Holy Land does in deep gorges, with precipitous cliffs of soft limestone honey-combed in all directions by 
caves and fissures. Several of these gorges are named, from the multitude of Pigeons they contain, ‘ Wady 
Hamam,’ i. e. Ravine of Pigeons. One of the most remarkable of these is the Wady Hamam leading from 
the plain of Gennesaret at the south-west, where are the famed robbers’ caves, inhabited by thousands of 
Rock-doves, whose swift flight and roosting-places far in tlie fissures render them secure from the attacks of 
the many Hawks that share the caverns with them. They also swarm in the ravine of the Kelt, by Jericho, 
in the sides of the Mount of Temptation, and in the Kedron. Above all, they people the recesses of the 
cliffs which shut in the Arnon and the Zerka, in the land of Moab, as they did in the time of Jeremiah. 
The Rock-Pigeon of these districts is the same as the Colimba Schimperi of Egypt. On the coast, however, 
and in the colder highlands, the C. lima is the common bird. Neitlier bird migrates in Palestine, and we 
found the eggs and young at all times of the year.” 
“The hardy little bine Rock-Pigeon {Colamba livid) ^ says St. John, “abounds on all the sea-coast of 
Scotland where the rocks are steep and broken into fissures and caverns. One moment dashing into its 
breeding-place, and flying out the next, then skimming the very surface of the breakers, it gives animation 
and interest to many a desolate and rugged range of cliffs as far north as Cape Wrath and Whiten Head ; 
and it still frequents the rocks on this coast, though in small numbers, and is so intermingled with the House- 
Pigeon (which it so exactly resembles), that it would be difficult to decide if any of the wild birds still remain. 
In the caves on the Ross-shire coast, and all along the north, great numbers are still seen. They build in 
the caves and holes of the rocks close to the sea-side ; and the nest is usually placed in the most inaccessible 
and difficult recesses of the rocks — so much so that, numerous as they are, it is often very difficult to obtain 
their eggs. The nest is composed of whatever twigs, pieces of dried grass, &c. they can pick up in the 
wild places they inhabit, and is precisely like that of the tame Pigeon.” 
Macgillivray states that, “ at early dawn, the Pigeons may be seen issuing from their retreats among the 
rocks in straggling parties, which soon take a determinate direction, and, meeting with others by the way, 
proceed in a loose body along the shores until they reach the cultivated parts of the country, where they 
settle in large flocks and diligently seek for grains of barley and oats, pods of the charlock, seeds of the 
wild mustard, polygona and other plants, together with several species of small-shelled snails, especially 
ericetorum and Bulimus acutus, which abound in the sandy pastures. When they have young, they necessarily 
make several trips in the day ; but from the end of autumn to the beginning of summer they continue all 
day in the fields. In winter they collect into flocks, sometimes composed of several hundred individuals, 
and at this season may he easily approached by creeping and skulking ; but in general they are rather shy. 
“ The notes of the Rock-Dove resemble the syllables coo-roo-coo quickly repeated, the last prolonged. It 
is monogamous, and its nuptials are celebrated with mueh cooing and circumambulation on the part of the 
male. A love-scene among the rocks is really an interesting sight. Concealed in a crevice or behind a 
projeeting cliff, you see a Pigeon alight beside you and stand quietly for some time, when the whistling of 
pinions is heard and the male shoots past like an arrow and is already beside his mate. Scarcely has he 
made a rapid survey of the place when, directing his attention to the only beautiful objeet he sees, he 
approaches her, erecting his head and swelling out his breast by inflating his crop, and, spreading his tail 
at the same time, uttering the well-known coo-i'oo-coo, the soft and somewhat mournful sounds of which echo 
among the cliffs. The female, shy and timorous, sits close to the rock, shifting her position a little as the 
male advances and sometimes stretching out her neck as if to repel him by blows. The nest is formed of 
withered stalks and blades of grass and other plants, not very neatly arranged, but disposed so as to answer 
the Intended purpose. Two beautiful white eggs of an elliptical form are then deposited ; and in due time 
the young make their appearance. 
The front figure is of the natural size. There is little or no differenee iu the plumage of the sexes. 
It would be out of place here to give any account of the numerous domesticated v^arieties of the 
Rock-Dove, sinee they will be found amply described in ‘The Pigeon-fancier’s Manual’ and similar pub- 
lications ; but I cannot refrain from alluding to the vast power of flight produced by constant cultivation in 
that known as the Carrier Pigeon, a bird which has been for ages employed, espeeially in the East, to 
convey intelligence from one distant point to another — a striking instance of which has just been called to 
my attention by H. W. Freeland, Esq., of Chichester; — “Last week the members of the Ornithological 
Society of Pesth despatched two carrier pigeons to Cologne, whence they had arrived two days before. 
Four Hungarian pigeons accompanied the Rhenish ones as an escort, but returned shortly after. The 
pigeons commenced their flight at 6 a.m. ; and at five in the afternoon a telegram arrived from Cologne 
stating that they had reached that town at two, thus performing the whole distance between Pesth and 
Cologne (about 600 miles) in eight hours.” — Morning Post, Thursday, June 9, 1870. 
