120 OUR DOMESTIC FOWXS. 



opinion wliicli goes to associate the columbine 

 tribes into an order distinct from any other, 

 ■will be found to be completely justified, 



De Blainville places the pigeons in an order 

 ■which he calls Sponsores. The prince of 

 Musiguano terms them Gyr antes, (in allusion 

 to their circular flight.) In the "Museum of 

 Animated Nature" they are termed Gyratores. 



The Domestic Pigeon. — The domestic 

 pigeon is divided into almost innumerable 

 varieties, from the high-bred carrier to 

 the ordinary race of the dovecote; yet, di- 

 versified as they are in appearance, they 

 are all, according to the opinion of those ■who 

 have investigated the subject, descendants of 

 the common rock dove,* {Columba livia.) To 

 this opinion, ■were -^e not from experience 

 aware of the difiiculty of keeping up any 

 remarkable strain in its purity, -we should 

 hesitate to subscribe ; and we are not quite 

 sure that there is not some ancient admixture 

 of allied species, (as we believe to be in the 

 instance of the dog,) whence, perhaps, arises 

 a certain constitutional tendency to assume, at 

 indefinite periods, varieties of form and con- 



* Not the stock dove, (Col. jEnas,) whicli is a forest or wood- 

 land tird, and has obtained its title in error. 



