232 ON THE BEARING AND MANAGEMENT 



cote with mirrors, and prosecuting all other practices, 

 whether legitimate or not, for its increase? while to 

 those of maturer years, the congregation of facts upon 

 any subject is ever acceptable, when these supersede 

 the labour of personal investigation and research. 



Although, in point of national economy, it may be 

 doubted whether the cultivation of this group of birds 

 be profitable, yet from their peculiar beauty and in- 

 nocent manners, they well deserve the regard of man- 

 kind. In eastern regions, the dove has always been 

 venerated ; and even in Christian countries, it has 

 ever been regarded with delight. Every one is aware 

 of its being the honoured bearer of the olive leaf to 

 the prisoners in the ark of the deluge. 



But altogether apart from these considerations, it is 

 very doubtful, whether the pigeon be not as much a 

 protector as a destroyer of land under cultivation ; for 

 although there can be no question that these birds 

 consume and destroy a great deal of grain, yet it must 

 not be lost sight of, that they also devour a great quan- 

 tity of the seed of many noxious weeds, which, if per- 

 mitted to grow, would be more prejudicial to agricul- 

 ture than all the corn they abstract from the soil or 

 sheaf, in the spring and autumn. 



It is recorded in Mowbray's Practical Treatise, 



