CHAP. iv.J QUARRELS AND MATCHES. 143 



truant female to her nest ' I will be more jealous of 

 thee than a Barbary Cock-pigeon over his hen.' Which 

 is saying a good deal, for Pigeons can buffet smartly. 

 Indeed, I well remember, when a child, being terribly 

 scared one day by a Powting Pigeon. I had gone up into 

 a hay-loft when the old cock bird was sitting on his eggs 

 at the corner of a truss of hay, just the height of my head. 

 The place was nearly dark, and on passing close by him, 

 he saluted me with a couple of sound boxes on the ear, 

 accompanied by what I then thought a deep groan ! 



"In their wing to wing engagements, the younger 

 cocks generally succeed in mastering the elder ones. 

 I have noticed, that when a hen Pigeon loses her mate 

 by death or other accident, she generally goes off, and 

 is lost to her owner, unless a husband be quickly sup- 

 plied ; but if the cock is the survivor, he will soon pro- 

 vide himself with a mate from some quarter, though not 

 always perhaps to the taste of his master. The conju- 

 gal love and fidelity of these birds has always been made 

 a great deal of ; but there is no bird that will form a 

 new attachment in so short a space of time. Wishing 

 one day to pair a cock Pigeon more suitably, I took 

 away the hen in the afternoon, and shut up the cock 

 with his new companion. By the middle of next 

 day they had paired, and were become excessively 

 agreeable to each other. They were then let out, and 

 by the afternoon of the day after had commenced build- 

 ing. [In such cases, however, they are very apt to go 

 back to their first love, unless he or she is utterly made 

 away with.] It seems to be a rule among Pigeons (if 

 food is plentiful and the weather not too severe), that as 

 soon as ever the web of the young quill feathers appears 

 on the squabs, the parents again commence building. 



