year; and though only two eggs are laid at a time, their increase is so rapid and prodigious, that, at the expiration of four years, the produce, and descendants, of a single pair, may amount to the immense number of nearly fifteen thousand.

The usual way to entice Pigeons to remain at a required spot, is to place what is called a salt-cat near them. This is composed of loam, old rubbish, and salt, and will so effectually answer the purpose as to decoy even those which belong to other places.

We have a singular anecdote of the effect of music on a Pigeon, related by John Lockman, in some reflections concerning operas, prefixed to his musical drama of Rosalinda. This person being at the house of Mr. Lee, a gentleman who lived in Cheshire, and whose daughter was a fine performer on the harpsichord, he observed a Pigeon, which, whenever the young lady played the song of "Speri si" in Handel's opera of Admetus, (and this only,) would descend from an adjacent Dovehouse to the room-window where she sat, and listen to it apparently with the most pleasing emotions; and when the song was finished, it always returned immediately to the Dove-house.

CARRIER PIGEON.

There are upwards of twenty varieties of the Domestic Pigeon; and of these the Carriers are the most celebrated. They obtained their name from their being sometimes employed to convey letters and small packets from one place to another.

trifling wager, sent a Carrier Pigeon from London, by the coach, to a friend at Bury St. Edmund's; and along with it a note, desiring that the Pigeon, two days after its arrival there, might be thrown up precisely when the town clock struck nine in the morning. This was accordingly done; and the Pigeon arrived in London, and flew into the Bull-inn, in Bishopsgate street, at half-past eleven o'clock of the same morning, having flown seventy-two miles in two hours and a half.

The Carrier Pigeon is easily distinguished from the other varieties, by a broad circle of naked white skin round the eyes, and by its dark blue or blackish color.

POUTER.

THE RING-DOVE.

The Ring-dove is the largest Pigeon which is found in England, and may at once be distinguish

ed from all others by its size. Its weight is about twenty ounces; its length eighteen inches, and its breadth about thirty. The head, back, and coverts of the wings are of a bluish ash-color. The lower side of the neck and breast, is of a purplish red, dashed with ash-color. On the hind part of the neck there is a semi-circular line of white; above and beneath that the feathers are glossy, and of changeable colors when opposed to the light. The belly is of a dirty white. The greater quill-feathers are dusky; the rest ash-colored. Underneath the bastard-wing there is a white stroke pointing downward.

These Pigeons build their nests on the branches of trees, and get erally prefer those of the pine. The nest is large and open, formed principally of dried sticks; and the eggs, which may frequently be seen through the bottom of the nest, are larger than those of the Domestic Pigeon.

The food of this, as well as of the other species, is principally grain; but a neighbor of the Rev. Mr. White, of Selborne, shot a Ring-dove, as it was going to roost; and when his wife had picked

and drawn it, she found its craw stuffed with a collection of the ten

der tops of turnips. Hence we may see that granivorous birds, when their usual kinds of subsistence fail, can feed on the leaves of vegetables. There is indeed reason to suppose that they would not long be healthy without these substances; for Turkeys, though corn-fed, delight in a great variety of plants, such as ca' bage, lettuce, and endive; poultry pick much grass; and Geese live for months together on commons, by grazing only.

KING-DOVE.

Attempts have frequently been made to domesticate these birds, by hatching their eggs in dove-houses, under the common Pigeon; but as soon as the young-ones were able to fly, they always escaped to their proper haunts. Mr. Montagu was at considerable pains in experiments of this nature; and though he so far tamed them within doors as to have them become exceedingly troublesome, yet he never could produce a breed, either by themselves or with the tame Pigeon. Two that were brought up with a male Pigeon, were rendered so tame that they would eat out of the hand; but as they showed no signs of breeding in the spring, they were suffered to fly away, by the window of the room in which they were confined being left open. It was supposed that, the Pigeon might induce them to return to their usual place of abode, either for food or to roost; but from that moment they assumed their natural habits, and nothing more was seen of them, although the Pigeon remained. This gentleman bred up a curious assemblage of birds, which lived together in perfect amity: it consisted of a common Pigeon, a Ring-dove, a White-owl, and a Sparrow-hawk; and the Ring-dove was master of the whole.

THE CROWNED PIGEON.

This bird is about the size of a common Turkey. Its head is adorned with a most superb circular crest of feathers, standing erect and composed of loose, unconnected webs, of a fire bluish ash-color. The eyes are lodged in a shuttle-shaped band of black. The lesser coverts of the wings, and the upper part of the back, are of a dark reddish purple the first greater coverts are white, edgea with red; and all the rest of the plumage is of the same color as the crest.

CROWNED PIGEON.

The wings of the Crowned Pigeon are armed each with a horny excrescence, with which they are able to strike a severe blow. These birds are easily rendered tame; and, in the East Indies, they are kept

THE PASSENGER PIGEON.

645

in court-yards, with poultry. They have frequently been brought

alive into Europe, where they are justly considered among the greatest ornaments of the menagerie: and one instance has occurred of a female laying eggs, but these were unproductive. In a

wild state they breed in the highest trees.

These birds have all the habits of the common i'igeons; billing, inflating their breast, and cooing: the noise of their cooing is, however, so loud, as, at times, to resemble rather a bellowing. It is said that M. Bougainville's sailors were greatly alarmed at hearing this noise for the first time, in the wild and unfrequented spots of some of the islands on which they landed: they supposed it to proceed from the savage cries of hostile and concealed natives.

The Crowned Pigeons are found in New Guinea, Pulo, and a few of the adjacent islands.

THE PASSENGER PIGEON.

This species is about the size of the common Pigeon. Its bill is black. Round the eyes there is a crimson mark; and the head, throat, and upper parts of the body, are ash-colored. The sides of the neck are of a grossy, variable purple. The fore part of the neck and breast are vinaceous; and the under parts are of a similar color, but paler. The tail is tolerably long. The legs are red, and the claws black.

Passenger Pigeons visit in enormous flocks, the different parts of North America. In the southern provinces their numbers depend greatly on the mildness or severity of the season: for in very mild weather few or none of them are to be seen. Actuated by necessity, they change their situation in search of acorns, mast, and berries which

the warmer provinces yield in vast abundance. When they alight, the ground is quickly cleared of all esculent fruits; to the great injury of the Hog, and other mast-eating To animals. After on having devoured be every thing that has fallen on the surface, they form themselves into great perpendicular column, and fly around the boughs of trees, from top to bottom, beating de down down the the acorns

THE PASSENGER PIGEON.

with their wings; and they then, in succession, alight on the ground, and again begin to eat.

"I think," says Mr. Blackburne, in a letter to Mr. Pennant, "that these are as remarkable birds as any in America. They are in vast numbers in all parts; and have, at times, been of great service to our garrisons, in supplying them with fresh meat, especially at the outposts. A friend told me, that in the year in which Quebec was taken, the whole army was supplied with this subsistence. The way was this. Every man took his club, (for they were forbidden to use their firelocks,) and the Pigeons flew in such numbers, that each person could kill as many as he wanted. They in general begin to fly soon after day-break, and continue till nine or ten o'clock; and again about three in the afternoon and continue till five or six; but what is very remarkable, their course is always westerly. The times of flying here are in the spring, about the latter end of February or the beginning of March, and they continue their flight every day for eight or ten days; and again in the fall, when they appear at the latter end of July or the beginning of August. The inhabitants catch vast numbers of them in clap-nets. I have seen them brought to the market at New York by sacksful. People in general are very fond of them, and I have heard many say that they think them as good as our common blue Pigeon: but I cannot agree in this opinion: the flesh tastes most like that of our Queest, or wild Pigeon, but it is better. Sir William Johnston told me, that at one shot, with a blunderbuss, he killed above a hundred and twenty. I must remark a singular fact: that notwithstanding the whole people of a town go out a pigeoning, as they call it, they do not on some days, kill a single hen bird; and on the very next day not a single cock; (and yet both sexes always fly westerly;) and when this is the case, the people are always assured that there will be a great quantity of them that season."

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These Pigeons were so numerous when La Hontan was in Canada,