226 



OF THE PIGEON TRIBE IN GENERAL. 



OF THE PIGEON TRIBE IN GENERAL. 



These birds have a weak slender bill, straight at the base ; with a 

 poft protuberance, in which the nostrils are situated. The leg? aia 

 short, and in most of the species red ; and the toes are divided to thu 

 origin. 



The Pigeons constitute a tribe that forms a connecting link between 



the passerine birds and 

 the poultry. They are 

 much dispersed over 

 the world, some of the 

 species being found 

 even in the arctic re- 

 gions. 



Their principal food 

 is grain : they drink 

 much : and not at inter- 

 vals like other birds, 

 but by a continued 

 draught, like quad- 

 rupeds. During the 

 breeding-time they 

 associate in pairs, and 

 pay court to each other 

 with their bills. The 

 PIGEON8> female lays two eggs, 



and the young-ones are, 



for the most part, a male and a female. They usually breed more than 

 once in the year ; and the parent birds divide the labor of incubation 

 by sitting alternately on the eggs. 



Both the male and female assist in feeding their offspring. This, 

 in most of the species with which we are acquainted, is done by means 

 of a substance secreted in the crop, which in appearance is not unlike 

 curd, and is analogous to milk in quadrupeds. During incubation, 

 the coat of the crop is gradually enlarged and thickened, like what 

 happens to the udders of female quadrupeds during the time of uterine 

 gestation. On comparing the state of the crop when the bird is not 

 sitting, with its appearance on these ocasions, the difference is found 

 to be very remarkable. In the first case it is thin and membranous ; 

 but when the young-ones are about to be hatched, it becomes thicker, 

 and takes a glandular appearance, having its internal surface very 

 irregular. Whatever may be the consistence of this substance when 

 just secreted, it probably very soon coagulates into a granulated white 

 curd ; and in this form it is always found in the crop. If an old 

 Pigeon be killed just when the young-ones are hatching, the crop will 

 be found as above described, having in its cavity pieces of white curd 

 mixed with the common food of the bird, such as barley, peas, or grain. 

 Tb* young Pigeons are fed foi a little while with this substance only : 



