PIGEON 



CHAPTEK I. 



THE STRUCTURE AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF PIGEONS. 



THE structure and habits of the family or group of pigeons are so peculiar 

 and so strikingly distinct from those of any other birds, that they demand 

 special attention. The pigeons were formerly classed by the majority of natu- 

 ralists along with the gallinaceous birds, the true poultry, and by others with 

 the passerine or sparrow-like birds ; but more accurate observation has rendered 

 evident the fact that they form a perfectly distinct family, distinguished from 

 all other birds by the singular manner in which their young are nourished. 

 Unlike the true gallinaceae — which are hatched in a very perfect state and able 

 to follow the parent hen within a few hours after birth — the young pigeons 

 are born in a most immature and helpless condition, and are fed with a curdy 

 secretion, produced in the crops of the parents, the " soft food " of the pigeon- 

 fancier. This is expressly produced at the period of hatching, for the support of 

 the callow young. 



The following account of the formation of these birds applies more particularly 

 to the European species known as constituting the genus Columba, and has special 

 reference to the wild Blue Rock dove, Columba llvia, the undoubted origin of 

 all our numerous domestic varieties. 



Pigeons are usually birds of moderate size ; their legs and feet are small com- 

 pared with those of the gallinaceous birds, that scratch the earth in seeking for 

 their food — a habit that is never followed by the doves. 



Although slight in size, the legs and feet are very efficient organs of motion, 

 the birds being able to walk with considerable rapidity when traversing the ground 

 in search of food. The limbs are moved alternately, the pigeons never, when 

 seeking food, leaping with both feet together, like the sparrow and other birds of 

 the same group, although, when advancing to his mate, the cock pigeon often 

 makes a kind of imperfect leap. 



