PIGEON. 



453 



of it differ greatly from each other in appearance. In 

 consequence of these differences it has been divided 

 and sub-divided various ways. There is not much 

 apparent advantage in these divisions ; and when we 

 consider the vast number of varieties into which the 

 common pigeon has been broken, and the great dif- 

 ferences of form, colour, and habit, which are found 

 among these, we ought not to lay much stress upon 

 the differences which we find in those which inhabit 

 countries of different characters, and consequently live 

 upon different kinds of food. 



The most important natural difference in the whole 

 genus, numerous and various as it is, is that between 

 the common pigeon and all the rest. The nesting 

 places of some of the rest are not known, but so far 

 as is known they all build in trees, and the whole of 

 them perch or roost for the night. The common 

 pigeon again, whether in the wild state as the rock- 

 dove, collected in pigeon-houses, or in any of the 

 numerous fancy varieties, never nestles in trees, and 

 never perches in them for the night. Its natural 

 dwelling is in the rocks ; and the pigeon-houses, 

 whether on a large scale or on a small one, which it 

 prefers, are those which contain little cavities or 

 boxes, in which the birds can sleep and nestle. So 

 well is this known, that " pigeon-holes" has become the 

 common name of a little collection of vertical openings 

 whatever may be the use to which they are applied. 



There is still another distinction which is worthy 

 of being attended to ; all the others are wild birds, 

 and cannot be made to return to an artificial habitation 

 if they are once allowed to escape from it. There is 

 no exception to this ; and though many of the species 

 seek their food in seeds that are scattered upon the 

 ground, they all betake themselves to the thick shades 

 of trees when they are to repose. They may be 

 often seen on the wing in different kinds of flight, 

 according to the differences of their habits; but they 

 are never found resting on the house tops, or on the 

 rocks, and they maintain their characters. With the 

 others it is very different; for if a convenient pigeon- 

 house is built nearer the feeding-grounds than the 

 rocks which they naturally inhabit, the wild ones will 

 quit the rocks and very speedily fill the pigeon-house. 

 They are therefore birds which seek the vicinity of 

 man, though not his society, while all the rest of the 

 genus belong strictly to wild nature ; and when man 

 clears and cultivates to the full breadth of the land, 

 their habitations and their place in nature may be 

 said to be gone. These distinctions apply to the 

 general habits of the birds, and they do not admit of 

 change ; so that they are of far more importance than 

 distinctions of shape, colour, and size, which, as we 

 have said, have been artificially produced to a very 

 great extent, in the only case to which artificial means 

 can be applied. 



The pigeons properly so called, are not only more 

 numerous in species and in individuals than any of 

 the other two genera of the family, but they are also 

 far more widely distributed. We mentioned that the 

 pasture of the strong-billed pigeons of the east is very 

 extended, but it is really nothing when compared with 

 that of the present genus. The whole land, with the 

 exception perhaps of some remote islands, is their 

 pasture, from near the north polar circle to as far 

 south as habitable land extends ; and if we except 

 some of the crow tribe, and the birds of prey, there 

 are perhaps no birds so generally spread over the 

 world as the pigeons. We shall now notice a few of 



the species as briefly as possible ; and though we 

 ought perhaps to begin with the common pigeon, the 

 dove par excellence, which is the type to which the 

 popular mind refers, yet we shall take some of thoso 

 which are more remote in their localities and less 

 known in their manners. Before we do this, however, 

 there are some general characters of the genus which 

 deserve to be noticed, notwithstanding the extent to 

 which they vary in the species. The bill is of mode- 

 rate length and strength, flexible in the basal part, and 

 hard at the tip, but not so hard, for so much of 

 its length, or trenchant, as the bills of the former 

 genus. The upper mandible is more or less hooked 

 at the tip, and both mandibles are more or less arched 

 in their outlines. The nostrils are, near the base of 

 the bill, partly covered by a large projecting mem- 

 brane ; and there is a lore or naked space around the 

 eyes. The feet too are walking feet, as well as 

 perching feet, though in different species they take 

 more of one character or of the other, according to 

 the habit. The feet of the common pigeon are for 

 instance walking feet, with very little of the perching 

 character. The external and internal front toes are 

 of equal length, the hind toe is short, and the claws 

 are not hooked, as in the decided perchers, but so 

 placed as that the foot may be wholly planted upon 

 the ground. 



There are one or two pigeons included by Cuvier 

 in this section of the genus which do not appear to 

 come very correctly either within it or any of the 

 other two. They are, however, birds of distant lands, 

 and very little is known of their habits. None, we 

 believe, of the true pigeons, of which the rock pigeon 

 niav be regarded as the type, are inhabitants exclu- 

 sively of warm countries, nor arc they found, very 

 much resembling the common pigeon, in the south 

 and the east, where the true strong-billed pigeons of 

 great beaut}', the nectar-sucking pigeons, and the 

 ground pigeons are so very numerous. The species 

 which most resemble them there, are woodland birds, 

 not ground birds, and, as we said, some of them are 

 I but little known, except in their external appearance, 

 ! and their general agreement with the genus as pigeons 

 and not any other birds. 



A further distinction has been made between 

 pigeons and turtles ; and the birds to which the last 

 of these names has been given, differ a little from the 

 pigeons properly so called, both in their geographical 

 distribution and in their manners. The turtles, of 

 whatever part of the world they may be natives, and 

 however much they may differ from each other, are 

 inhabitants of wanner climates than the pigeons. 

 Their bills are smaller also, their bodies are more 

 slender, their tails are, in many of the species, more 

 produced ; and they are more discursive and inclined 

 to be migratory. In all the species too, to which the 

 name of turtles have been applied, whether correctly 

 or incorrectly it is not for us to decide, there is an 

 exclusive disposition to be woodland in their repose 

 and nesting, though some generally, and many at 

 most times, find their food upon the ground or near 

 it, in the fruits of bushes and the seeds of herbaceous 

 plants. But those distinctions, though of great im- 

 portance in the estimation of those who are great 

 sticklers for nice differences, are of no value whatever 

 to the general reader, and therefore we shall pass 

 them, and proceed to our selection of this species. 



Goura Pigeon. In respect of size, and from the 

 very elegant crest with which the head is ornamented, 



