84 



* 



TABLE XVII. (See vol. i. ? p. 18.) 

 Order 4. GALLINACEOUS, (or Poultry tribe.) 



WE now come to one of the most useful divisions 

 of birds, forming in their domesticated state no 

 inconsiderable source of profit to those who rear 

 them for the purpose of sale. 



In the tables of classification, this Order com- 

 prises three tribes: 1st, Pigeons; 2nd, Fowls or 

 common poultry : and 3rd, the short-winged families 

 of Ostriches, Cassowaries, &c., which by others have 

 been classed amongst the Waders, in consequence of 

 their length of legs. 



In this country, where Pigeons are, generally 

 speaking, a domestic bird, few persons have an 

 idea of their countless increase and abundance, 

 when left to themselves, roaming over wide tracts, 

 and following, almost without interruption, their 

 natural habits. Even in our dove-cots, however, 

 their increase is often prodigious; it having been 

 found, that in the course of four years, nearly 

 15,000 have been produced from a single pair. 

 Bearing this in mind, the reader will be better 

 prepared to credit the startling accounts of the 

 myriads of these birds, so often witnessed in 

 North America, consisting of a particular species 

 called the Passenger, or Migratory Pigeon, from 

 their regular visits to certain districts, either for the 

 purpose of feeding, or rearing their young. And 

 though thousands and tens of thousands are destroyed, 

 chiefly at their roosting-places, the numbers seem 

 rather to increase than diminish. Such multitudes 



