OF BIRDS. 
199 
them with leisure, darting in its long tongue, and devour- 
ing the whole brood.. Sometimes, also, this bird alights 
upon the ground to try its fortune at an ant-hill, and sel- 
dom fails of procuring a rich repast. 
The woodpecker generally chooses for its habitation 
trees that are decayed, or soft wood, as elm and poplar* 
In these, with very little trouble, it makes holes, as ex- 
actly round as a mathematician could with compasses; 
and here the female deposits her eggs, without any thing 
to keep them warm, except the heat of her own body* 
When the young are excluded from the shell, and before 
they leave the nest, they are adorned with a scarlet plu- 
mage under the throat, which adds considerably to their 
beauty. 
Wood-pigeon. {Columba Migratoria . Lath. PI. 31.) 
All the numerous and beautiful varieties of this tribe, 
derive their origin from the stock-dove, wood pigeonf 
which is of a deep bluish ash colour; the breast dashed 
with a fine changeable green and purple; the wings mark- 
ed with two black bars; the back white, and the tail 
barred near the end with black. Such are the colours of 
the pigeon in its natural state; and from these simple 
tints the effects of domestication have produced a variety 
that words cannot describe, nor even fancy suggest. 
The ring-dove is considerably larger than the former, 
and derives its appellation from a beautiful white circle 
round the neck. This bird builds its nest with a few 
dry sticks, in the boughs of trees; and is so strongly at- 
tached to its native freedom, that all attempts to domes- 
ticate it have hitherto proved ineffectual. 
The carrier pigeon is distinguished from all others, by 
a broad circle of naked white skin which surrounds the 
eyes; and by the colour of the plumage, which is of a 
dark blue inclining to black. From their attachment to 
their native place, these birds are employed in several 
countries as the most expeditious carriers of letters; and 
formerly they were commonly used in carrying letters 
from place to place in time of war, and in case of sieges, 
when all other means of communication were intercept- 
ed, or cut off by the enemy. These birds have been 
