CHAP. v.J PLUMAGE AND WEIGHT. 161 



escape from a new and therefore a distasteful home, they 

 do not betake themselves to the rocks or to the ruins, 

 but enter some trap or loft, or join some other flock of 

 tame Pigeons : the Pigeons which do assume that state 

 of independence are always either Blue Rocks, or Co- 

 lumber affines, not Powters, Fantails, &c. Whereas the 

 Blue Rocks do not voluntarily take up their home in a 

 trap, but, as my experiment proved, will escape from a 

 home that is too much interfered with, even when 

 hatched by that quiet bird the Nun. How many Blue 

 Rocks has a Pigeon-fancier ever trapped? Buffon, 

 though his theory of the diversities of species amongst 

 Pigeons is far bolder than Temminck's, does not make 

 this confusion in the habits of the real Dovehouse and 

 the Fancy Pigeons. 



A main characteristic in the plumage of the Columba 

 lima is the absence of spots, which are so remarkable a 

 feature in that of the C. affinis. The bill is dark slate- 

 colour, with a whitish cere at the base : the head also 

 is slate-colour, continued down the neck and belly, with 

 iridescent hues of green and purple. The back and wings 

 are paler slate-colour, or a sort of French gray. The quill- 

 feathers are darker towards the tips. Across the wings 

 are two very dark bands ; the rump is whitish ; the tail 

 is of the same colour as the head, each feather being 

 darker at the portion near the end, so as to form a dark 

 semicircular band when the tail is outspread in flight. 

 The feet and toes are coral-red ; the claws black. The 

 irides are bright orange, shaded to yellow towards the 

 pupil, which is black. The joint weight of three birds 

 now brought in for inspection is 2 Ibs. 9 oz. The only 

 variety of the Columba lima which I have ever seen, or 

 heard of on any authority, are light blue specimens, 



M 



