i8* o^^ciTHOLogr, BookiT. 



Head. Thefe are caWedCyprus Pigeons by Aldrovand, and there are of them rough- 

 footed. Aldrovandus hath fet forth three or four either Species or accidental varieties 

 of this kind. Their Bill is ihort : The Irides of their Eyes of a Pearl-colour, and the 

 Head ( asMv. Cope told us )in all white. 



7. Turbits, of the meaning and original of which name Imuft confefs myfelf to 

 be ignorant. They have a very {hort thick Bill like a Bullfinch : The crown of their 

 Head is flat and deprefTed: The feathers on the Breaft refle&ed both ways. They 

 are about the bignefs of the Jacobines, or a little bigger. I take thefe to be the Candy 

 or Indian Doves of Aldrovand, tom.2. pag.477.478. the Low Dutch Cortbeke, 



8. Barbary-Yigzons, perchance the Candy-Dove of Aldrovand. The Bill is like 

 that of the precedent. A broad circle of naked, tuberous, white flefh compares 

 the Eyes, as in the Carriers. The Irides of the Eyes are white. My worthy Friend 

 Mr. Philip Skjppon, in a Letter to me concerning tame Pigeons, writes, that the Eyes 

 of this kind are red. Perchance the colour may vary in feveral birds. 



9. Smiters. I take thefe to be thofe, which the fore-mentioned Hollander told 

 Aldrovandus, that his Country-men called Draiiers. Thefe do not only (hake their 

 Wings as they fly : But alty flying round about in a ring, efpecially over their Fe- 

 males, clap them fo ftrongto, that they make a greater found than two Battledores 

 or other boards (truck one againft another. Whence it comes to pafs that their quil- 

 feathers are almoft always broken and {nattered 5 and fometimes fo bad, that they 

 cannot fly. Our Country-men diftinguifh between Tumblers and Smiters. 



1©. Tumbler s, thefe are fmall, and of divers colours. They have ftrange motions 

 turning themfelves backward over their Heads, and (hew like footbals in the Air. 



it. Helmets. Jn thefe the Head, Tail, and quil-feathers of the Wings are always 

 of one colour, fometimes white, fometimes black, red, yellow, or blue 5 the reft of 

 the body of another, different from that, whatever it be. Thefe are alfo called 

 Helme by the Low Dutch, as Aldrovandm writes from the relation of the fore-menti- 

 oned Dutchman. 



12. Light-horfemen. This isabaftard kind, of one Parent a Cropped the other a 

 Carrier, andfo they partake of both, as appears by the Wattles of their Bill, and their 

 fwollen throats. They arethebeft breeders of all, and will not lightly forfake any 

 houfe to which they have been accuftomed. 



13. Bajiard-bil/s. Which name why it is impofed upon them I know not, unlefs 

 perchance becaufe their Bills are neither long nor fhort, lb that it is not certain to what 

 Species they ought to be referred. They are bigger than Barbaries, have a fhort Bill 

 and red Eyes 5 but are not all of the fame colour. 



14. Turners, having a tuft hanging down backward from their Head, parted like a 

 horfes Main. 



15. Finikins, like the precedent, butlefs. 



1 6. Mawmets, called ( as I take it ) from Mahomet 5 perchance becaufe brought out 

 of Turkey, notable for their great black Eyes, elfe like to the Barbaries. 



17. Spots, becaufe they have each in their forehead, above their Bill a (pot : Their 

 Tail is of the lame colour with the fpot, the reft o£ the body being white. 



The Younger Pigeons never tread the Females, but they * bill them firft, and that a3 

 '•■ them ' often as they tread them. The elder Doves bill only the firft time, the fecond they 

 couple without billing. Aldrov.Ornithol. tom.2. pag.363. 



The Sex, efpecially of the tame Pigeons, is eafily known by their note or murmur, 

 which in the Hens is very fmall, in the Males much deeper. 



Ariftotle, and out of him Pliny and Athen&w write that it is proper or peculiar to 

 Pigeons not to hold up their heads as they drink, like other birds, but to drink like 

 Kine or Horfes by fucking without intermillion. 

 The life of Albertus fets the twentieth year for the term of a Pigeons life. As for tame Pigeons 

 Pigeons. ( faith Aldrovandm ) a certain man of good credit told me, that he had heard from his 

 Father, who was much delighted in Pigeons, and other Birds, that he had kept a .Pz- 

 geon two and twenty years, and that all that time it conftantly bred, excepting the 

 laft fix months, which time, having left its Mate, it had chofen a fingle life. ArifUtk 

 affigns forty years to the life of a Pigeon. Aldrov. Ornithol. tom.2. pag.370. 



Pigeons are far harder to concocf than Chickens, and yield a melancholy juyce. 



They fay that the eating of Doves flefh is offeree againft the Plague , infomuch that 



they who make it their conftant or ordinary food are feldom feized by Peftilential 



difeafes. Others commend it againft the Palfie and trembling : Others write, that it is 



■wSk h Ey«. of & reat ufe and advanta g e to tkem that are * dim-fighted. The flefh of young 



Pigeons 



* ExefculMur. 



