PIGEON. 



459 



The love of home, and certainty of return to it, 

 which, in this species, secures the flock to the pigeon- 

 liouse, and the more wonderful return of the carrier 

 piireon, even when it has been carried away from 

 home in a basket or hooded, is very conspicuous in 

 the wild rock pigeons, or blxcts, as they are called by 

 the French. Flocks from different parts of the coast 

 often meet on the feeding grounds ; but when the 

 time of returning to rest comes round, each one keeps 

 to its own party. 



It is in vain for man to attempt any solution of 

 this upon the principles of human philosophy, any 

 more than it is possible upon the principles of such 

 philosophy, why this pigeon should possess it, and 

 the greater number, if not all the rest, should be 

 without, or than it is possible to explain why a pigeon 

 is a pigeon and not any other bird. But still, though 

 we can arrive at no conclusion upon this subject, by 

 reasoning, it is one which is both open and inviting 

 to our observation ; and it is perhaps more so in the 

 case of this species of pigeon than it is in any other 

 animal. That the animal does riot return in conse- 

 quence of any remembrance of the way similar to 

 what we call remembrance, is quite evident ; because, 

 ;i we have mentioned, the carrier pigeons are usu- 

 ally brought from their homes, shut up in baskets, or 

 mnflled in hoods, so that they can see nothing even 

 on the ground. Besides this, they take the air on 

 their flight at so lofty an elevation, as that they can 

 see nothing upon the ground ; and the proof that 

 they would avail themselves of nothing of the kind 

 if they did see it, is perfectly clear from their passing 

 as readily and as certainly over hundreds of miles of 

 sea where there are no marks as over a few miles of 

 land. The instinct, for we have no other name for 

 it. which enables them to do this, appears to be sub- 

 stantially the same in all ; for the migratory birds, 

 unless when the strength of the wind happens to 

 drive them from their courses, arrive at their breeding 

 places with the same certainty as the pigeon arrives 

 at its home. 



There is, however, a difference in the mode in 

 which the instinct operates ; and this difference is 

 the important part of the matter, because it is that 

 which shows that the bird or other animal will come 

 to an artificial habitation to which it is accustomed, 

 whether that habitation be native to it or not. It is 

 true that we can no more explain the reason of this, 

 than we can explain the reason of the general in- 

 stinct, and it is impossible that we could, inasmuch 

 as there is no reason in the matter ; but we do know 

 that whatever bird or other animal can range to a 

 threat distance, and return to an artificial home, is 

 always capable of being domesticated to some extent 

 or other. There are few, if any, which have it, and are 

 riot serviceable to man in some way or other ; and all 

 that have it strongly, are social when in the natural 

 state. 



Domestic pigeons, which are nothing but the rock 

 MI in a state of greater or less domestication, are 

 kept, that is, encouraged, in pigeon-houses in most 

 parts of the civilised world. We have already ex- 

 pressed doubts as to the profit of having numerous 

 pigeon-houses in districts which are entirely cul- 

 tivated, and we still lean to the opinion, but would 

 not be so dogmatical upon it as to advise any one to 

 demolish a pigeon-house. Except where there are 

 extensive market gardens, and constant culture, the 

 pigeons must find their own food for the greater part 



of the year ; and it may be said to be only for two or 

 three months from the first ripening of the early 

 crops to the last gathering in of the late ones, and 

 while the seeds are sowing, or nearly sown in the 

 spring, that they can be said to be very destructive. 

 While the ground is clear and there are no crops to 

 destroy, and this is the time when they are in the 

 best condition for the table, they are really service- 

 able to the farmer. It is not possible to remove 

 crops, whether cereal or leguminous, from the fields, 

 without leaving a pretty large fraction of the seeds 

 upon the ground. These seeds are not only not 

 wanted there, but if not picked up by pigeons or 

 some other seed-eating birds, they would be a nui- 

 sance to a farmer who farmed in a proper manner. 

 If the kind of grain is not changed every year, the 

 farming is bad ; and if the seeds which strew the 

 ground, and which often amount to a sowing were 

 allowed to remain, they would grow up, and not only 

 render the future crop foul with the mixture, but 

 diminish its quantity. Examples of this are to be met 

 with in cold and upland places where the crops are 

 long in ripening and the birds are driven away by 

 the cold before the fields are cleared. In such 

 countries one seldom finds a patch of oats without an 

 admixture of barley in it, or a patch of barley with- 

 out an admixture of oats. Nor is this the worst, for 

 there is a want of little birds upon the fields to pick 

 the seeds of those noxious plants, by which the crops 

 are greatly diminished and their quality injured, and 

 sometimes rendered unwholesome. The people of 

 the midland and southern counties of England, and 

 of rich and warm districts in other parts of the coun- 

 try, may thank the Hocking birds of winter that their 

 meadows are so exclusively covered with grass, and 

 their crops so free from weeds the more so, that in 

 some of the places alluded to, the agriculture is very 

 slovenly, so that, but for the birds, weeds would in a 

 very short time be the staple crop. 



It is upon this principle that the utility of pigeon- 

 houses admits of defence ; and then the extreme 

 fertility of the birds, the goodness of the flesh of the 

 young ones, and the great value of the clearance of 

 the pigeon-house as a warm and stimulating manure, 

 plead powerfully to the same effect. In districts 

 where pigeons are numerous they also come in in 

 the best condition when the people of the districts 

 have comparatively little time to go in quest of other 

 food, from the necessity of attending to the gathering 

 in of their crops, at the time when the weather begins 

 to break in prelude to the autumnal rains, by which, 

 if the crops are overtaken, the result is always very 

 disastrous. For these reasons we suppose that, after 

 all, we must give our advice in favour of the pigeon- 

 house, though it would be foreign to our purpose to 

 describe minutely the construction and management 

 of a pigeon-house. The house should be on a slope 

 facing the south, and the roof should be a pretty 

 steep southern slope, to enable the birds to bask in 

 the sun. Water should be near, and it should not, be 

 shaded, or closely surrounded by trees ; it is better, 

 indeed, to stand bv itself, so that the birds may not 

 be disturbed in their labours. Though most of the 

 old pigeon-houses are square, a circle is preferable ; 

 and it might be defended both inside and out by a 

 projecting ledge below all the pigeon-holes, to pre- 

 vent destructive animals from reaching there ; and, 

 besides this protecting ledge, there should be others 

 higher up for the birds to alight upon as they enter 



