THE PIGEON. 



125 



for its protection. The pigeon lays two white 

 eggs, which most usually produce young ones 

 of different sexes. For the laying of each 

 egg, it is necessary to have a particular con- 

 wing-coverts are blue-gray. The greater coverts and 

 secondaries are barred with black, and form two broad 

 and distinct bars across the closed wings. The lower 

 part of the back is white; the rump and tail-coverts 

 bluish-gray. The tail is of a deep gray, with a broad 

 black bar at the end. The legs and feet are pale purplish- 

 red. When closed, the wings reach within half an inch 

 of the end of the tail. 



It is under this species that we include not only the 

 common pigeon, or inhabitant of the dove-cot, but all 

 those numerous varieties, or, as they are frequently 

 termed, races of domesticated pigeons, so highly prized, 

 and fostered with such care and attention by the amateur 

 breeder or pigeon fancier ; for, however diversified their 

 forms, colour, or peculiarity of habit may be, we con- 

 sider them all as having originated from a few accidental 

 varieties of the common pigeon, and not from any cross 

 of that bird with other species, no signs or marks what- 

 ever of such being apparent in any of the numerous 

 varieties known to us. 



The Jacobine Pigeon. This curious variety, which, 



;ress with the male ; and the egg is usually 

 deposited in the afternoon. When the eggs 

 are thus laid, the female, in the space of fif- 

 teen days, not including the three days dur- 



as transmitting to its posterity a form precisely similar, 

 with all the peculiar characters undiminished, comes 

 under the designation, among pigeon fanciers, of a pure 

 or permanent race, is distinguished by a remarkable rurT 

 or frill of raised feathers, which, commencing behind the 

 head, and proceeding down the neck and breast, form a 

 kind of hood, not unlike that worn by a monk ; and from 

 its resemblance to which it has obtained its Gallic trivial 

 name of Nonnain capucin. In size it is one of the 

 smallest of the domestic pigeons, but its form is light 

 and elegant. The bill is very short; the eyes surrounded 

 with a moderate circle of naked red skin. The legs 

 are unplumed. The head, the wings, and the tail, are 

 always white. The usual colour of the hood is reddish- 

 brown, with iridescent tints. The mantle, the wing- 

 coverts, and the breast, are reddish-brown. It is also 

 sometimes seen with the mantle and wing-coverts of a 

 very deep red, spotted with black. Another variety, of 

 a uniform pale fawn-colour, is not unfrequent ; but that 

 most highly prized is entirely of a pure and glossy white. 

 It is a very productive species, and, having its flight 

 considerably impeded by the size and form of its hooded 

 pile, keeps much at home, and is well adapted for the 

 aviary or other buildings where pigeons are kept con- 

 fined. 



The Collared Turtle. From a very remote period this 

 species appears to have been domesticated, or rather 

 kept in that state of captivity in which it is retained at 

 the present day; for there is every reason to suppose 

 that the turtle dove adverted to in Holy Writ may be 

 referred to the same bird, as it is still abundant in Egypt 

 and other parts of the East, where it is fostered and cul- 

 tivated with care, and it is certain that many of the re- 

 presentations in the works of ancient art, where the dove 

 figures as the emblem of tenderness and affection, or 

 where it is depicted as the appropriate attendant ol 



Venus, are accurate delineations of the Collared or domes- 

 tic Turtle. This bird does not appear to be susceptible 



of that attachment to its home or place of birth, for 

 which the common or Dove-cot Pigeon is remarkable, 

 and which peculiar quality renders that species so service- 

 able to man. On the contrary, like its congener the 

 common or wild European turtle ( Turtur communis,} it 

 cannot be left to range at perfect liberty, without the 

 danger of its flying away to return no more, arid must 

 therefore be kept constantly confined either in cages or 

 in aviaries adapted for the purpose. In this state of 

 captivity, if properly attended to, it breeds with facility, 

 sometimes producing as many as eight broods within the 

 year ; but, being a native of warm climates, and very 

 impatient of cold, it is seldom cultivated to the same 

 extent in this country as it is in those where the tem- 

 perature is better adapted to its constitution. The male 

 shows great tenderness and affection to his mate, and is 

 constantly by her side, soothing her with caresses, or 

 paying his court by soft cooing notes, and that peculiar 

 cry so expressive of laughter, and from which it takes its 

 specific name. In its wild or natural state, it is found 

 in various parts of Africa, and we have by us specimens 

 from the southern part of that continent, a description 

 of which, as varying in depth and intensity of colour 

 from the domestic variety, is here subjoined. The length 

 is about ten inches. The chin is whitish ; from the cor- 

 ners of the mouth to the eyes, is a narrow streak of black. 

 The forehead is pale bluish-gray ; the crown darker ; the 

 cheeks, neck, breast, and belly gray, tinged with vina- 

 ceous or pale purplish-red ; the hind neck with a demi- 

 collar of black, some of the side feathers composing it 

 being tipped with white. The back scapulars and rump 

 are of a pale clove-brown, with a greenish tinge. The 

 margins of the wings, the greater coverts, and other wing- 

 coverts, are blue-gray. The greater quills are hair-brown, 

 delicately edged with grayish-white. The tail is slightly 

 rounded, the two middle feathers entirely clove-brown, 

 the remainder on each side with the basal half black, the 

 tips bluish-gray, except those of the two outermost, which 

 are white. The vent and under tail-coverts are white; 

 the legs and feet gray; the inner toe a little longer thau 

 the outer. In its natural state, it inhabits the woods, 

 where it breeds, making a nest similar to that of the 

 common turtle, and lays two white eggs. It seeks its 

 food in the open grounds, and subsists upon grain, grass- 

 seeds, pulse, &c. It is easily distinguished, and the 

 place of its retreat soon discovered by its cooing-notes, 

 one of which we have already stated to resemble the 

 human laugh. 



A mixed breed is sometimes obtained between this 

 species and the common wild turtle, but the progeny are 

 invariably mules, and incapable of further increase, a 

 fact that has been established by many careful and oft- 

 repeated experiments, and one which pflhnts a strong 



