530 



A HISTORY OF 



the other domestic kinds have been propa- 

 gated. This bird, in its natural state, is of a 

 deep bluish ash-colour; the breast dashed 

 with a fine changeable green and purple ; its 

 wings marked with two black bars ; the 

 back white, and the tail barred near the end 

 with black. These are the colours of the 

 pigeon in a state of nature; and from these 

 simple tints has man by art propagated a va- 

 riety that words cannot describe, nor even 

 fancy suggest. However, nature still per- 

 severes in her great outline ; and though the 

 form, colour, and even the fecundity, of these 

 birds, may be altered by art, yet their natu- 

 ral manners and inclinations continue still the 

 same. 



The stock-dove, in its native woods, differs 

 from the ring-dove, a bird that has never been 

 reclaimed, by its breeding in the holes of rocks 

 and the hollows of trees. All other birds of 

 the pigeon kind build, like rooks, in the top- 

 most branches of the forest, and choose their 

 habitation as remote as possible from man. 

 But this species soon takes to build in artificial 

 cavities ; and, from the temptation of a ready 

 provision and numerous society, easily sub- 

 mits to the tyranny of man. Still, however, 

 it preserves its native colour for several gene- 

 rations, and becomes more variegated only 

 in proportion as it removes from the original 

 simplicity of its colouring in the woods. 



The Dove-house Pigeon, as is well known, 

 breeds every month; but then it is necessary 

 to supply it with food when the weather is 

 severe, or the fields are covered with snow. 

 Upon other occasions, it may be left to pro- 

 vide for itself, and it generally repays the 

 owner for his protection. The pigeon lays 

 two white eggs, which most usually produce 

 young ones of different sexes. For the lay- 

 ing of each egg, it is necessary to have a 

 particular congress with the male ; and the 

 egg is usually deposited in the afternoon. 

 When the eggs are thus laid, the female, in 

 the space of fifteen days, not including the 

 three days during which she is employed in 

 laying, continues to hatch, relieved at inter- 

 vals by the male. The turns are usually re- 

 gulated with great exactness. From three or 

 four o'clock in the evening till nine the next 

 day, the female continues to sit; she is then 

 relieved by the male, who takes his place 



from ten till three, while his mate is feeding 

 abroad. In this manner they t^it alternately 

 till the young are excluded. If, during this 

 term, the female delays to return at the ex- 

 pected time, the male follows, and drives her 

 to the nest ; and should he in his turn be 

 dilatory, she retaliates with equal severity. 



The young ones, when hatched, require no 

 food for the three first days, only wanting 

 to be kept warm, which is an employment 

 the female takes entirely upon herself. 

 During this period, she never stir* out, except 

 for a few minutes to take a little food. From 

 this they are fed for eight or ten days with 

 corn or grain of different kinds, which the old 

 ones gather in the fields, and keep treasured 

 up in their crops, from whence they throw it 

 up again into the mouths of their young ones, 

 who very greedily demand it. 



As this method of feeding the young from 

 the crop is different in birds of the pigeon- 

 kind from all others, it demands a more de- 

 tailed explanation. Of all birds, for its size, 

 the pigeon has the largest crop, which is also 

 made in a manner quite peculiar to the kind. 

 In two of these that were dissected by a 

 member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, 

 it was found that if the anatomist blew air 

 into the wind-pipe, it distended the crop or 

 gullet to a prodigious size. This was the 

 more extraordinary, as there seemed to be 

 no communication whatever between these 

 two receptacles ; as the conduit by which we 

 breathe, as every one kiiovvs, leads to a very 

 different receptacle from that where we put 

 our food. By what apertures the air blown 

 into the lungs of the pigeon makes its way 

 into the crop, is unknown; but nothing is more 

 certain than that these birds have a power of 

 filling the crop with air ; and some of them, 

 which are called croppers, distend it in such 

 a manner, that the bird's breast seems bigger 

 than its body. The peculiar mechanism of 

 this part is not well known; but the necessity 

 for it in those animals is pretty obvious. The 

 pigeon, as we all know, lives entirely upon 

 grain and water: these are mixed together in 

 the crop; and iii the ordinary way are 

 digested in proportion ns the bird lays in its 

 provision. But !o feod its young, which are 

 very voracious, it is necessary to lay in a 

 store greater than ordin <ry, and to give the 



