292 
VARIETIES. 
CARRIER. 
COMMON PIGEON. _ Crass Il. 
life mallard, by the curled feathers of the tail: 
and the tame goofe betrays its defcent from the 
wild kind, by the invariable whitenefs of its rump, 
which they always retain in both {ftates. 
Multitudes of thefe birds are obferved to mi- 
erate into the fouth of Exgland: and while the 
beech woods were fuffered to cover large tracts of 
ground, they ufed to haunt them in myriads, reach- 
ing in ftrings of a mile in length, as they went out 
in the morning to feed. They vifit us the lateft 
of any bird of paflage, not appearing till Novem- 
ber; and retire in the fpring. I imagine that 
the fummer haunts of thefe are in Sweden, for Mr. 
Eckmark makes their retreat thence coincide with 
their arrival here*. But many breed here, as I 
have obferved, on the cliffs of the coaft of Wales, 
and of the Hebrides. 
The varieties produced from the domeftic pi- 
geon are very numerous, and extremely elegant; 
thefe are diftinguifhed by names expreffive of their 
feveral properties, fuch as Tumblers, Carriers, Fa- 
cobines, Croppers, Powters, Runts, Turbits, Owls, 
Nuns, &c.+ The moft celebrated of thefe is the 
Carrier, which from the fuperior attachment that 
* Amen. Acad. IV. 593. 
+ Vide Wil. orn. Moore’s Columbarium, and a treatife on 
domeftic pigeons, publifhed in 1765. The laft illuftrates the 
names of the birds, with feveral neat figures, 
pigeon 
ivere- 
