ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTE. 



There are upwards of twenty varieties of the domestic 

 Pigeon, and of these the Carriers are the most celebrated. 

 They obtain their name from being sometimes employed t« 



