THE ROCK-DOVE. 
19 O 
the north of Africa was at that period not unfrequent, and 
many of the domestic animals of the district had been 
imported into this country. Shakespeare frequently 
alludes to Barbary horses ; and in the Second Part of 
King Henry IV. Act ii. Sc. 4, makes Falstaff say, ‘ He’s 
no swaggerer, hostess.he’ll not swagger 
with a Barbary hen, if her feathers turn back with any 
show of resistance.’ This allusion was most probably to 
a frizzled fowl. In this singular variety the feathers upon 
the head and neck are reversed or curled, which gives the 
hen at all times the appearance of a cock in fighting 
attitude. Hence Shakespeare’s apt allusion.” 
There seems to be no doubt that all the various races 
of the domestic pigeon are descended from a single stock, 
namely, the wild rock-pigeon ( Columba livid). A mass 
of interesting evidence on this subject will be found 
in Darwin’s “Variation of Animals and Plants under 
Domestication,” vol. i. chap. 5. 
Frequent allusion has been made by Shakespeare to 
the “ Doves of Venus ” ( Lucrece , Venus and Adonis , and 
Midsummer Night's Dream , Act i. Sc. 1), and “Venus’ 
Pigeons ” ( Merchant of Venice , Act ii. Sc. 6). 
Some explanation of this is to be found in the follow¬ 
ing passage from Venus and, Adonis :— 
“ Thus weary of the world, away she (Venus) hies, 
And yokes her silver doves ; by whose swift aid 
