CHAPTER XX. 
PIGEONS . 
“ “VT O, Malcolm,” said Miss Harson a few days 
-hi after the royal birds had been disposed of, “ I 
have not forgotten my promise about pigeons ; but 
there is so much out-door pleasure on hand this 
bright summer weather that our ‘talks’ are not so 
frequent as they were in the early spring. It is quite 
time, though, that we made some inquiries about such 
particularly home birds as pigeons, of which there 
are many varieties. 
“ The stock-dove, or wild pigeon of Europe, appears 
to have been the ancestor of all the pigeon tribe, and 
when taken young this pigeon can easily be tamed. 
Our own tame pigeon, or house-dove, is too well 
known to need much description. Perhaps Mal- 
colm will give us an account of his?” 
But Malcolm replied, rather bashfully, that he 
had nothing to tell : they all knew that he had six 
pairs in the pigeon-house, which papa had let him 
buy with his own money ; that two of them were 
white, one brown, and three bluish-drab; and that 
214 
