84 
Table XVII. (See vol. i., p. 18.) 
Order 4. Gallinaceous, (or Poultry tribe.) 
We now come to one of the most useful divisions 
of birds, forming in their domesticated state no 
inconsiderable source of profit to those who rear 
them for the purpose of sale. 
In the tables of classification, this Order com- 
prises three tribes:— 1st, Pigeons; 2nd, Fowls or 
common poultry ; and 3rd, the short-winged families 
of Ostriches, Cassowaries, &c., which by others have 
been classed amongst the Waders, inconsequence of 
their length of legs. 
In this country, where Pigeons are, generally 
speaking, a domestic bird, few persons have an 
idea of their countless increase and abundance, 
when left to themselves, roaming over wide tracts, 
and following, almost without interruption, their 
natural habits. Even in our dove-cots, however, 
their increase is often prodigious; it having been 
found, that in the course of four years, nearly 
15,000 have been produced from a single pair. 
Bearing this in mind, the reader will be better 
prepared to credit the startling accounts of the 
myriads of these birds, so often witnessed in 
North America, consisting of a particular species 
called the Passenger, or Migratory Pigeon, from 
their regular visits to certain districts, either for the 
purpose of feeding, or rearing their young. And 
though thousands and tens of thousands are destroyed, 
chiefly at their roosting-places, the numbers seem 
rather to increase than diminish. Such multitudes 
