CHAP. v.J EMBLEMS OF PEACE. 185 



the first egg. The eggs, too, are laid on consecutive 

 days. It is desirable that the comparison should 

 be extended to other ColumbidaB that have bred in 

 this country ; and though few of them will submit to 

 the examination, their eggs might be transferred to 

 more manageable Pigeons or Turtles. The growth of 

 the chick of the Collared Turtle is even more rapid 

 at first than in Pigeons; afterwards it proceeds at a 

 slower pace. The little thing is hatched blind, and 

 weak, and covered with fawn-coloured down. On the 

 fourth day its eyes are partially open, and feather 

 stumps begin to appear on the wings. Both the parents 

 will sometimes be on the nest, and strive which can 

 administer food the fastest. In five days more it is 

 pretty well covered with feathers, and begins to squeak. 

 The Doves and the Pigeons have been associated with 

 earliest history as the companions of our race, and have 

 borne the emblematic character of peace ever since. 

 The first was 



" The surer messenger, 



A Dove, sent forth, once and again, to spy 



Green tree, or ground, whereon his foot may light. 



The second time returning, in his bill 



An olive leaf he brings, pacific sign." 



The most modern remarkable instance is to be read 

 in the newspapers for August, 1849, when, on the occa- 

 sion of the Queen's visit to Dublin, as the procession 

 passed under an arch at Eccles Street, a Dove was 

 lowered from a window into the Royal carriage, which 

 her Majesty took gently in her hand, and placed beside 

 her, amid loud cheers from the vast multitude assembled 

 at this point. It was an Irish mistake to offer a Dove 



