176 DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 



surprising results as with the doves. The original wild form 

 of this group is a native of Europe and Asia, where the spe- 

 cies Columba livia, or rock pigeon, is still common, and 

 whence it may be readily won anew to domestication. It is 

 a small, plain-colored, rather invariable and inconspicuous bird 

 about the size of our American dove. In its wild state it 

 dwells in small flocks, nesting by preference in the crannies of 

 the cliffs, and exhibiting no striking qualities which make it 

 seem a desirable subject for domestication. We note, how- 

 ever, that even in this primitive condition the creature has 

 certain physical and mental qualities which have been the 

 basis of its adoption by man as well as of the wide changes 

 which it has undergone at his hands. 



It is a characteristic of all the doves that their young are 

 born in a very immature state, and for some time after they 

 come from the egg they have to be supplied with food which 

 has been partly digested in the crop or upper part of the 

 stomach of the parent. For the proper rearing of the brood 

 there is required the assiduous care of both parents. There- 

 fore quite naturally we find among these birds that the pair- 

 ing habit is well developed, and as they rear several broods 

 each season, that the mating is for life. Although there are 

 numbers of birds in various orders which are accustomed to 

 the monogamic habit, it happens that the pigeon is the only 

 animal which man has ever won to true domestication in 

 which the sexes can be thus permanently united. In the 

 dovecote, however many birds it may contain, the breeder can 

 be always sure as to the parentage of the young which he is 

 rearing. This affords an admirable basis for the practice of 

 his art, which is still further favored by the fact that pigeons 

 reproduce rapidly and the progeny are ready to mate in a few 



