COL 



COL 



ng killed any person by its bite, even in 

 the warm climate of Italy. The testimo- 

 nies of authors, both as to the nature of 

 the poison itself, and its effects on the 

 animal frame, are, however, confessedly 

 at variance. 



The viper, though so much dreaded on 

 account of its bite, has been very highly 

 esteemed, both by the ancients and mo- 

 derns, as a restorative and strengthening 

 diet. The ancients used the flesh of this 

 snake in leprous and other cases. The 

 Greek physician Craterus cured, as Por- 

 phynus relates, a miserable slave, whose 

 skin in a strange manner fell oft' from his 

 bones, by advising him to feed on vipers' 

 flesh in the manner of fish. Galen says, 

 that those afflicted with elephantiasis are 

 wonderfully relieved by eating viper's 

 flesh dressed like eels, and relates very 

 remarkable cures of this disease perform- 

 ed by means of viper wine. In France 

 and Italy, the broth, jelly, and flesh of 

 vipers are in much esteem as a restora- 

 tive medicine. In England we have to 

 instance the well known circumstance of 

 Sir Kenelm Digby, who caused his wife, 

 Lady Venetia, to feed on capons fatted 

 with vipers, to recover her from a con- 

 sumption. 



The viper abounds most in diy, stony, 

 and chalky countries, or in the low her- 

 bage or underwood- in thickets. It casts 

 its skin twice in the year, namely, in 

 spring and autumn, and is said to attain 

 its full size at the age of six or seven 

 years, but is capable of engendering 

 when two or three years old. 



COLUMBA, tht pigeon, in natural his- 

 tory, a genus of birds of the order of 

 Passeres. Generic character : bill weak, 

 straight, descending towards the tip; 

 nostrils oblong, and almost covered with 

 a soft tumid membrane ; tongue entire ; 

 legs short, and generally red ; toes divid- 

 ed to their origin. Latham enumerates no 

 less than 66 species, and Gmelin men- 

 tions even 82, besides considerable varie- 

 ties. We shall confine our notices to the 

 few which follow. 



C. domestica, or the common pigeon. 

 Of these birds vast flocks arrive in Eng- 

 land every year from the northern cli- 

 mates, to which they return on the ad- 

 vance of spring. Many, however, re- 

 main in the wild and mountainous dis- 

 tricts of this island during the whole year, 

 and breed in the clefts of rocks, or the 

 ruins of human habitations, or in the de- 

 cayed parts of trees. From this wild 

 state they are easily induced to inhabit 

 the dove-house, which is the first stage of 

 domestication, and near which they find, 

 in vast abundance, and within a small 



compass, all those conveniences, which, 

 in tracts far from human habitation, they 

 can collect only from a considerable dis- 

 tance, and with extreme difficulty. From 

 this accommodation by man, however, 

 there is perpetual danger of their recur- 

 ring to their former state of freedom, in 

 which, though their means of subsistence 

 are more scanty, they are less subject to 

 alarms. The wild pigeon breeds only 

 twice in a year, but its prolific tenden- 

 cies increase in proportion to its degree 

 of domestication ; and when that is com- 

 plete, it will lay even every month, but 

 scarcely ever more than two eggs, con- 

 taining generally a male and female 

 bird. The flesh of this bird is highly va- 

 lued for the table. Its dung is consider- 

 ed, for some species of land, as a most ad- 

 mirable manure, and it is of considerable 

 service also in tanning skins for shoe 

 leather. In Egypt, a pigeon-house is 

 considered as an indispensable part of 

 every complete farming establishment ; 

 and in the capital of Persia, there are re- 

 ported to be 3000 of these buildings, the 

 privilege of keeping which is denied to 

 Christians in that country. An effica- 

 cious inducement for pigeons to remain 

 in any particular spot is furnished by a 

 mixed heap of loam, rubbish, and salt. 

 Incubation is performed among these 

 birds alternately by the male and female ; 

 and the young 1 are fed from the mouths of 

 the old parents, who are said, for this 

 purpose, by contracting some particular 

 muscles, to draw up the provisions which 

 they have swallowed. Pigeons have been 

 occasionally used for the conveyance of 

 letters, in cases in which intercourse be- 

 tween the parties was extremely diffi- 

 cult ; the bird is to be taken from the 

 places to which the intelligence is to be 

 sent, and when liberated will return to its 

 destination with great rapidity, with the 

 interesting billet under its wing. There 

 are few or no cases, however, which now 

 compel recourse to so operose and doubt- 

 ful an expedient. 



C. palumbus, or the ring-dove. These 

 are found in almost all parts of Europe. 

 They depart from England, however, to- 

 wards the close of. the year, and are ab- 

 sent till the spring. They build large 

 and ill compacted nests in the tops of 

 trees, and avoid the habitations of men. 

 They are one of the largest species of the 

 pigeon, their length being rather more 

 than seventeen inches. Sec Aves, Plate 

 IV. fig. 6. 



C. turtur, or the turtle-dove. These 

 arrive in England later than any other 

 migrating pigeon, and depart earlier. 



