COLUMBID^E. 135 



sidered by some writers to constitute of itself a distinct 

 Order. We have, however, in the present volume, followed 

 several distinguished naturalists in placing the Pigeons 

 among the Rasorial birds. 



Doves, or Pigeons, have from very ancient times been do- 

 mesticated, and in eastern countries have been kept in vast 

 numbers. A very beautiful figure employed by the prophet 

 Isaiah (Ix. 8) finds elucidation in this fact : " Who are these 

 that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows ?" 

 Mocks of these birds may be seen issuing from the pigeon- 

 towers provided for them in the East, or returning to them, 

 or wheeling around their pinnacles. " Their numbers," says 

 Mr. Morier, "and the compactness of their mass, literally 

 looked like a cloud, at a distance, and obscured the sun in 

 their passage." 



There is scarcely a doubt that our own domesticated Pigeon 

 has been derived from the Rock Dove, which breeds naturally 

 in the seaside precipices or caves. The size of the Wood 

 Pigeon, its refusal when in captivity to breed with the tame 

 Pigeon, and the failure of almost every attempt to reduce it 

 to a state of domestication, setting aside colouring, are suf- 

 ficient proofs of specific distinctness. " Still more remote 

 from the common Pigeon is the Turtle Dove, a bird of 



