296 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xv. 



green and purple, and the sides of the neck 

 with strong copper-colour ; the wings are 

 marked with two black bars over the quill 

 feathers, and the tail is also barred with black 

 near its end, but the back is generally white. 

 From this, the art of man has, however, created 

 such numerous varieties, by coupling the dif- 

 ferent sorts, that it would be a vain attempt 

 to describe their peculiarities : it is, however, 

 — like most such inquiries — a mere matter of 

 curiosity, and only interesting to the scientific 

 physiologist. 



The wood-jiigeon — which is also in Scot- 

 land called the "cushat" — is much larger 

 than the tame species, and cannot be domes- 

 ticated ; for, although many persons have been 

 at great pains to attain that object, all their 

 efforts have been unsuccessful. The eggs 

 have been frequently placed under the tame 

 pigeon, but the young birds, when able to fly 

 and feed themselves, invariably go off to their 

 natural haunts, and are seen no more. Nei- 

 ther do they breed in confinement : for al- 

 though they have been bred in the aviary of 

 the Earl of Derby, at Knowsley, and a few 

 summers ago a pair of them built a nest in 



