Pa ATT ER CVi, 
All writers on Egypt mention the vaft number of Pigeons that are 
bred in that part of the world, where they proverbially conftitute a 
great portion of the poor hufbandman’s eftate. In Perfia alfo they 
are bred in immenfe numbers. ‘They are altogether a pleafing and 
feful fpecies in whatever country they are domelticated*. 
In a wild ftate thefe Birds have two broods in a year; in a ftate of 
confinement, fometimes three. They ufually lay two eggs at a time, 
and fit from fourteen to feventecn days before the young are hatched. 
They migrate in vaft multitudes into the fouth of England at the 
approach of winter, and return again in fpring. “They frequent 
woody places, and commonly build in the hollows of decayed trees. 
* Their dung is ufed for tanning leather, is a valuable manure for the land, and is 
employed in medicine: formerly faltpetre was collected from ite Itis ufed for many 
other purpofes by diftant nations.—-Vide Lath. 
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