The Zoologist — February, 1873. 3385 



Of Columba Sclnrapevi, Mr. Shelley writes thus: — 

 " I think there can be no doubt that there are two races mked in the 

 vast semi-domesticated flocks, and living more or less in a pure wild state 

 in the cliffs which in some places border the river. The one race has a white 

 rump, and is C. livia ; the other, and by far the most abundant, has a slate- 

 coloured rump, and belongs to the present species. Von Heuglin does not 

 admit the specific distinctness of these two races, and considers them all to 

 belong to C. livia, which is in my opinion an error. Mr. E. C. Taylor (Ibis, 

 1867), on the other hand, includes all the pigeons under the name of 

 C. Schimperi, with the following observations : — ' Flocks of pigeons, per- 

 fectly wild, frequent the precipitous rocks that here and there border the 

 Nile. I have frequently shot examples of them, and have always found 

 them to possess the characteristics of Columba Schimperi, being decidedly 

 and conspicuously distinguishable from C. livia by the absence of the white 

 rump which forms so marked a feature in that species.' I have certainly 

 shot pigeons both with and without the white rump ; the former must 

 undoubtedly he C. livia, and the latter, which, on many occasions, had the 

 strongest claims to be considered pure-bred wild birds, I refer to the present 

 species, C. Schimperi, as they were certainly not C. seuas, a bird of whose 

 capture in Egypt I entertain very strong doubts." — P. 213. 



From these observations and opinions various questions may 

 arise: — 1. Are there one or two species of rock dove in Britain 

 and Egypt? 2. Is the domesticated species in Britain identical 

 with the domesticated pigeons in Egypt .'' 3. Are the wild rock 

 doves of Britain identical with the domesticated rock doves of 

 Britain ? 4. Are the wild rock doves of Egypt identical with the 

 semi-domesticated rock doves of Egypt ? Of course I draw no 

 line between the term "dove" and '' pigeon." Supposing that the 

 perfectly wild and thoroughly domesticated pigeons or doves con- 

 stitute but a single species it is an interesting phenomenon, for 

 we find in almost all other instances a doubt expressed whether the 

 same species can exist, flourish and abundantly increase, under 

 these two opposite conditions. 



There is an amusing passage as to the diflSculty of meeting with 

 wild duck in the marshes at Damietta. Mr. Shelley was assured 

 there were ducks in the neighbourhood, and his guide accounted 

 for their invisibility by pointing to the bottom of the lake, and 

 asserting that they were all asleep there during the heat of the day, 

 and would come up again in the evening : he adds : — 



" Ducks are certainly extremely abundant in the neighbourhood ; for that 

 evening we saw what we at first took to be a thunder-cloud, but what proved 



