194 LECTURE VI. 



genus in this order, under the title of Columba, is 

 by some referred to a distinct order called the 

 Columbine. The generic characters of the Pigeon 

 are a rather weak and slender bill, swelled at the 

 base into a soft protuberance in which the nostrils 

 are situated: the tongue is entire or undivided. 

 The common Pigeon may stand as an example. 

 To give a particular history of the Pigeon would 

 be superfluous. In its wild state it is known by 

 the name of the Stock-Dove, and inhabits the 

 hollows of rocks and other similar situations. In 

 its domestic or cultivated state it runs into a 

 number of beautiful varieties, the culture of which 

 forms a particular kind of business. This ad- 

 diction to the more rare and singular kind of 

 Pigeons is not confined to modern times, but 

 may be traced to the ancient Romans, who, ac- 

 cording to the testimony of Pliny, were as far 

 gone in the expensive varieties of tame* Pigeons 



* Among others the variety called the carrier Pigeon was 

 highly esteemed both among the Greeks and Romans : it is the 

 nature of this bird to retain a very strong and almost invincible 

 attachment to the place of its early residence : being therefore 

 carried elsewhere, it hardly ever fails to fly back again to its native 

 spot. If therefore marked by any particular token, as a signal of 





