124 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



proportion as it removes from the original 

 simplicity of its colouring in the wood. 



The dove-house pigeon, as is well known, 

 breeds every month ; but then it is necessary 



tricts of the world, being abundant in most of the Rocky 

 islands belonging to Africa and Asia, and in those of the 

 Mediterranean, where it swarms in incredible numbers. 



Upon our own coasts it is found wherever the nature of 

 the barrier suits its habits, extending as far as the 

 Orkneys, where Low describes it as the inhabitant of 

 all their numerous and extensive caves, retiring to their 

 inmost recesses, and generally beyond the situations se- 

 lected for nidification by the auks, gulls, and other aquatic 

 fowl. It is also met with upon the northern and west- 

 ern coasts of Sutherland, the perforated and cavernous 

 rocks which gird the eastern side of Loch Eriboll, 

 and those of the limestone districts of Durness, furnish- 

 ing suitable places of retreat, and again upon the eastern 

 coasts of Scotland, it is seen about the rocky steeps of 

 the Isle of Bass, and the bold promontory of St Abb's 

 Head. 



The supposition of many of our ornithologists that this 

 and the preceding species were identical, has led to con- 

 siderable confusion in their writings, and produced a 

 mixed sort of description strictly applicable to neither. 

 The distinctions, however, between the species, even in 

 regard to plumage, are such, that, if attended to, no mistake 

 can well arise, and if accompanied by. a corresponding 

 attention to their respective habits, the difference be- 

 comes still more apparent and convincing. In one we 

 have a bird the frequenter and inhabitant of the woods, 

 where it roosts, breeds, and perches with security and 

 ease upon the trees, like the ring pigeon and other arbo- 

 real species ; in the other, an inhabitant of caves and the 

 holes of rocks, and which is never known, under any cir- 

 cumstance, to affect the forest or perch upon a tree. 



But the rock or wild pigeon is better known to our 

 readers as the inhabitant of the pigeon-house, or, as it is 

 frequently called, the dove-cot, buildings erected ex- 

 pressly for the purpose of containing colonies of these 

 birds. In this state, where they enjoy a perfect freedom 

 of action, and are nearly dependent upon their own exer- 

 tions for support, they can scarcely be called reclaimed, 

 much less domesticated. Man, indeed, has only taken 

 advantage of certain habits natural to the species, and by 

 the substitution of an artificial for a real cavern, to which 

 the pigeon-house may be compared, has, without violat- 

 ing or at least greatly infringing upon its natural condi- 

 tion, brought it into a kind of voluntary subjection, and 

 rendered it subservient to his benefit and use. Vast 

 numbers of young pigeons in various parts of the world 

 are by this system annually produced and rendered avail- 

 able as a wholesome and nutritious food, as well as a 

 soun:<; of considerable profit to the proprietors of these 

 edifices. 



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 provide 

 for itself, and it generally repays the owner 



Various practical treatises upon the management of 

 the dove-cot, and ether details connected with it, are 

 already before the public, and to them we must refer our 

 readers for further information, as the limited nature of 

 the present work will not admit of such copious extracts 

 as would be necessary to embrace all the respective de- 

 tails. It may not, however, be out of place to advert 

 to a few of the principal objects to be considered, by 

 those who contemplate the erection of a pigeon-house; 

 and first in regard to the form of the building. The 

 most approved is that of a circular tower, as it affords 

 advantages not possessed by the square, giving an easier 

 access to the breeding birds to their nests, and a 

 greater facility of taking the young, and inspecting and 

 clearing out the holes, by means of a ladder turning upon 

 an axis. Around the interior of the tower, about three or 

 four feet from the bottom, a horizontal ledge of eight or 

 ten inches in width ought to project, in order to prevent 

 rats, weasels, and other vermin, destructive to the eggs 

 and young, from scaling the walls and entering the 

 pigeon-holes, and if this ledge be covered on its under 

 surface with tin or sheet-iron, it will the more effectually 

 prevent the entrance of such intruders. A second ledge 

 of less width, and about midway up in a pigeon-house of 

 considerable height, may also be of advantage, not only 

 for additional security against enemies, but as a resting- 

 place for the pigeons when they enter the house. The 

 holes or nests are best built in quincunx order, and not 

 directly over one another, and they ought to be suffi- 

 ciently large to allow the old birds to move in them with 

 freedom, and to stand upright, in which position they 

 always feed their young. 



Frequent attention to the state of the holes is neces- 

 sary, and they ought regularly to be inspected and cleansed 

 after each great flight, that is, towards the end of May, 

 and again before winter. The dung accumulated at 

 the bottom of the house should also be removed every 

 three or four months, as the effluvium which arises from 

 it when in a large mass, and in a state of fermentation, 

 is injurious to the health of the birds, and also prevents 

 them making use of the lower tiers of nest-holes. In 

 point of situation, a gentle acclivity, exposed to the south, 

 and open to the rays of the sun, in which the pigeon de- 

 lights to bask and repose, is the most favourable. It 

 ought not to be too far removed from a plentiful supply 

 of water, as the pigeon is a great and frequent drinker; 

 neither too closely surrounded by trees, as, when near, 

 hey interfere with the free egress and ingress of the 

 birds, and are supposed to be disagreeable to them, from 

 the noise they make in winds and storms. The pigeon 

 being a bird of a timid nature, and easily alarmed, the 

 house should stand at such a distance from all the other 

 offices, as not to be incommoded by any noise or move- 

 ments about them. From a pigeon-house of tolerable 

 dimensions, a produce of many dozens of young may annup- 

 ally be procured, and that for nearly eight months out of 

 the twelve, as they are in full breeding from March till 

 the end of May, and again from August till the close of 

 November ; and all that is required to keep up the breed- 

 ing stock, is to permit a limited portion of the latter 

 hatchings to escape. 



In its natural state, the plumage of the pigeon is as 



follows: Bill blackish-brown: the nostril membrane 



red, sprinkled, as it were, with a white powder. The 

 irides pale reddish-orange. The head and throat are 

 bluish-gray. The sides of the neck and upper part of 

 the breast are dark lavender-purple, glossed with shades 

 of green and purplish-rod. The lower part of the breast 

 and abdomen are bluish-gray. The upper mandible and 



