Chapter II. 



THE ORIGIN OF FANCY PIGEONS. X> 

 Probable Progenitor. 



ATURALISTS look for the original stock of 

 all tame pigeons in some wild variety, and 

 for a long time the stock dove was regarded 

 as their progenitor. This idea is now ex- 

 ploded, as the stock dove (Columba CEnas] 

 is not a bird capable of domestication. The only wild 

 pigeon now believed capable of being the originator of our 

 domestic pigeons is the blue rock (Columba Livia), sub- 

 varieties of which are found in Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

 The British blue rock inhabits the rocks and caves on our 

 sea coasts, as well as precipitous inland rocks, and certainly 

 the difference between this bird and a common blue flying 

 tumbler is very little. Their colour is identical, their size 

 almost so. The head, beak, and iris of the tumbler are 

 somewhat different from those of the rock pigeon, and the 

 pinions of the latter are longer and stronger, as must 

 necessarily be the case from its mode of life. In the West 

 of Scotland, where fanciers keep and show common pigeons, 

 the wild blue rock domesticated is the bird so called. 



