ROCK DOVE. 263 



Nathaniel Thornbury, who had occasionally visited Holland, 

 informed me that the Pigeons about the Hague make daily 

 marauding excursions, at certain seasons, to the opposite 

 shore of Norfolk, to feed on vetches, a distance of forty 

 leagues.'"' Domestic Pigeons have been known to live 

 twenty years ; but ten or twelve years are more common, and 

 they are not usually very prolific after five years. 



One of the first consequences of domestication, it is well 

 known, is the production of various colours, generally, how- 

 ever, retaining some indication of the original race, or repro- 

 ducing some of the original traits, if selection be not attended 

 to. The numerous and remarkable varieties among what 

 are called Fancy Pigeons, however first established, are now 

 maintained and perpetuated by selection and restriction, and 

 some of them are among the most curious of zoological re- 

 sults. In some instances a remarkable change has been 

 effected in the character of the feather ; thus in the Jacobins, 

 more frequently for brevity's sake called Jacks, there is a 

 range of feathers inverted quite over the hinder part of the 

 head, and reaching down on each side of the neck as low as 

 the wings, forming a hood. Another change, equally extra- 

 ordinary, has been effected in that variety called the Broad- 

 tailed Shakers ; the tail-feathers in these birds, all beautifully 

 spread, amount to thirty-six, though the normal number of 

 tail-feathers is but twelve. 



The changes, however, in some fancy Pigeons are not con- 

 fined to the feathers, but modifications in form are effected in 

 the bones. A comparison of the Short-faced Tumbler and 

 the Carrier exhibits the first named with a very small round 

 head, and a short, straight, conical beak, not more than half 

 an inch in length, while the beak of the Carrier Pigeon mea- 

 sures an inch and a half in length, with a proportionally 

 elongated head. The properties of the Carrier Pigeons, and 

 some allied varieties, have also excited considerable interest 



