THE PIGEON. 233 



them to drop senseless from their perch ; and their beak 

 frequently grows so hooked as to prevent them from 

 being able to open their mouths ; otherwise the parrot 

 is a long-lived creature, and, even in this country, ex- 

 ists a number of years, 



THE PIGEON AND ITS VARIETIES. 



The tame pigeon, and all its beautiful varieties, "de- 

 rive their origin from one species, namely, the stock- 

 dove. This bird, in its natural state, is of a deep blu- 

 ish, ash-colour ; the breast dashed with a fine change- 

 able green and purple ; the wings marked with two 

 black bars ; the back white ; and the tail, near the 

 end, streaked with black. 



Tiie stock-dove, in its native woods, differs from the 

 . ring-dove, a bird that has never been reclaimed, from 

 breeding in holes of. rocks and hollows of trees. All 

 other birds of the pigeon-kind build like rooks, in the 

 topmost branches of the forest, and choose their abode 

 as far as possible from man. The dove-house pigeon, 

 jf properly supplied with food, always breeds once a 

 month, but never sits upon more than two eggs ; and, 

 during the period of hatching, the male regularly as- 

 sists in nurturing the eggs : the ybung ones, when 

 hatched, for three or four days require no food, but 

 find their bodies nourished by their mother's warmth : 

 after that period, the old one takes a double supply 

 into her crop, and ejects it into the young one's mouth; 

 and so great is the produce of this bird in a domestic 

 state, that, in the space of four years, near fifteen 

 thousand may be produced from a pair. 



The fidelity of the turtle-dove is absolutely prover- 

 bial, and has been the theme of poets for ages past — 

 The stcok-dove differs greatly from the domestic pigeon, 

 as it only breeds twice in the year ; but its attachment 



