PIGEONS. 
broad and distinct bars across the closed wings; the lower part 
of the back is white; the runup and tail coverts, bluish-grey; the 
tail, deep-grey, with a broad black bar at the end ; the legs and 
feet are purplish-red; the wings, when closed, reach within 
half an inch of the end of the tail. 
QRXG-EN OF FANCY PIGEONS AND THE COMMON 
HOUSE DOVE, 
It is from the wild rock pigeon, (C. livia ,) that all those 
numerous varieties, or, as they are frequently termed, “ races,” 
of the common inhabitants of the dove cot have descended, 
which are so highly prized, and fostered with such care and 
attention by the fancier, or amateur breeder; for, however 
diversified their forms, colors, or peculiarity of habit may be, 
they are all considered as having originated from a few acci¬ 
dental varieties of the common house pigeon, and not from any 
cross of that bird with other species, no signs nor marks 
whatever of such being apparent in any variety known to us. 
In fact, the greater part of .them owe their existence to the 
interference and art of man; for, by separating from the wild 
rock pigeon, such accidental varieties as have occasionally 
occurred, by subjecting them to captivity and familiarisation , 
and by assorting and pairing them together, as fancy or 
caprice suggested, he has, at intervals, generated all the 
various races, and peculiar casts, which, it is well known, 
when once produced, may be perpetuated for an indefinite 
period, by being kept separate from, and unmixed with, others; 
or, in other words, what is commonly termed breeding 
“ in-and-in.” 
Indeed, the fact, that all the varieties, however much they 
may differ in color, size, or other particulars, if permitted, 
breed freely and indiscriminately with each other, and produce 
a progeny equally prolific, is another and a convincing proof 
of their common and self-same origin; for it is one of those 
iiversal laws of nature, which, if once set aside or not 
