The Zoologist — October, 1867.. 931 



as that of the horses in South America, so obviously the descendants 

 of Spanish runaways. It will abundaully repay the little trouble such 

 an investigation may require, to refer to the mention of all these 

 sacrifices, beginning with that of Abram (Genesis xv. 9), " an heifer 

 of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of 

 three years old, and a turtle dove and a young pigeon." These were 

 all domestics ; they were to be taken, as it were, out of the farm-yard 

 — creatures always at hand ; and they are clearly distinguished from 

 the wild birds, the fowls which came down upon the carcases, and 

 which Abram drove away. Newman, and his able follower Cruden, 

 both give their opinion, or rather their assertion, that the dove, or 

 turtle, or turtle dove of Scripture was "a tame bird." Then we find 

 a bit of Ornithology touching on the question in Jeremiah xlviii. 28, 

 which beautifully connects the turtle dove of Scripture with the rock 

 dove, Columba livia of our systems : " O ye that dwell in Moab, leave 

 the cities and dwell in the rock ; and be like the dove that maketh 

 her nest in the side of the hole's mouth." I am well aware how 

 dangerous it is to give our own scientific interpretations to Scripture 

 Natural History, but here we have the turtle dove of Scripture un- 

 mistakably identified with Columba livia, and its mode of nesting 

 accurately described. 



Throughout the entire geographical area over which Scripture 

 history extends the domestic pigeon may be literally said to swarm at 

 the present day, and there is not a single attribute given to it in the 

 sacred volume but is equally applicable now; a period of three 

 thousand years has wrought no change in the disposition, the nature 

 or the domestic economy of the dove : they are and always were 

 loving and harmless, and are perfect patterns of conjugal fidelity: 

 they fly as no other birds fly in the fulness of joy; not in search of 

 food, not to escape danger, not in pursuit of the other sex, but solely 

 for recreation, solely in the exuberance of auimal spirits, solely to 

 enjoy the exhilarating effects of the air of heaven. Not only in Scrip- 

 ture history, but in all history, in all literature, the dove or pigeon has 

 been the admiration of the naturalist, the theme of the poet, the 

 endeared companion of the gentle and the guileless among men. 



Thus introduced by the highest authority, and descending to us 

 from the remotest antiquity, it is impossible that the breeding of 

 pigeons should be otherwise than an object of the greatest interest, 

 and brought forward as it is now by Mr. Tegetmeier, who is justly 

 regarded as a referee on all questions connected with the dovecot, we 



