206 HisTOKY or 



times struck by a kind of apoplectic blow, by which they fall 

 from their peiches, and for a while seem ready to expire. * The 

 other is the growing of the beak, which becomes so very much 

 hooked as to deprive them of the power of eating. These intir- 

 mities, however, do not hinder them from being long-lived ; for 

 a parrot, well kept, will live five or six and twenty years. 



CHAP. VIIL 



THE PIGEON, AND ITS VARlETIES.f 



This is one of the birds which, from its great fecundity, we 

 have, in some measure, reclaimed from a state of nature, and 



* Bleeding in the foot is recommended as a remedy for this. Tlie aras or 

 maccaws are cliiefly subject to tliis disease. 



f The birds of tliis genus, wliicli contains more tlian one hundred siiecies, 

 inhabit all the warm and temperate regions of the globe. The species witli 

 short and robust bill are found throughout the whole extent of Africa, in 

 the islands of the Indian Archipelago, in New Holland, and in the islands 

 of the South Sea. The common pigeons, with moderate bill, are the most 

 generally extended through both continents. Those with slender bill and 

 long legs are proper to the climates of the New World, of Africa, and ot 

 Asia, but are not found in Europe. Only four species of the common pi- 

 geons are found wild in this last part of the globe ; from one of them, the 

 biset, as is supposed, are descended all the various races which we find in a 

 state of domestication. 



The pigeons are diurnal and quiet birds, living only on pulpy fruits, ber. 

 ries, and grains, and but very seldom on insects and snails. They are enii. 

 nently monogamous. The male and female concur in the construction of tlie 

 nest, and fix it, according to the species, sometimes on the summits of th 

 largest trees, sometimes in the bushes, and even on the ground, and some- 

 times in the cavities of rocks. Tliis nest, rather rudely composed of small 

 branches and leaves, is very wide, and usually contains but two eggs, and 

 sometimes four. In one species only of the gallinaceous pigeons, the female 

 lays six or eight. The male and female sit on the eggs, alternately, or 

 together. They have two or three broods in the year, and after the last, 

 they quit the climates where they nestle, to migrate into more southern 

 regions. There are at least ^-ery few exceptions to tliis fact. The bor. 

 ders of forests, and the neighbourhood of waters, appear to suit them best 

 As these birds do not digest the seeds of certain fruits, they propagate 

 the vegetable species in their voyages by voiding the seeds with their ex. 

 crements. It is th>is that the multiplication of the nut-meg tree may be 

 explained in islands where no traces of it were to be found at no \ery re. 

 mote era. 



