38fi 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Pigeons. 



seem that he was unacquainted with the true C. 

 senas. 



White, in his ' History of Selbome,' well distin- 

 guishes the stockdove and the " small blue rock- 

 pigeon," observing, that " unless the stockdove in 

 winter greatly varies from itself in summer, no 

 species seems more unlikely to be domesticated and 

 to make a house-dove. We very rarely see the 

 latter settle on trees at all, nor does it ever haunt the 

 woods : but the former, as long as it stays with us, 

 from November perhaps to February, lives the same 

 wild life with the ringdove : frequents coppices and 

 groves, supports itself chiefly by mast, and delights 

 to roost in the tallest beeches. Could it be known 

 in what manner the stockdoves build, the doubt 

 would be settled with me at once, provided they 

 construct their nests on trees, like the ringdove, as I 

 much suspect they do." 



From this it appears that White had only a par- 

 tial degree of information respecting the stockdove. 

 This bird is indigenous in our island, breeding in the 

 woods; but its localities are circumscribed. In 

 winter the flocks are increased by accessions from 

 the northern provinces of Europe ; but these visit- 

 ants depart in spring. 



In our island the stockdove limits its range al- 

 most exclusively to the midland counties, and is 

 common in Hertfordshire. It is rarely seen in the 

 southern or western counties, and still more rarely 

 in the northern. This bird makes a nest of twigs, 

 in the holes of decayed and timeworn trees, and 

 in cavities on the top of pollards, but never places 

 it on the forked or spreading branches of a tree. 



As is the case with all the dove tribe, its eggs are 

 two in number. 



The stockdove is not only found in Europe, but in 

 the northern provinces of Africa, and in various 

 parts of Asia. We have seen specimens from the 

 neighbourhood of Trebizond and Erzerum, where it 

 is said to be common. 



Selby thus details the colours of the stockdove : 

 " Head and throat deep bluish grey ; sides of the 

 neck glossed, with different shades of green and 

 purple ; the feathers shorter and more distinct than 

 those of the rockdove ; lower parts of the neck and 

 breast pale lavender-purple ; belly, thighs, and under 

 tail-coverts bluish grey, with a slight purplish 

 tinge ; back deep bluish grey ; wing-coverts paler, 

 and some of the greater ones spotted and barred 

 with black, but not forming any defined bar as in 

 the above-mentioned species. Quills blackish 

 grey, the outer webs near the base of the feathers 

 passing into bluish grey: lower part of the back 

 and tail-coverts bluish grey ; tail bluish grey, with a 

 broad black bar at the end, and having the outer- 

 most feathers margined with white ; iris brownish 

 red ; legs and toes bright cochineal-red." 



As we have already stated, the stockdove has been 

 confounded with the rockdove, and the characters 

 of the latter have been consequently given as those 

 of the former. The rockdove, however, is a totally 

 distinct species, and its habits are unlike those of 

 any other of our Columbae. As its name imports, 

 it frequents rocks and precipices, especially along 

 the sea-coast, and is far from being uncommon. It is 

 partial to deep caverns, in which it breeds. It haunts 

 the caves in the cliff at St. Abb's Head, on the Ber- 

 wickshire coast: those in the Isle of Bass; of Caldy 

 Island, South Wales ; and of the wild precipices of 

 the Orkneys. We have seen it frequenting the 

 steeples of churches near the coast, and have re- 

 marked numbers inhabiting the holes and crevices 

 in the higher parts of Canterbury Cathedral. In the 

 latter instances it may be said that the birds are 

 merely the emancipated descendants of our domes- 

 tic breed. If so, with their freedom they have re- 

 gained their genuine colours in most instances. 



We have seen many specimens from Northern 

 Africa and Western Asia. Selby states that it is 

 numerous in the rocky islands of the Mediterranean, 

 where it lives and breeds in caverns on the shore ; 

 in the island of Teneriffe it is met with in incredible 

 numbers. 



The rockdove is more slender than the stockdove, 

 and is astonishingly rapid in flight. It may at once 

 be distinguished from the latter by the white colour 

 of the lower part of the back, and the two distinct 

 bands of leaden black across the wings. These dis- 

 tinctive marks are found in our ordinary dovecote 

 pigeons ; and when in the fancy kinds they become, 

 by the breeder's art, imperceptible, they are ever 

 ready to return, and hence one of the difficulties of 

 keeping up a particular fancy stock. It is, then, to 

 the rockdove, a species almost universally spread in 

 its wild state throughout the Old World, that the 

 domestic pigeon and its varieties must be referred. 

 All these varieties breed with each other, and with 

 the wild rockdove ; and without due care, all soon 

 degenerate, as it is termed, and acquire the original 

 form and colouring. 



The habits and manners of the domestic pigeon 

 are too well known to require detailing, nor need we 

 enter into their numerous varieties. 



1699.— The Rock-Dove 



(Columba livia). Le Bisset, and Le Rocheraye, 

 Coulon, Colombe, and Pigeon of the French ; Pa- 

 lombella, Piccione di Torre, Piccione di Rocca of the 

 Italians ; Feldtaube, Haustaube, Hohltaube, Blau- 

 taube, and Holtztaube of the Germans; Rock- 

 Pigeon, English ; Colommen, ancient British. 



We have already, in our notice of the domestic 

 pigeon, entered into the history of this species, which 

 is spread over a great portion of Europe, Asia, and 

 Northern Africa, abounding in the rocky islands 

 of the Mediterranean, and in the Orkneys and He- 

 brides of our northern sea. 



1700. — The Chestnut-shouldered Pigeon 

 {Columba spadiced). This beautiful bird, which ap- 

 pears to resemble our ringdove or cushat in habits, 

 is a native of New Zealand, and is very abundant in 

 the woods near the Bay of Islands, where Lesson 

 killed numbers. Their flesh is excellent. 



The colouring is as follows: — All the upper parts 

 and the throat are of a changeable hue, in which are 

 mingled rosy-copper reflexions running into brilliant 

 iridescent tints ; the quills are of a more sombre 

 tone. The tail above is brown slightly tinged with 

 greenish, below it is brown ; breast and under parts 

 white : bill and tarsi carmine : a bright red skin 

 surrounds the eye. Total length about nineteen 

 inches. 



1701. — The Double-crested Pigeon 



{Columba diloplid). New Holland and Java are 

 the native localities of this species, which is closely 

 allied to the preceding and equally formed for ar- 

 boreal habits. The head is ornamented with a frontal 

 crest composed of long recurved lax feathers, ad- 

 vancing even on the bill, and of a bluish grey colour 

 tinged with rufous ; behind this on the back of the 

 head is a second crest of rich rufous, and composed 

 of long decumbent feathers with open barbules, and 

 bounded by a black streak running back from each 

 eye ; bill rich orange ; sides and front of the neck, 

 together with the breast, pale grey, the base of the 

 feathers being black, at their end they assume a 

 trifld form ; back scapulars and wing-coverts deep 

 bluish grey ; quills and secondaries bluish black ; 

 under plumage grey ; tail square, black at the base, 

 and a narrow bar being of a pale grey with a reddish 

 tinge : legs crimson. Total length about seventeen 

 inches. 



1702.— The Turtle-Dove 



{Turtur auritus, Ray; Columba Turtur, Linn.). 

 Tourterelle of the French ; Tortora of the Italians ; 

 Tuiteltaube of the Germans ; Colommen fair of the 

 ancient British. 



Among our summer visitors must be enumerated 

 this interesting bird, which arrives in our island 

 about the beginning of May. It is when nature is 

 clad in her freshest robes of beauty, when the wild 

 flowers garnish our hedgerows, and the thickets re- 

 sound with the notes of warblers, that the voice of 

 the turtle is heard in our land. In all ages and in 

 all countries visited by it has the turtle been a fa- 

 vourite ; its innocence, its beauty, its attachment to 

 its mate, its plaintive voice, and the time of its ap- 

 pearance, combine to give it interest ; it is the em- 

 blem of peace and tranquillity ; and in the strains 

 of poetry its presence is associated with quiet rural 

 life and undisturbed happiness. 



" Hinc alta sub rupe canet frondator ad auras, 

 Nee tamen, interea, rauctc, tua cura.palumbes, 

 Nee gemere aeria cessabit turtur ab ulmo." 



Virqh.. 



The winter residence of the turtle appears to be 

 in Africa : in summer it is spread over southern and 

 temperate Europe, and various parts of Asia. In 

 Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy it is very common. 

 Mr. Strickland observed it at Smyrna, in April, 1836. 

 In our island it is much more abundant in the 

 southern and eastern counties than in those farther 

 north : we have seen it in numbers both in Essex, 

 Kent, and Surrey. Thick copses, wooded parks, 

 dense hedgerows, where bushy pollard oaks rise up 

 at intervals, are its favourite places of resort ; and 

 in secluded retreats, several pairs are often found to 

 form a sort of colony, building their nests in adja- 

 cent trees. The nest, as previously noticed, is a 

 platform of twigs, and is placed in the forked branch 

 of an oak or fir tree, among the ivy-laden boughs of 

 the elm, near the stem, or in thick pollards ; we 

 once saw the nest of a pair of turtles in a stunted 

 pollard oak, close to the gate of a farmyard in Essex, 

 and watched the birds playfully chasing each other 

 in the air around the tree. Early in the morning the 

 turtle wings its way from the copse or park to the 

 fields in quest of food, and it repeats its visit in the 

 afternoon, returning home on the approach of dusk. 

 Various kinds of grain, as wheat, not yet mature, 

 together with peas, rape, mustard-seed, hemp-seed, 

 &c, constitute its diet. On the.approach of autumn 

 the turtle congregates in small flocks of ten or 

 twelve, which scour the fields during the day, and 



return to their roosting-place in the evening. Early 

 in September this bird leaves our island for its winter 

 abode : sometimes however it lingers till the close 

 of the month before taking its departure. 



The turtle is about eleven inches in length. The 

 upper part of the head and neck is ashy grey, 

 with a pearly tinge : the back is brown ; the wing- 

 coverts are dusky brown in the centre, with a border 

 on each feather of reddish brown inclining to 

 rufous; quills brown; tail-feathers dusky brown, 

 and all, with the exception of the two middle, tipped 

 with white. The sides of the neck present a patch 

 of small stiff black feathers with white margins; 

 front of the neck and breast light vinous ; abdomen 

 white. The young birds are destitute of the peculiar 

 patch of feathers on the sides of the neck. 



1703, 1704.— The Collared Turtle 

 (Turtur risorius). Columba risoria. This beauti- 

 ful bird is often kept in aviaries, where it freely 

 breeds. It is widely spread, being dispersed through- 

 out the whole of Africa, India, and other parts of 

 Asia. Colonel Sykes found it in Dukhun. The 

 collared turtle was well known to the ancients, 

 and is still common in Egypt and the neighbouring 

 countries. It has been suggested that this species 

 is the turtle of the Scriptures ; we are not however so 

 sure of it, for it does not appear that this is a migra- 

 tory bird, which that decidedly was. In its natural 

 state the collared turtle frequents the woods, and 

 its habits closely agree with those of the common 

 species. The general colour is pale fawn, with a 

 black crescent-shaped mark on the back of the neck. 

 Length about eleven inches. 



1705, 1706.— The Passenger-Pigeon 

 (Ectopistes migratoria). Were not the testimony of 

 Wilson, Audubon, and others who have described 

 the habits of this bird above suspicion, one might 

 be tempted to think that their accounts were some- 

 what overcoloured ; such however is not the case : 

 they narrate, graphically, scenes of which they were 

 themselves eye-witnesses. The passenger-pigeon is 

 a native of America (where it is generally termed 

 the wild pigeon), and is celebrated for inundating 

 in flocks of thousands various districts to which the 

 hordes are attracted by food, their visits being irre- 

 gular and uncertain. The passenger-pigeon is a 

 bird of extremely rapid flight, propelling itself by 

 quickly repeated flaps of the wings, as it passes 

 along in a straight course over the country. During 

 the pairing season however it often flies in circles, 

 occasionally clashing its wings in the manner of the 

 domestic pigeon, which in its manners it generally 

 resembles. Speaking of the rapidity of the present 

 species, Mr. Audubon states that "Pigeons have 

 been killed in the neighbourhood of New York 

 with their crops full of rice, which they must have 

 collected in the fields of Georgia and Carolina, these 

 districts being the nearest in which they could pos- 

 sibly have procured a supply of this kind of food. 

 As their power of digestion is so great that they will 

 decompose food entirely in twelve hours, they must 

 in this case have travelled between three hundred 

 and four hundred miles in six hours, which shows 

 their speed to be at an average about one mile in a 

 minute. 



' ; This great power of flight is seconded by as 

 great a power of vision, which enables them as they 

 travel at that swift rate to inspect the country below, 

 discover their food, and thus attain the object for 

 which their journey was undertaken. 



"The multitudes" (says Audubon, whose account 

 we follow) " of wild pigeons in our woods are as- 

 tonishing. Indeed, after having viewed them so 

 often and under so many circumstances, I even now 

 feel inclined to pause, and assure myself that what I 

 am going to relate is fact : — In the autumn of 

 1813 I left my house at Henderson on the banks of 

 the Ohio on my way to Louisville. In passing over 

 the Barrens a few miles beyond Hardensburgh I ob- 

 served the pigeons flying from north-east to south- 

 west, in greater numbers than I thought I had ever 

 seen them before ; and feeling an inclination to count 

 the flocks that might pass within the reach of my 

 eye in one hour, I dismounted, seated myself on an 

 eminence, and began to mark with my pencil, making 

 a dot for every flock that passed. In a short time 

 finding the task I had undertaken impracticable, as 

 the birds poured in in countless multitudes, I rose, 

 and, counting the dots then put down, found that one 

 hundred and sixty-three had been made in twenty- 

 one minutes. I travelled on and still met more the 

 farther I proceeded. The air was literally filled 

 with pigeons ; the light of noon-day was obscured 

 as by an eclipse, and the continued buzz of wings 

 had a tendency to lull me to repose. 



" Before sunset I reached Louisville, distant from 

 Hardensburgh fifty-five miles; the pigeons were 

 still passing in undiminished numbers, and con- 

 tinued to do so for three days in succession. The 

 people were all in arms. The banks of the Ohio 

 were crowded with men and boys incessantly shoot- 



