The RocJcdove. 333 



of the wild birds is exactly similar to that of the com- 

 monest kind seen in our dove-cots bluish-grey, with 

 black bands across the wings. In its wild state it in- 

 habits the cavities of high rocks and cliffs on the sea 

 coast, where it is found abundantly in our own country. 

 The female Pigeon lays two eggs at a time, which pro- 

 duce generally a male and a female. It is pleasing to 

 see how eager the male is to sit upon the eggs, in order 

 that his mate may rest and feed herself. The young 

 ones, when hatched, are fed from the crop of the mother, 

 who has the power of forcing up the half-digested peas 

 which she has swallowed to give them to her young. 

 The young ones, open-mouthed, receive this tribute of 

 affection, and are thus fed three times a day. 



There are upwards of twenty varieties of the domestic 

 Pigeon, and of these the carriers are the most celebrated. 

 They obtain their name from being sometimes employed 

 to convey letters or small packets from one place to 

 another. The rapidity of their flight is very wonderful. 

 Lithgow assures us that one of them will carry a letter 

 from Babylon to Aleppo (which, to a man, is usually 

 thirty days' journey) in forty-eight hours. To measure 

 their speed with some degree of exactness, a gentleman, 

 many years ago, on a trifling wager, sent a Carrier 

 Pigeon from London, by the coach, to a friend at Bury 

 St. Edmunds, and along with it a note, desiring that the 

 Pigeon, two days after its arrival there, might be thrown 

 up precisely when the town clock struck nine in the 

 morning. This was accordingly done, and the Pigeon 

 arrived in London at half-past eleven o'clock on the 

 Bame morning, having flown seventy-two miles in two 

 hours and a half. An instance of still greater speed is 

 mentioned by Mr. Yarrell, in which a Carrier flew from 

 Rouen to Ghent, a hundred and fifty miles in a straight 

 line, in one hour and a half. From the instant of its 

 liberation, its flight is directed through the clouds, at 

 a great height, to its home. By an instinct altogether 

 inconceivable, it darts onward, in a straight line, to the 

 very spot whence it was taken, but how it can direct its 

 flight so exactly will probably for ever remain unknown 

 to us. 



