192 THE WONGA-WONGA. [CHAP. vi. 



as such, that there does exist a Power who formed his 

 own rules of action without consulting us ; who was in 

 the act of creating, ordering, and providing, while we, 

 as yet, were utterly nought ; and whose influence will 

 continue to govern the Universe long after our amazing 

 powers have ceased to act upon it. 



If we cannot mould the lower animals, is it more 

 likely that we should be able to modify the inborn 

 instincts of our fellow-creatures, by using ever so much 

 perseverance and assiduity, after a fair experiment has 

 been made that they do run counter to our views ? Or 

 is it wiser that we should be content with things as 

 we find them, and take others as they are, ruling our 

 own hearts with diligence, as far as assistance shall be 

 given us to exercise self-government, under the belief 

 that all our strongest forces are but feeble ; and that the 

 forces in antagonism to them are either energized or 

 permitted by the One Great Fountain of Might ? 



None of the Australian Pigeons have as yet been 

 actually domesticated, and we will begin with that 

 which best promises to be domesticable ; and, for this 

 object, Mr. Gould has liberally allowed us to transcribe 

 from his " Birds of Australia " a book accessible to but 

 few some interesting passages relating to the WONGA- 

 WONGA PIGEON, the Leucosarcia picata of his nomen- 

 clature (ASUXOS, white, and a-a,^, flesh), the Columba 

 picata of Dr. Latham : picata being Latin for " be- 

 smeared with pitch," in allusion to the black-patched 

 plumage of the bird. " The Pigeon," he observes, 

 " forming the subject of the present memoir must 

 always be an object of more than ordinary interest, 

 since, independently of its attractive plumage, it is a 



