THE COLUMBINE, OR PIGEON GROUl'. 125 



house-dove, against the usual rule of domesti- 

 cat.oii, which generally enlarges the breed. 

 Again, those two remarkable black spots on 

 the z'emiges of each wing of the stock-dove 

 would not, one would think, be totally lost by 

 its being reclaimed, but would often break out 

 among its descendants. But what is worth a 

 hundred arguments is the instance you give 

 in sir Roger Mostyn's house-doves in Carnar- 

 vonshire, which, though tempted by plenty 

 of food and gentle treatment, can never be 

 prevailed upon to inhabit their cote for any 

 time ; but as soon as they begin to breed 

 betake themselves to the fastnesses of Arms- 

 head, and deposit their young in safety amidst 

 the inaccessible caverns and precipices of that 

 stupendous promontory." 



Wild pigeons, as we have often noticed, not 

 unfrequently take up their abode in the holes 

 and fissures of old ruins, church towers or 

 steeples, or similar places, and that at a con- 

 siderable distance inland, nay, even remote 

 from the sea. But whether these are true 

 rock-doves, or house-pigeons returned to a 

 state of independence, or a mixture of both, 

 it is not always easy to determine. Great 

 numbers frequent Canterbury cathedral ; 



