HISTORY OF 



Dove only ; the English name, implying its being 

 the stock or stem from whence the other domes- 

 tic kinds have been propagated. This bird, in 

 its natural state, is of a deep bluish ash colour ; 

 the breast dashed with a fine changeable green 

 and purple; its wings marked with two black 

 bars ; the back white, and the tail barred near 

 the end with black. These are the colours of the 

 pigeon in a state of nature ; and from these sim- 

 ple tints has man by art propagated a variety that 

 words cannot describe, nor even fancy suggest. 

 However, nature still perseveres in her great out- 

 line ; and though the form, colour, and even the 

 fecundity of these birds may be altered by art, 

 yet their natural manners and inclinations conti- 

 nue still the same. 



The stock-dove, in its native woods, differs 

 from the ring-dove, a bird that has never been 

 reclaimed, by its breeding in the holes of rocks 

 and the hollows of trees. All other birds of the 

 pigeon kind build, like rooks, in the topmost 

 branches of the forest, and choose their habita- 

 tion as remote as possible from man. But this 

 species soon takes to build in artificial cavities ; 

 and from the temptation of a ready provision and 

 numerous society, easily submits to the tyranny 

 of man. Still, however, it preserves its native 

 colour for several generations, and becomes more 

 variegated only in proportion as it removes from 

 the original simplicity of its colouring in the 

 woods. 



The dove-house pigeon, as is well known, 

 breeds every month ; but then it is necessary to 



