98 Old Dovecots {Scotland). [Sess. 



a,ffords advantages not possessed by the square, giving an 

 easier access to the breeding birds to their nests and a greater 

 facility of taking the young and inspecting and clearing out 

 the holes by means of a ladder rotating on an axis." 



He also gives directions regarding the protection of the 

 birds and eggs in the dovecot from rats, weasels, &c., instruc- 

 tions as to cleaning and situation, which should be near a 

 plentiful supply of water and not too closely surrounded by 

 trees, and at a distance from houses. 



'' Bock pigeon. — It is under this species that we include not 

 only the common pigeon or inhabitant of the dovecot, but all 

 those numerous varieties or, as they are frequently termed, 

 races of domesticated pigeons so highly prized and fostered 

 with such care and attention by the amateur breeder or 

 pigeon-fancier ; for however diversified their forms, colour, or 

 peculiarity of habit may be, we consider them all as having 

 ■originated from a few accidental varieties of the common 

 pigeon, and not from any cross of that bird with other species, 

 no signs nor marks whatever of such being apparent in any 

 of the numerous varieties known to us. In fact, the greater 

 part of them owe their existence to the interference and the 

 art of man ; for by separating from the parent stock such 

 accidental varieties as have occasionally occurred, by subject- 

 ing these to captivity and domestication, and by assorting and 

 pairing them together as fancy or caprice suggested, he has at 

 intervals generated all the various races and peculiar varieties 

 which it is well known when once produced may be perpetu- 

 ated for an indefinite period by being kept separate from and 

 unmixed with others, or what by those interested in such 

 pursuits is usually termed ' breeding in and in.' " 



Macgillivray ('British Birds,' vol. i., 1837). — "There can 

 be no doubt that the Eock - Dove (Columba livia) is the 

 original of our Domestic Pigeon — in fact, the true stock-dove, 

 although that name (Columba CEnas) has been given to an- 

 other species. Individuals of the domesticated race which 

 -cannot be distinguished from those of the wild are of common 

 occurrence, and, however highly varieties may be prized, the 

 blue white-backed race is certainly the most beautiful. I 

 have seen in the Hebrides a few house pigeons which had 

 deserted and lived among the wild doves." 



