PIGEONS. 



271 



in jeopardy, when visited by such a voracious multitude of 



Farroquct. 



pilferers, who, like the locusts of Egypt, desolate whole tracts 

 of country by their unsparing ravages. 



Table XVII. (See page 17.) 

 Order 4. Gallinaceous (or Poultry tribe). 



"We now come to one of the most useful divisions of birds, 

 forming in their domesticated state no inconsiderable source 

 of profit to those who rear them for the purpose of sale. In 

 the tables of classification, the Order comprises three tribes : — « 

 1st, Pigeons; 2d, Fowls, or common Poultry; and 3d, the 

 short-winged families of Ostriches, Cassowaries, &c, which by 

 others have been classed amongst the Waders, in consequence 

 of their length of legs. 



In this country where Pigeons are, generally speaking, a 

 domestic bird, few persons have an idea of their countless 

 increase and abundance, when left to themselves, roaming over 

 wide tracts, and following, almost without interruption, theii 

 natural habits. Even in our dovecots, however, their increase 

 is often prodigious ; it having been found that, in the course 

 of four years, nearly 15,000 have been produced from a single 

 pair. Bearing this in mind, the reader will be better prepared 



