130 



LEAVES FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF A NATURALIST. 



has undergone any alteration in the crop, or 

 whether the hens feed their young or their mates 

 with such provender. Hunter, from the observa- 

 tions made by him on the parrot-kind, states that 

 he has reason to suppose that they are endowed 

 with the same power as the pigeons. 



As the breasts or udders of mammiferous fe- 

 males become gradually enlarged and thickened at 

 the time of uterine gestation, so, during incuba- 

 tion, are the coats of the pigeon's crop ; and John 

 Hunter, on comparing the state of that organ 

 when the bird was not. sitting, with its appearance 

 during incubation, found the difference very re- 

 markable. In the first case, it was thin and mem- 

 branous ; but by the time when the young- were 

 about to be hatched, the whole, except the portion 

 which lay under the trachea, became thicker, and 

 assumed a glandular appearance, having its inter- 

 nal surface very irregular. It was likewise evi- 

 dently more vascular than in its former state, in 

 order to the conveyance of a quantity of blood 

 sufficient for the nourishing substance. 



* Whatever may be the consistence of this sub- 

 stance when just secreted, it most probably very 

 soon coagulates into a granulated white curd, for 

 in such form," says Hunter, in continuation, " I 

 have always found it in the crop ; and if an old 

 pigeon is killed just as the young ones are hatch- 

 ing, the crop will be found as above described, 

 and in its cavity pieces of white curd, mixed with 

 some of the common food of the pigeon, such as 

 barley, beans, &c. If we allow either of the par- 

 ents to feed the brood, the crop of the young 

 pigeons when examined will be discovered to con- 

 tain the same kind of curdled substance as that of 

 the old ones, which passes from thence into the 

 stomach, where it is to be digested." 



The joke about " pigeon's milk" is not so 

 groundless, after all. But see how beautifully 

 this dispensation is ordered, according to the ex- 

 igencies of the nestling : 



The young pigeon is fed for a little time with 

 this substance only, as about the third day some of 

 the common food is found mingled with it ; as the 

 pigeon grows older, the proportion of common food 

 is increased ; so that by the time it is seven, eight, 

 or nine days old, the secretion of the curd ceases 

 in the old ones, and of course no more will be 

 found in the crop of the young. It is a curious 

 fact, that the parent pigeon has at first a power to 

 throw up his curd without any mixture of common 

 food, although, afterwards, both are thrown up, 

 according to the proportion required for the young 

 ones. 



I have called this substance curd, not as being 

 literally so, but as resembling that more than any- 

 thing I know ; it may, however, have a greater 

 resemblance to curd than we are perhaps aware of, 

 for neither this secretion, nor curd from which the 

 whey has been pressed, seems to contain any sugar, 

 and do not run into the acetous fermentation. The 

 property of coagulating is confined to the substance 

 itself, as it produces no such effect when mixed 

 with milk. This secretion in the pigeon, like all 

 other animal substances, becomes putrid by stand- 

 ing, though not so readily as either blood or meat, 



it resisting putrefaction for a considerable time ; 

 neither will curd much pressed become putrid so 

 soon as either blood or meat.* 



Those who would wish to examine this phe- 

 nomenon more closely will find preparations of the 

 pigeon's crop in that noble museum,f which is 

 John Hunter's best monument. No young birds 

 are in so forlorn a state as young pigeons, if the 

 parents are killed before the young can provide 

 for themselves. Birds of other species, stimu- 

 lated by the cries of the starving young which 

 have been deprived of parental aid, can and do 

 assist the little wretches, but none except an old 

 pigeon with its crop in a proper state can save the 

 life of a nestling dove. 



The gouras, by whose alliance a third colum- 

 ban form of the same race has been ushered into 

 this breathing world of ours, in their natural stale, 

 are probably employed, like others of the dove 

 kind, in disseminating the fragrant nutmegs 

 through New Guinea, the Moluccas, and other 

 islands. For Sonnerat declares, and with truth, 

 that the pigeons which swallow the nuts whole 

 are nourished by the enveloping case, which is 

 alone digested, leaving the nut iiself uninjured, or 

 rather more readily prepared for germinating on 

 the soil whereon it is dropped. 



The Zoological Society possesses a very fine 

 collection of Columbida, and a most interesting 

 tribe they are. Messengers of love, of peace, 

 and of war, they are allied very nearly, as we 

 have seen above, to the mammalia in one part of 

 their organization, and resemble them in some of 

 their habits ; for pigeons do not drink like most 

 birds by taking up a small quantity of water at a 

 time, and throwing the head upward and back- 

 ward, but, like horses or kine, suck up a long 

 continuous draught without raising the head, till 

 thirst is satisfied. 



Columba : whence the name 1 Varro declares 

 from its cooing. Did'the same impression of its 

 notes on the ancient British ear call forth a simi- 

 lar appellation, and induce our ancestors to name 

 the birds colommen, kylobman, kulm, kolm, and 

 culver ? 



The perseverance with which some of the 

 varieties, the carriers especially, when well 

 trained, will return from very long distances, is 

 wonderful : 



It blew and it rained. 

 The pigeon disdained 



To seek shelter undaunted he flew ; 

 Till wet was his wing, 

 And painful the string, 



So heavy the letter it grew. 



This same faculty, which in comparatively 

 modern times was degraded to giving notice to the 



* Animal Economy, edited by Professor Owen. Long- 

 man and Co. 



f The museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of 

 England, rendered doubly valuable by the learned and 

 elaborate Catalogue by Professor Owen, in 5 vols. 4to. 

 The preparations are numbered 3737 to 3741, both inclu- 



