294 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xv. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Breeds of pigeons — The stock-dove, the wood-pigeon, and 

 the cushat — Migratory flights — The turtle-dove — The car- 

 rier, and its speed — English species — The domestic dove- 

 house pigeon — Pairing and breeding — Nests and hatching 

 — Dove-cotes: building and arrangement of different 

 sorts — Her Majesty's — Flesh and flavour of the pigeon — 

 Food — Cost — Appetite for salt — Attachment to home — 

 Anecdote — Salt-cat — D iseases. 



Pigeons are of various orders — croppers, car- 

 riers, powters, runts, and tumblers, of the do- 

 mestic sort; but these, as well as the wild 

 tribes of the wood-pigeon — known as the ring- 

 dove, the turtle-dove, the rock, and the stock- 

 dove — are all of the same species, and too 

 well-known to need particular description, 

 though, of the two latter, which are very 

 nearly allied, the ring-dove is much larger 

 than any of the others. Naturalists, indeed, 

 enumerate more than thirty different kinds ; 

 which, although nearly resembling each other 

 in graceful elegance of appearance, yet differ 



