ROCK DOVE. 



Powter, exhibits the first named with a very small round 

 head, and a short, straight, conical beak, not more than 

 half an inch in length, while the beaks of the others 

 measure an inch and a half in length, with a propor- 

 tionally elongated head. Pigeons are great favourites 

 in various countries. Tavernier tells us, page 146, that 

 there are 3000 Pigeon-houses in Ispahan, and Egypt 

 is said to be full of Pigeon-houses : these birds love the 

 dwellings of men, and being carried from home, will return 

 many miles to their native roof. The properties of the 

 Carrier Pigeons, and some allied varieties, have excited con- 

 siderable interest from the certainty with which they find 

 the place where they were bred, and that, in some cases, 

 from an almost incredible distance. When, however, the 

 training these birds undergo is explained, the experience 

 thereby attained, their powers of vision uninterrupted from 

 the elevation they take, and some recollection of prominent 

 objects, with their bearing upon the locality of the desired 



