CHAP, i.] ESTABLISHED IN AMERICA. 15 



soon provided ourselves with an extempore dinner, be- 

 sides the enjoyment of half an hour's very pretty prac- 

 tice."* 



It is very probable that, before many years have 

 elapsed, \ve shall have similar accounts, from sporting 

 tourists in the New World, of shooting scenes in which 

 the very same species, the feral Columba lima, or Dove- 

 house Pigeon returned to an independent condition, 

 plays the principal part as victim and target for fowling- 

 piece practice. It is strange if there are not already 

 some self-emancipated pairs tenanting the rocks along 

 the course of the Hudson. "In the United States," 

 Mr. Thos. S. Woodcock says, " I can speak from per- 

 sonal observation, that Fancy Pigeons are cultivated 

 in great variety. I knew one person in New York, and 

 another in Brooklyn, who had large collections. The 

 Carrier was employed there extensively before the in- 

 troduction of the electric telegraph, and I presume that 

 all have been introduced a long time, probably by the 

 earliest colonists, for no one ever thought them novel. 

 We once had a lot exhibited at our Brooklyn Society, 

 but they were merely shown as fine specimens, not on 

 account of their being any rarity. The domestic 

 Pigeon is quite common, and the very young birds 

 brought to market for sale, as with us in England." 



The little or no variation from the wild type which 

 the half-wild blue Rock Pigeon (as such) has un- 

 dergone in this long succession of ages, is really re- 

 markable, and ought to have its full weight in the con- 

 sideration of the question as to the origin of the fancy 

 kinds. We are quite justified in believing that the 

 blue Rock Pigeon never was more wild than it is at 

 * Pen and Pencil Sketches, vol. ii. p. 273. 



