DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 451 



Pigeons cause some harm to our crops, they amply compensate 

 for these devastations by the services which they render to agri- 

 culture. They are equally valuable to the breeder and consumer ; 

 the former derive a certain profit from them, and the latter an 

 agreeable and economical article of food. To give a sufficient 

 idea of the resources which they supply to public alimentation, 

 we have only to state that certain species lay as many as ten 

 eggs a year. Further, they supply a manure which is very effica- 

 cious for some soils. Raising Pigeons necessitates certain precau- 

 tions which cannot be neglected without bad results : the greatest 

 cleanliness is necessary in the pigeon-house or aviary; all tur- 

 bulent individuals which sow discord, and often injure the 

 fecundity of females, must be excluded ; and the races must be 

 separated as much as possible the one from the other, in order 

 to avoid the production of sterile varieties. Amongst the 

 Domestic species the naturalist can study at leisure the manners 

 of Pigeons, and form an exact idea of their natures and inclina- 

 tions; for he can observe them from their first steps, making 

 their early timid endeavours to raise themselves in the air ; after- 

 wards noting at more mature age the evolutions of the sexes, 

 and their fidelity to each other through years after pairing. 

 We will examine rapidly the principal races of Domestic Pigeons. 



The first is, as we have said, the Common House Pigeon, 

 differing slightly from the Wild, which almost exclusively sup- 

 ports the population of Pigeon-breeders ; this is sometimes called 

 the Fugitive Pigeon. The Blue Rock is only a modification of 

 the Wild Rock Pigeon ; in form it is, however, more elegant, 

 while the plumage is prettier. It is one of the most fruitful 

 species. 



The Pouter Pigeon owes its name to the faculty which it 

 possesses of inflating its crop to an immense size by the introduc- 

 tion of air. This peculiarity often destroys them ; indeed, when 

 feeding their young, they find so much difficulty in causing the 

 seeds which they have swallowed to reascend into their beaks, 

 that they contract a malady which is frequently fatal. 



The Roman Pigeons, thus named because they are very common 

 in Italy, are easily recognised from the circle of red which 

 surrounds their eyes. 



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