12 ANCIENT DOMESTICATION. [CHAP. i. 



turtle dove, and a young pigeon." In Leviticus i., 

 where the offerings of the domesticated creatures of the 

 Israelites are particularized, at verse 14 it is ordered, 

 " And if the burnt-sacrifice, for his offering to the 

 Lord, be of fowls ; then he shall bring his offering of 

 turtle-doves, or of young pigeons. And the priest 

 shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and 

 burn it on the altar: and the blood thereof shall be 

 wrung out at the side of the altar. And he shall pluck 

 away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the 

 altar, on the east part, by the place of the ashes. And 

 he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not 

 divide it asunder : and the priest shall burn it upon 

 the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire : it is a 

 burnt-sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet 

 savour unto the Lord." In the same book, chap. v. 7, 

 we find, "And if he be not able to bring a lamb, 

 then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath com- 

 mitted, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the 

 Lord." Similar mention of the Pigeon and the Turtle- 

 Dove is made at xii. 6; xiv. 22 ; xv. 14, 29 ; and in 

 Numbers vi. 10. Birds appear to have been the sacri- 

 fice of the poor, as cattle, sheep, and goats were of the 

 wealthy. There can be little doubt that the Turtle- 

 Doves were the Collared Turtles known to us ; being 

 kept in cages, they and young pigeons would always be 

 at hand; whereas the common European Turtle, a wild 

 and migratory bird, could only be had at certain sea- 

 sons, and even then only according to the chance suc- 

 cess of the fowler, fire-arms not yet affording a sure 

 means of capture : for the way in which Turtle-Doves 

 are thus spoken of, as equivalent to Pigeons, and as if 

 always obtainable, shows plainly, I think, that the for- 



