CHAPTER XVII 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS 



No group of domestic birds or animals shows such diversity 

 of form, color and markings as do the pigeons. The mold- 

 ing of the many curious variations must have commenced in 

 very early times ; Darwin * states that the first record of 

 pigeons in captivity occurs in the fifth Egyptian d)Tiasty, 

 about 3000 B.C. 



That the ancestor of these remarkably diverse forms still 

 exists in the Rock Dove (Columba livia) is no longer open 

 to doubt. This bird is found more or less abundantly in 

 Europe, Turkestan and central Asia, to China. Its color 

 is exactly that of blue varieties of domesticated birds. It is 

 pale gray above, darker on the head, breast and upper tail 

 coverts. The neck is beautifully iridescent, showing reflec- 

 tions of green and purple. The rump is white, while the 

 tail is slaty, with a black band near the tip. The basal por- 

 tions of the outer edges of the outer tail feathers are edged 

 with white. Each wing is crossed by two distinct black 

 bars, one formed by the secondaries, the other by the greater 

 coverts. Its legs are smooth and bare and the bill rather 

 slender, with small, compact wattle. This description would 

 serve for blue varieties throughout the group except for the 

 white rump, which is disliked in most fancy breeds. 



The Rock Dove is a dweller in cliffs and similar locali- 

 ties, roosting and nesting on the bare ledges. In India 

 immense flocks, half tamed, inhabit the mosques, and for 

 centuries, in various parts of England, partly domesticated 



* Animals and Plants Under Domestication (Westminster Edition), 

 p. 511. 



230 



