Chap. VI. THEIK PARENTAGE, 191 



flight, of which she has lost the power. The r^usk-duok 

 (Cairina moschata) in its native country often perches and 

 roosts on trees,^ and our domesticated miisk-ducks, though 

 such sluggish birds, " are fond of perching on the tops of 

 barns, walls, &c., and, if allowed to spend the night in the 

 hen-house, the female will generally go to roost by the side 

 of the hens, but the drake is too heavy to mount thither with 

 ease." ^ We know that the dog, however well and regularl}- 

 fed, often buries, like the fox, any superfluous food ; and we 

 see him turning round and round on a carpet, as if to trample 

 down grass to form a bed ; we see him on bare pavements 

 scratching backwards as if to thiow earth over his excrement, 

 although, as I believe, this is never effected even where there 

 is earth. In the delight with which lambs and kids crowd 

 together and frisk on the smallest hillock, we see a vestige of 

 their former alpine habits. 



We have therefore good reason to believe that all the 

 domestic races of the pigeon are descended either from some 

 one or from several species which both roosted and built their 

 nests on rocks, and were social in disposition. As only five 

 or six wild species have these habits, and make any near 

 approach in structure to the domesticated pigeon, I will 

 enumerate them. 



Firstly, the Columba huconota resembles certain domestic varieties 

 in its phimage, with the one marked and never-failing di£ference of 

 a white band which crosses the tail at some distance from the 

 extremity. This species, moreover, inhabits the Himalaya, close to 

 the limit of perpetual snow; and therefore, as Mr. Blyth has re- 

 marked, is not likely to have been the parent of our domestic 

 breeds, which thrive in the hottest countries. Secondly, the C. 

 rupestris, of Central Asia, which is intermediate ^ between the <7. 

 huconota and liviu ; but has nearly the same coloured tail as the 

 former species. Thudly, the Columba liftoraUs builds and roosts, 

 according to Temminck, on rocks in the Malayan archipelago ; it is 

 white, excepting parts of the wing and the tip of the tail, which are 

 black ; its legs are livid-coloured, and this is a character not 

 observed in any adult domestic pigeon ; but I need not have 

 mentioned this species or the closely-allied C. luctuosa, as they In 



' Sir R. Schomburgk, in ' Journal * Rev. E. S. Dixon, ' Ornamental 



K. Geograph. Soc.,' vol. siii., 1844, Poultry,' 1848, pp. 63, 66 

 p. 32. ' Proc. Zoolog. Soc, 1859 u. 400. 



