THE WOOD PIGEON. 



91 



cells. Yet they are not domestics, but rather voluntary cap- 

 tives, or transient guests, who continue to reside in the dwell- 

 ing assigned them, only because they are pleased with a situa- 

 tion which affords them abundance of food and comfort. In 

 the wild state, the pigeon has two broods in a year ; and in the 

 perfect domesticated state they lay often ten, and even twelve 

 times in a year. They seldom or never lay more than two 

 eggs at a time; they incubate from fourteen to seventeen 

 days, and one of the young is a male, and the other a 

 female. 



Pigeons are very quick of hearing, and have a sharp sight. 

 They are very nourishing food, somewhat binding, strengthen- 

 ing and provoking urine ; as the animals grow old, the flesh 

 becomes drier, more solid, and harder of digestion. Of all 

 domestic animals they are confessedly the most decorous, 

 pleasing, and vivacious. The wanton dalliances of the bird 

 have made it to be feigned to be the symbol of love. The 

 cock and the hen sit on the eggs by turns. 



Regular pigeon^ cotes seldom, in these days, belong to a 

 farm ; but most farmers keep a few pigeons in roost over an 

 under building, and opening by the gable-end, or in wooden 

 boxes hung on the wall of a southern exposure. They are 

 most particularly fond of pease and tare seeds, and, if they 

 be numerous, they will damage a newly sown field of these 

 legumes, and also in the fields when the crops begin to ripen. 

 They can open the pods with their bills, but they cannot dig 

 the ground like the rook. Beyond a certain degree, pigeons 

 must be held to be injurious to the cultivation of grain : within 

 due bounds, they do little harm; but, increased beyond it, 

 they prove pernicious vermin, both to the new-sown crops, 

 and to the early part of harvest. Watching the fields is the 

 only guard against their depredations. They are timorous, 

 and easily scared. 



3. The Wood piGEON.—This animal is much known by 

 the name of the " cushat." It is a species of the Columba, 

 and is the largest in size, being fully seventeen inches in 

 length. The specific name is the " Columba palumbus," or 



