Pigeons.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



383 



Selby and other naturalists, approximates to that of 

 the Tits (Parus). 



This species, the smallest of our indigenous birds, 

 is spread through the whole of Europe "to the Arctic 

 Circle. It. is a lively active bird, and may be 

 watched flittering from twig to twig along the 

 hedges, and in copses and plantations, especially of 

 fir. On the Continent it abounds in the pine forests 

 of the north, whence on the approach of winter it 

 migrates southwards, and flocks have occasionally, 

 as in October, 1822, been driven out to sea by stress 

 of weather, and blown in an exhausted state on our 

 shores. The nest of this diminutive bird is remark- 

 able for its neat and compact structure ; it is usually 

 suspended at the extremity of a sweeping branch 

 of fir, attached to the under side of the foliage, and 

 secured with great art to the twigs, so that, it is 

 covered by the leaves, which form a sort of shelter, 

 as well as a concealment. It is built of well-com- 

 pacted moss, lichens, &c, and lined with downy 

 feathers, and, compared with the size of the archi- 

 tect, is a large substantial mass. The eggs are from 

 seven to ten in number. The song of this beautiful 

 little bird is pleasing, but weak. It feeds on insects. 

 General plumage olive-green, a flame-coloured 

 patch of silky feathers occupying the top of the 

 head, bordered on each side by a line of black. 



1692.— The Wood-Wren 



(Sylvia Sylvicold). Sylvia sibilatrix, Bechstein and 

 Selby. This species, with the willow-wren, or 

 yellow wren (Sylvia Trochilus), and the lesser 

 pettychaps, least willow-wren, or chiff-chaff (Sylvia 

 hippolais), are the three British examples of 

 the restricted genus Sylvia: they are not truly 

 wrens. These birds are summer visitors to our 

 island, feeding on insects, haunting shrubberies and 

 wooded places, and building a domed nest on or 

 near the ground. They utter a few trifling notes, 

 scarcely to be called a song. The present species is 

 distinguished from its congeners by the broad 

 streak over the eye, the sulphur-yellow of the ear- 

 coverts, the pure green of the upper parts of the 

 body, and the delicate unsullied white of the belly 

 and under tail-coverts. It may be often observed 

 perched on a lofty tree in a hedge-row, uttering its 

 notes, which are accompanied by a vibratory action 

 of the wings. 



ORDER GYRATORES. 



In the c Specchio Generale del Sistema Ornitologo,' 

 the Prince of Canino regards the pigeon tribe as 

 an order, under this title — " Order 4, Cohimbse ;" 

 but in his ' Comparative List of the Birds of Europe' 

 he places these birds hi the third section of his 

 Passeres, under the title Gyrantes. In Mr. G. R. 

 Gray's arrangement they constitute the fourth order, 

 termed Columbae. Cuvier places them at the end 

 of the Gallinaceous order; and Mr. Vigors con- 

 sidered them to be an aberrant family of the same 

 order. On the contrary, Meyer regarded them as 

 a distinct order ; Temminck arranged them as his 

 ninth order; and De Blainville has also thrown 

 them into an order, which he calls Sponsores, ou 

 Jes Columbins, and which he places between the 

 Passeres (Insessores) and the pheasants and par- 

 tridges (Rasores). 



That these birds constitute a distinct order there 

 can be no doubt ; certainly they do not belong to 

 the Insessorial order, nor yet to the Rasorial. The 

 Rasorial birds are mostly polygamous ; the females 

 lay many eggs; the young are not fed by the 

 parents, but in a few hours after exclusion from the 

 egg, run about and pick up their food for them- 

 selves; moreover' the hind-toe is articulated high 

 on the tarsus, instead of on the same plane as the 

 anterior toes. On the other hand, the pigeons mate 

 and form permanent attachments ; the females lay 

 only two eggs, often in nests on the branches of trees ; 

 the young are long incapable of leaving the nest, and 

 are at first fed with a milky secretion" produced by 

 certain glands arranged on the inner surface of the 

 crop of both parents, and which soon passes in a 

 curdled state ; about the third or fourth day grain 

 moistened and warmed in the crop of the parents 

 begins to be added; the hind-toe is on the same 

 level as the others, though the feet are not firm 

 graspers; and, to conclude, the habits, manners, 

 instincts, and voices of these birds are peculiar to 

 themselves. The name of the order here adopted 

 is a modification of the word Gyrantes, used by the 

 Prince of Canino— and thus altered for the sake of 

 uniformity, as Raptores, Incessores, Grallatores, 

 Scansores, — Gyratores. It alludes to the ordinary 

 mode of flight displayed by the birds in question. " 



If rigidly analysed, this order would be found to 

 contain three or four families ; but into these ques- 

 tions we must not. wander; we shall, therefore, fol- 

 low the usual routine. 



Family COLUMBIDiE (PIGEONS). 



This family is divided into numerous genera — as 

 Ptilinopus, Peristera, Chameepelia, Ectopistes, &c, ; 

 in all, however, the bill is moderate, and covered at 

 the base of the upper mandible with a soft elevated 

 skin, in which the nostrils are situated ; the tip is 

 more or less curved down. No family of birds is 

 more extensively distributed — except, indeed, in the 

 frigid zones, it is spread universally ; but the species 

 are most numerous in Southern Asia and in the In- 

 dian Archipelago. 



Some groups of the Columbidge are essentially 

 terrestrial in their habits, others are decidedly arbo- 

 real, and make their nests in trees ; these nests are 

 little more than flat platforms of twigs laid cross- 

 ways over each other, the lower layer consisting of 

 larger twigs, the uppermost smaller and finer ; and 

 on this platform, which varies in thickness, the eggs 

 are laid. Fig. 1693 represents the Nest of the 

 Turtle-dove as an example in point. Other species, 

 as the rock-dove (Columba livia), the origin of our 

 domestic race, breed in the holes and on the shelves 

 of precipitous rocks, making a bed of a few sticks 

 and twigs. 



We have already stated that the young pigeons, 

 after exclusion from the egg, are at first fed exclu- 

 sively with a secretion analogous to milk and 

 which curdles in the same manner, and that after- 

 wards grain macerated in the crop is added, and 

 gradually increased. Fig. 1694 presents us with 

 two views of the crop, turned inside outwards and 

 distended with spirits : — a, the crop of a pigeon when 

 it'had no young: b, the crop of a male pigeon dur- 

 ing the time of rearing the young ; a, the inner sur- 

 face of the gullet or oesophagus ; b, the portion of 

 oesophagus leading from the crop to the gizzard, 

 with the glands for secreting gastric juice ; c, the 

 inner surface of the crop, which in b displays the 

 glandular structure, as developed during the breed- 

 ing season, the glands at that time assuming a new 

 character and office, and secreting the milky fluid in 

 great abundance. The analogy between these 

 glands, their temporary development for a given 

 purpose, and the mammary glands of quadrupeds, 

 need not be insisted on. 



1695. — A Group of Pigeons, 



a, the Pouter ; b, the Carrier ; c, the Jacobin j 

 d, the Ringdove, or Cushat; e, the Rockdove (the 

 origin of our domestic birds); f, the Fan-tailed 

 Pigeon ; g, the Nun ; h, the Tumbler. 



1696. — The Carrier Pigeon. 

 One of the domestic varieties of Columba livia. 



1697. — Pigeon-Towers in Persia. 



At what period man added the pigeon to his list 

 of domestic retainers of the feathered race is not 

 very clear, but it was evidently at a remote period. 

 We find abundant references to it in the classical 

 writers, and we know that it was among the clean 

 animals according to the law of Moses. In the 

 East the dove or pigeon has always been regarded 

 with favour, and has been employed time immemo- 

 rial as a carrier of letters or written messages ; its 

 rapidity of flight, its almost unerring instinct in 

 finding its way home, and the eagerness with which 

 it returns to its dwelling:, recommeuding it for such 

 a use. In Persia and other parts of the East pigeons 

 are kept in multitudes for the sake of the manure 

 produced :* towers are built on the outskirts of the 

 towns for them, and vast clouds of these birds may 

 be seen issuing from them, returning to them, or 

 wheeling in the air around their pinnacles. The 

 passage in Isaiah (lx. 8), "Who are these that 

 fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows," 

 is, as Mr. Morier has observed, illustrated by re- 

 ference to those pigeon-towers which he noticed 

 around the outskirts of Ispahan. With respect to 

 the extraordinary flights of these birds, he says, 

 '< Their numbers, and the compactness of their mass, 

 literally looked like a cloud at a distance, and ob- 

 scured the sun in their p?ssage." It is probable 

 that the Jews, requiring pigeons as they did for of- 

 ferings at the Temple (Fig. 1698), built similar 

 towers : the Egyptians certainly did, as is proved by 

 ancient paintings and the mosaic pavement at Prae- 

 neste, where pigeon-towers similar to those of Ispa- 

 han are represented, but without the conical crowns. 



Of all our domestic pigeons none equal the car- 

 rier in rapidity of wing; and powers of endurance. 

 It was originally brought to Europe from the East, 

 and Lithgow, the traveller, tells us that one of them 

 will carry a letter from Babylon to Aleppo, which is 

 thirty days' journey, in forty-eight hours. It is re- 

 corded that a gentleman of Cologne, having busi- 



* Mr. Morier states that " the dung of doves is the dearest manure 

 which the Persians use, and as they apply it almost entirely to the 

 rearing of melons, it is probably on tiiat account the melons of 

 Ispahan are so much finer Oian those of other cities. The revenue of 

 a pigeon-house is about a hundred tomanns per annum, and the great 

 value ot this dung, which rears a fruit that is indispensable to the ex- 

 istence of the natives during the great heats of summer, will probably 

 Uirow some light on that passage in Scripture in 2 Kr.n S vi. 25. 



ness to transact in Paris, took with him two carrier- 

 pigeons which had young' at the time, and on ar- 

 riving in Paris at ten o'clock in the morning, he tied 

 a letter to each of his pigeons, and despatched them 

 at eleven precisely. One of them arrived in Co- 

 logne at five minutes past one o'clock, the other 

 nine minutes later ; and consequently they had per- 

 formed nearly one hundred and fifty miles in an 

 hour, reckoning their flight to have been in a direct 

 line. The ordinary flight of this bird is about a 

 mile a minute. We need not say that it is to its 

 home, from which it is purposely taken, that the 

 pigeon makes its way. It is evident to all conver- 

 sant with this bird, that it has the strongest affec- 

 tion for its own home — an instinctive nostalgia, 

 which in old birds can scarcely be eradicated by 

 time ; confined for weeks or months — on gaining 

 their liberty, off they fly to the " old familiar spot," 

 and if taken away again, still return on the first op- 

 portunity. Young birds are much more easily re- 

 conciled to a change of tenement, and soon learn to 

 regard the new place as their own. It is this de- 

 sire — this longing for home, which impels the pigeon 

 carried to a distant spot and turned loose, to attempt 

 to regain it ; and regain it the bird does, at least in 

 general, but the query arises — how does it know 

 in what direction its home lies ? how does it know 

 which way to direct its rapid course ? If the distance 

 be short, we can easily conceive that the bird making 

 wide circles at a great elevation may at one part 

 of the circle discern some known object, which will 

 at once indicate the direction to be followed. A 

 circle of three or four miles would give the bird the 

 command of a very wide extent of country ; and a 

 tall object, as a spire, previously visited voluntarily, 

 or seen from its abode, would afford the desired 

 clue. This perhaps may account, in ordinary cases, 

 for the return of the pigeon to its home ; but it will 

 not account for the return of the bird from great dis- 

 tances. We hear of pigeons being brought from 

 towns on the Continent, as Brussels, &c, and set at 

 liberty in London ; and of their return in a compa- 

 ratively short space of time, few of the number fail- 

 ing to find their way. Trials of this kind have been 

 often repeated ; and, unless the weather proves 

 misty or fogs hang over the sea, the birds cross the 

 Channel safely and regain their home. That they 

 are sometimes dispersed and lost in foggy weather 

 proves that they use their sight in pursuing their 

 homeward course : but still the difficulty remains — 

 how is that course determined ? The same difficulty 

 meets us in the migration of the swallow. Its winter 

 abode is Western Africa. It finds its way to the 

 African shores, and returns again to Europe : but 

 what is more, the same pair will steer not only for 

 England, but for the very chimney or barn which 

 they habitually tenant as their summer breeding- 

 place ; and it is probable that they visit a determi- 

 nate spot in Africa. It is one of the facts in natural 

 history which we must be content to leave unex- 

 plained. 



It is from the rock-dove, says Selby, " that most of 

 our curious varieties of pigeon have arisen ; for some 

 later ones may have been derived from crosses with 

 other species." What these other species are we are 

 not informed. 



In Europe and the British Isles we have the fol- 

 lowing wild species of the genus Columba: — The 

 Ringdove, Cushat or Quest (Columba Palumbus); 

 the Stockdove (Col. senas) ; the Rockdove (C. livia) ; 

 and the Turtle-dove (C. turtur). 



The Ringdove is the largest of our wild pigeons, 

 and is common in the wooded districts of our island, 

 as well as of the greater portion of Europe. In the 

 winter it assembles in numerous flocks, which resort 

 to the stubble-lands in quest of food. It devours all 

 kinds of grain, peas, beech-mast, acorns, berries, and 

 the green leaves of the turnip. During this season 

 of the year its numbers are often increased by the 

 arrival of flocks from the more northern parts of 

 Europe ; but in our island, and in France and the 

 southern countries, it is not migratory. No natu- 

 ralist has regarded the ringdove as identical with the 

 domestic pigeon. Its mode of building its nest, a 

 flat platform of twigs laid crossways on the fork of a 

 branch — its size — its refusal when in captivity to 

 breed with the pigeon — and the failure of every at- 

 tempt to reduce it to a state of domestication— are 

 of themselves, setting aside colouring, sufficient 

 proofs of specific distinctness. 



Still more remote from the common pigeon is the 

 Turtle-dove, a bird of passage, and one of the spring 

 visitors to our shores. 



The Stockdove derives its name from being, as 

 was presumed, but erroneously, the stock to which 

 the common pigeon is referable. This error arose, 

 no doubt, from our early ornithologists having con- 

 founded the stockdove with the rockdove, and so 

 mixed up the history of both. Montagu, in his 

 ' Dictionary of Ornithology,' confounds these birds 

 together, deeming the Columba livia and the C. 

 senas to be identical. His description, however, 

 refers to the C. livia (Rockdove); and it would 



