'^ VALUE OF FLESH. [CHAP, v, 



with the bars on the wings and tail very distinct ; such 

 birds are extremely beautiful, and it may be suspected 

 whether many of these are not merely individuals that 

 have quite arrived at their adult plumage. 



In sheltered situations, with plentiful food, they will 

 breed nearly all the year round, except during moult- 

 ing time. Blue Rocks were with me the first to recom- 

 mence laying this autumn (1850). A pair had two eggs 

 on the 1 9th of November. The next pair to breed were 

 a Blue Rock hen and a cock Tumbler that had mated 

 together. The flesh of the young birds is excellent, and 

 by some connoisseurs is esteemed superior to that of 

 any other species ; but it must be made into pies, being 

 seldom fat enough to roast. For this purpose we must 

 have recourse to the large lazy Runts. 



But " Pigeons," saith Willughby, " are far harder to 

 concoct than Chickens, and yield a melancholy juyce. 

 They say that the eating of Dove's flesh is of force 

 against the plague ; insomuch that they who make it 

 their constant or ordinary food are seldom seized by 

 pestilential diseases ; others commend it against the 

 palsie and trembling ; others write that it is of great 

 use and advantage to them that are dim-sighted. The 

 flesh of young Pigeons is restorative, and useful to re- 

 cruit the strength of such as are getting up, or newly 

 recovered from some great sickness : to us it seems to 

 be most savoury, and if we may stand to the verdict of 

 our palate, comparable to the most esteemed." 



The distinction between the Blue Rock and the Dove- 

 house Pigeons has long been known to dealers, less so 

 to fanciers, and scarcely acknowledged by naturalists. 

 The latter bird is much the more common inhabitant of 

 Dovecotes, and when it betakes itself to a feral state, 



