66

turtle dove, and a young pigeon." In Leviticus i., where the offerings of the domesticated creatures of the Israelites are particularized, at verse 14 it is ordered, "And if the burnt-sacrifice, for his offering to the Lord, be of fowls; then he shall bring his offering of turtle-doves, or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar: and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar. And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar, on the east part, by the place of the ashes. And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt-sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord." In the same book, chap. v. 7, we find, And if he be not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring for his trespass, which he hath committed, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the Lord." Similar mention of the Pigeon and the TurtleDove is made at xii. 6; xiv. 22; xv. 14, 29; and in Numbers vi. 10. Birds appear to have been the sacrifice of the poor, as cattle, sheep, and goats were of the wealthy. There can be little doubt that the TurtleDoves were the Collared Turtles known to us; being kept in cages, they and young pigeons would always be at hand; whereas the common European Turtle, a wild and migratory bird, could only be had at certain seasons, and even then only according to the chance success of the fowler, fire-arms not yet affording a sure means of capture: for the way in which Turtle-Doves are thus spoken of, as equivalent to Pigeons, and as if always obtainable, shows plainly, I think, that the for

СНАР. І.]

ANCIENT DOMESTICATION.

13

mer bird was not the common wild Turtle, which to this day continues to be a free and unreclaimed ranger of the old world, but the Collared Turtle, which makes itself so much at home, and breeds so freely whilst in captivity to man.

Another notice occurs in Isaiah lx. 8:-" Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?" The passage establishes the domestication of the Rock Pigeon at that early epoch. The "windows are clearly the apertures in a dovecote; and every reader will remember that windows in the East are seldom glazed entrances for light merely, as with us, but are openings to admit air principally, and the sun's rays as little as possible; and when closed, are done so by lattice work, or shutters, as in pigeon-lofts here: so that the expression "windows" is very appropriate to denote the means of approach to the creatures' dwellingplace.

The Rock Dove, then, had already become domesticated, as a Dovehouse Pigeon, in patriarchal times. It seems almost as if the bird had been created with an innate disposition to attach itself to, and take possession of, as its tenement, all convenient caves, rocks, or unoccupied buildings, so as to be at once ready to afford a subsidiary supply of animal food to the increasing family of man. It is not in a highly cultivated and thickly populated country like England that the value of Pigeons, as provision, is perceived. In such places they are destroyed and lost, if allowed to follow their natural instinct of ranging far and wide to obtain their subsistence; independence and industry are the qualities that constitute their value as live stock. Hence they would deserve far more consideration from the

early settlers, either in remote ages, or in a new country, than they can obtain where population is thick and agriculture advanced. A dovecote, planted by the emigrant close by his hut in the back woods, might often afford a meal when game was shy and scarce, or other stock too valuable to kill. And thus the transfer of the Rock Dove from the home afforded by nature, to the abode reared and provided by man, seems, like the case of bees, to have been a most easy change to effect. We all remember the beautiful passage in Virgil, describing the Pigeon disturbed from her nest in the cavern. We often see how soon ruined buildings, especially windmills, become tenanted by Pigeons, about which it is hard to decide whether they are reclaimed from the cliffs, or are deserters from the dovecote. A return to this semi-wild state is by no means uncommon in other countries as well as in our own. Mr. Gould informs me that domestic Pigeons are abundantly dispersed over every colonized part of Australia; and in some districts, particularly in Norfolk Island, have taken to the rocks, and quite assumed the habits of the wild Rock Dove of our own island.

In India, exactly the same half-wild disposition is similarly manifested. Some of the details of Captain Mundy's description of the Black Pagoda or Temple of the Sun, read to us as if he were rummaging the dovecote of an old manorial residence in England. "Myriads of wild pigeons and bats occupy the dark interior of the lofty cupola. The thunder-threatening closeness of the atmosphere having completely spoiled our imported provisions, in the afternoon we took post on each side of the temple with our guns, and sending in a domestic to drive out the immense flocks of pigeons,

CHAP. I.]

ESTABLISHED IN AMERICA.

15

soon provided ourselves with an extempore dinner, besides the enjoyment of half an hour's very pretty practice."*

It is very probable that, before many years have elapsed, we shall have similar accounts, from sporting tourists in the New World, of shooting scenes in which the very same species, the feral Columba livia, or Dovehouse Pigeon returned to an independent condition, plays the principal part as victim and target for fowlingpiece practice. It is strange if there are not already some self-emancipated pairs tenanting the rocks along the course of the Hudson. "In the United States," I can speak from per

Mr. Thos. S. Woodcock says, sonal observation, that Fancy Pigeons are cultivated in great variety. I knew one person in New York, and another in Brooklyn, who had large collections. The Carrier was employed there extensively before the introduction of the electric telegraph, and I presume that all have been introduced a long time, probably by the earliest colonists, for no one ever thought them novel. We once had a lot exhibited at our Brooklyn Society, but they were merely shown as fine specimens, not on account of their being any rarity. The domestic Pigeon is quite common, and the very young birds brought to market for sale, as with us in England."

The little or no variation from the wild type which the half-wild blue Rock Pigeon (as such) has undergone in this long succession of ages, is really remarkable, and ought to have its full weight in the consideration of the question as to the origin of the fancy kinds. We are quite justified in believing that the blue Rock Pigeon never was more wild than it is at * Pen and Pencil Sketches, vol. ii. p. 273.

present; and that from its very first joint occupancy of the earth in company with man, it was always as ready to avail itself of any fit asylum and nesting-place which he afforded it—perhaps more so, in consequence of the greater number of rapacious birds existing in early times -and always equally ready to return to the rocks and caves when it felt any occasional disgust to its adopted home. Unless the external appearance of the wild bird has altered at the same time with that of the tame one, but little change has taken place in this respect. The beautiful wood-cut of the Columba livia, which Mr. Yarrell gives in his "British Birds," might pass for a well-selected specimen of the Blue Rock Dovehouse Pigeon.

Fancy Pigeons, as distinguished from the Dovehouse kinds that were reared for the table, seem to have been known from a very early epoch. It may be believed that we hear less of the different sorts then cultivated and most in favour, in consequence of the merits of all the others being so much thrown into the shade by the superior value and usefulness of those employed as letter-carriers.

To save trouble to future archæological poultry fanciers, we will quote a few words from Sir J. G. Wilkinson: "It is remarkable that the camel, though known to have been used in, and probably a native of Egypt, as early at least as the time of Abraham (the Bible distinctly stating it to have been among the presents given by Pharaoh to the patriarch), has never yet been met with in the paintings or hieroglyphics. We cannot, however, infer, from our finding no representation or notice of it, that it was rare in any part of the country, since the same would apply to poultry, which, it is scarcely