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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
Archangel. Tumbler. Carrier. Powte
GROUP OF DOMESTIC PIGEONS.
THE DOVECOTE
THE AVIARY:
SKETCHES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY OF PIGEONS AND OTHER
DOMESTIC BIRDS IN A CAPTIVE STATE.
WITH HINTS FOR THEIR MANAGEMENT.
BY REV. E. S. DIXON, M.A.,
AUTHOR OF "ORNAMENTAL AND DOMESTIC POULTRY.
LONDON :
WM. S. ORB, & CO , AMEN CORNER, PATERNOSTER ROW.
TO
THE EAEL OF DEBBY,
PRESIDENT OP THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON,
ETC., ETC., ETC.,
WHOSE DISTINGUISHED AID TO ZOOLOGY
HAS BEEN SO LIBERAL, CONTINUOUS, AND EFFICIENT,
THE PRESENT VOLUME
IS, BY PERMISSION, DEDICATED,
BY HIS LORDSHIP'S RESPECTFUL AND OBLIGED SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
ADVEKTISEMENT.
THE researches requisite to complete the volume on
" Ornamental and Domestic Poultry" naturally put the
writer in possession of many a clue towards the better
understanding of the natures of other domestic, captive,
and familiar birds. The following pages may therefore
be looked upon as an almost necessary sequel to the
former work. The object has been to ascertain the
place which certain genera and species are likely
eventually to take, in respect to their association with
mankind, and to obtain a cognizance of the circum-
stances most immediately connected with that relation-
ship. The writer is fully aware that it is not easy for
him to answer and explain several of the objections
that may be urged against the theoretical views he has
ventured to state ; but he is also both extensively read
and practically experienced in the still greater difficul-
ties and inconsistencies of the progressive hypothesis
of domesticated creatures. What zoology, in its sub-
servience to the requirements of man, now wants, is a
series of widely-extended experiments : unknown zoo-
logical capabilities, and the results of untried zoological
combinations are, at the present date, as little to be
guessed at as were those of chemistry a hundred years
vi * CEMENT.
ago. The experiments are commencing, and the writer
is glad that he has heen one instrument in exciting
their pursuit. The whole subject is, just now, of very
increasing interest. The industrious student and the
unprejudiced discoverer may yet gather not only facts,
but fame.
Three of these Essays first appeared in " Bell's Weekly
Messenger," whence they were immediately transferred
to the "Morning Herald," and perhaps to other prints;
the rest is offered to the reader's consideration for the
first time. The necessity of being brief will excuse the
author for here acknowledging, in general terms only,
the kind assistance which has been afforded him by very
many friends and correspondents.
CKINGLEFORD HALL, NORWICH,
April, 1851.
CONTENTS.
THE DOVECOTE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
PAGK
Pigeons differently constituted to other domestic birds. Interest
attached to them. Pets of childhood. Paradoxical increase.
Effect of captivity on the productiveness of some birds. Beauty
of the Columbidae. Earliest history. The olive branch. Arab
legend. Ancient domestication. Feral Pigeons. Domestic
Pigeons long established in America. Not found among the
Egyptian monuments. Ancient pigeon-fanciers. Messenger
birds. Agents of superstition. Misrepresentation. Use during
sieges. Ancient pigeon-houses and fatting-places. Cato a pigeon-
fatter. The Mosaic Doves of the Capitol. Friendship of the
kestrel. Charms for dovecotes. Effectual attractions. Patron-
ized by commercial people 1
CHAPTER II.
MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS.
Feed their own young. New-hatched squabs. The pigeon-loft.
The trap. Nesting-places. Food and luxuries. Water-sup-
ply. Out-door pigeon-houses. Pole-house. Dovecotes.
Pigeon law. Varro's dovecote. Stocking the loft. Commence-
ment of breeding. Laying. Incubation. Merits of the cock.
Nutrition and growth of the squabs. Pairing of Pigeons.
Two hens will pair together. Widowed Pigeons. Young birds.
Differences among the eggs and the very young. Providential
adaptations .... ...... 34
Vlll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
CLASSIFICATION OF PIGEONS.
PAGE
Proposed classes. Ambiguous nomenclature. The question of
origin. Ground of the received opinion little investigated by
naturalists. Estimate of Temminck's authority. Difficulties
and doubts suggested by the accounts of former ornithologists.
The reader to sum up the evidence. Scheme of arrangement . 70
CHAPTER IV.
DOMESTIC PIGEONS.
FANTAILS; their powers. Effects of crossing. Accident to one.
Pigeon Paon. The lean poet of Cos. Runts. Pigeon mon-
dains. Comparison of eggs and weights. Synonyms of Runts.
Runts at sea. Rodney's bantam. Peculiarities of Runts.
Runts in Italy. Effects of crossing. Trumpeters. Archangel
Pigeons. 'Nuns. Jacobines. Columbarian distinctions. Sup-
posed caricature. Turbits. Temminck's ideas. Owls. Pro-
gress of the young. Rapid growth. Barbs. Tumblers. Their
performance in the air. Feats of wing. The Almond. Pecu-
liarity of form. Learning to tumble. Baldpates. Helmets.
Powters and Croppers. Their carriage, flight, and colouring.
Defects and remedies. Crosses. Carriers. Castle of the birds.
How they find their way. Phrenological hypothesis Carriers
in Turkey. Sir John Ross's birds. Explanation. Antwerp
Carriers. De Beranger. English Carriers. Oriental origin.
Lace and Frizzled Pigeons. Eggs and young of the Columbidse.
Quarrels and attachments. Mating. Love of home. Food.
Merits of the Runts. Etymology of the Trumpeter . .86
CHAPTER V.
PIGEONS WHICH ABE BOTH DOMESTIC AND WILD.
The Blue Rock Dove. Varro's account. Distinguished from
Dovehouse Pigeons. Disposition. Experiment. Gregarious-
ness. Crossing with Carriers. Less kept than formerly. Mari-
CONTENTS. IX
PAGE
time haunts. Colonel Napier. Rock Pigeons in Sutherland.
Differ in habits from Fancy Pigeons. Characteristic plumage.
Productiveness. Quality of flesh. Dovehouse Pigeon. Indian
Kock Pigeon. Mr. Ely th's account. Columba affinis. Question
of distinctness. Pigeon matches. Apology. Numbers shot.
Pigeon-shooting in France. Temperature of the bird. Value
as nurses. The Collared Turtle. Native haunts. Disposition.
How far domestic. Escapades. Food. Pairing. Nesting
and incubation. Education of the young. Severe discipline.
Watchfulness. Voices. Interesting pets. Plumage and varie-
ties. Hybrids. Heralds of Peace. The Irish Dove . . 150
CHAPTER VI.
PIGEONS NOT CAPABLE OF TRUE DOMESTICATION.
The Stockdove. Natural instincts. The Ring Dove Mischief
done by. The Turtle Dove. Peculiarities. Australian Pigeons.
"Whether domesticable. The Wonga- Wonga. Claims to no-
tice. Mr. Gould's opinion. Bronze-winged Pigeons. Native
habits. Water guides. Temminck's account. Plumage. In-
terest of Australian Pigeons. Have bred in confinement.
Captain Sturt's accounts. Abstinence from water. Aid in
extremities Ventriloquist Pigeon. Geopelia tranquilla.
Harlequin Bronze-wing First discovery. Food and habits.
Their doings at Knowsley. Graceful Ground Dove Minute
birds and beasts of Australia Mr. Gould's account. Crested
Australian Pigeons. Their breeding at Knowsley Habits in
captivity. The Passenger Pigeon. Disposition. Escaped birds.
The Long-tailed Senegal Dove. Their song. Synonyms.
Aviary management . . . . . . . .187
CONTENTS.
THE AVIAEY,
CHAPTER I.
THE CRACIDJB CURASSOWS.
PAGE
Want of precise information. Expected results from the Zoolo-
gical Society. Its great advantages. Disappointments. Causes
thereof. Erroneous Assumptions. The limited power of Man.
Domesticability of Cracidae. Former attempts. Natural dis-
position of the bird. Imported long ago. 111 success at the
Zoological Gardens. The Cracidae at Knowsley. Arboreal
habits. Of tender constitution Curassows at home Tame,
not domesticated. Not common in S. America. M. Ameshoff's
festin d'Heliogalale. Eggs 223
CHAPTER II.
THE CRA.CIDM PENELOPES (COMMONLY GTJANS).
Difficulty of discriminating the species. State in which the
young are hatched. Easily tamed. Produce few young in a
tame state. Mode of distinguishing species. Organ of voice.
Its efficiency. The Cracidae as poultry. Mr. Bennett's and
Mr. Martin's hopes. Cause of failure. Have had a fair trial.
Curassow dinner. Cracidae in Holland. Temminck's expec-
tations; plausible but unfounded. Determine on an experi-
ment. Unsuitability of South American organisms to Great
Britain. Instances. Few exceptions. The reversed seasons of
the north and south hemispheres one cause. Mr. Darwin's ac-
count. Guans at the Surrey Gardens. Their native habits and
diet. Our own mishaps. Troublesome tameness of the birds.
Tricks and dangers. Impudence and capriciousness. Pos-
sible profitableness ! Narrative of a coadjutor. His ill-success.
Our own. Habits of the Eye-browed Guan. Amount of
success at Knowsley 245
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER III.
THE CRESTED TURKEY.
PAGE
Imaginary and doubtful animals. Crested Turkeys formerly in
Holland. None now produced in English poultry-yards. Still
extant in Central America. Of two kinds. Not a freak of na-
ture, but distinct species. Desiderata in our menageries . . 274
CHAPTER IV.
THE WATER HEN.
Undomesticable, and of paradoxical habits. Their familiar
aution. Attracted by luxuriant water- weeds. Will have their
own way. Mode of travelling under water. And on the sur-
face. Post mortem. Proofs of creative design. Habits of the
young. Rare water-rail. Aldrovandi's uncertainty. Versa-
tility of Water Hens. Modes of escape. Water Hens in St.
James's Park. Water Hens about country houses. Odd noises.
Activity of the young. Usual nesting-places. Prolific
breeders 280
CHAPTER V.
KINGFISHERS.
Halcyon of the ancients ; what 1 Aldrovandi's figures and de-
scriptions. Nest of Halcyon. Haunts and habits of the King-
fisher. Anecdote. How far destructive to fish. To procure
young birds. To rear and feed 'them. Captive Kingfishers.
Mr. Rayner's aviary. Diet and habits of Kingfishers there.
Mode of eating. Their pugnacity. Destructiveness of a
Heron. Unsociability of Kingfishers. Management in a cap-
tive state. African Kinghunters. Australian Kingfishers.
The Laughing Jackasses , . . . . . .297
Xll CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GRALLATORES, OR WADERS, IN CAPTIVITY.
PAGE
Their tameable disposition. Fallacy of generalizing too much.
The White Stork and the Black. Gigantic Indian Cranes.
Cruelty the companion of ignorance Strange forms well con-
trived. The Lapwing and the smaller Waders. The Common
Crane. The Stanley Crane. The Spoonbill. The Common
Heron. Dr. Neill's Heron. His proceedings, and attempts to
breed. Unfortunate end 313
CHAPTER VII.
THE BITTERN.
Its temper. Voice. Nesting habits and haunts. The Marram
banks. The district which they skirt. The Bittern, its home.
Money value. Mr. Jecks's Bittern. Its manners in captivity 325
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WHITE STORK.
A model of virtue. Ancient instances and modern explanations.
Gratitude. The charm of ideality. Captive Storks best in
pairs. The Dutch and English modes of pinioning. Delight at
liberation. Jealousy, muteness, and politeness. Mode of fish-
ing. Diet. Services rendered. Sad misadventure. Habits in
captivity. Congregation of Storks in Sweden. Antiquated no-
tions. The Stork's departure and return .... 335
CHAPTER IX.
THE EMEU.
Pets for princes. Orthography of the name. Confounded with
the Cassowary. Game laws in Australia. Anticipated extinc-
tion of the Emeu. Operating causes. Self-denial of the abori-
gines, Duty of -the present Australians to preserve the Emeu.
CONTENTS. Xlll
Ease with which it may be stalked. Proposed Emeu parks.
Little hope for future Emeus. The refuge of domestication.
Dinornithes, or Wonder Birds. Their discovery and history.
Adaptation of the various species to their locality in New Zea-
land. Their great variety. Their recent existence. How con-
gregated in New Zealand. Professor Owen's conjecture. Any
hope that they still survive ? A few glimpses of evidence. The
latest news. Habits and propagation of the Emeu. The Emeus
at Knowsley. Follow the seasons of the southern hemisphere.
Injudicious proceedings. Their diet. Peculiarities of their
plumage .352
CHAPTER X.
THE COMMON OR DACTYL-SOUNDING QUAIL.
Emblem of mediocrity. Explanation of specific name. Call
note. Their migrations. Immense multitudes. Their destruc-
tion. Ancient history. Identical with the Quail of Scripture.
Do not universally migrate. Welcome feasts afforded by their
flight. Quails in captivity. Their fate in an aviary. Distinc-
tion between Quails and Partridges. Unvarying plumage
throughout the Old World. Whether polygamous. Careless of
their young. Their double moult. Breeding in confinement.
Diet. Subject to epilepsy. Estimation as food. Modes of
cooking and of fatting. Quail fights. Distinction of sex.
Pick-werwick. Quails in process of fatting. Necessaries of
life . 374
CHAPTER XL
THE ORTOLAN.
The fatting of wild birds largely practised by the ancients.
Good old-fashioned fare. Mock and true Ortolans. Not native
Britons. Merits as cage birds. Their song, plumage, and diet.
Variable states of fatness. Effects of revolutions. Beau
Tibbe and his Ortolan , . 394
XIV CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
GULLS IN CAPTIVITY, AND GULLERIES.
PAGE
Desirable pets. Longevity. Discipline of new-caught birds.
Reconciliations and confidences. Good-natured, not stupid.
Hardy and accommodating, but not ascetic. Requisites for a
Gullery. Voracity of Gulls. Black-headed Gull. Its mode of
nesting. Its eggs. Domesticability of Gulls. Their capture.
Application of the method to Geese. The birds kept in Dr.
Neill's Gullery. Docility of Cormorants. Chinese Fishing
Cormorants. Albatrosses. Their capture. Nesting-places.
Battues. Dangers of a calm. Principle of flight . . . 402
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SANDWICH ISLAND GOOSE.
Stay-at-home travellers. Home of the Sandwich Bernicle.
Natural disposition. Its claims on our patronage. Natural
perfume. Voice. First historial notice. Erroneous nomen-
clature. Obstinate pugnacity. A parallel. Diet. Weight.
Plumage. Increase 426
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCLUDING DIALOGUE. THE NIGHTINGALE.
A country walk. Local curiosities. An agreeable surprise.
Limits of the Nightingale's migrations. Topographical caprice.
The ravisher of Nightingales. Particulars of capture. Subse-
quent management. Touching song and wakefulness of the bird.
Antique notions. Effects of a Nightingale diet. Enter Bird-
catcher. Rural simplicity. Diamond cut diamond. The bird is
caught. Amount of its accomplishments. Modes of causing
their exhibition. Conclusion . . .436
THE DOVECOTE
AND
THE AVIARY.
THE DOVECOTE.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Pigeons differently constituted to other domestic birds. Interest attached to
them. Pets of childhood. Paradoxical increase. Effect of captivity on the
productiveness of some birds. Beauty of the Columbidae. Earliest history.
The olive branch. Arab legend. Ancient domestication. Feral pigeons.
Domestic pigeons long established in America. Not found among the Egyptian
monuments. Ancient pigeon-fanciers. Messenger birds. Agents of super-
stition. Misrepresentation. Use during sieges. Ancient pigeon-houses and
fatting-places. -Cato a pigeon-fatter. The Mosaic doves of the Capitol.
Friendship of the kestrel. Charms for dovecotes. Effectual attractions.
Patronized by commercial people.
WHAT a wide gulph separates the Pigeons from all
our other captive or domestic birds ! How completely
discrepant are all their modes of increase and action,
their whole system of life, their very mind and affec-
tions ! Compare them with the gallinaceous tribes, and
they scarcely seem to belong to the same class of beings.
These walk the ground, those glide on air ; these lazily
gorge and fatten at home, those traverse whole dis-
tricts and cross wide seas to obtain an independent
supply of nutriment. The Gallinacea are sensual and
tyrannical ; though gallant and chivalrous, yet they are
faithless ; they are pugnacious, even murderous ; and
life-destroyers for the gratification of their appetite
merely. The Columbida are amorous, beseeching, full of
affectionate attachment, quarrelling solely in defence of
their mates or their young, content to subsist on fruits
B
2 HABITS OF PIGEONS. [CHAP, i,
and grain, or tender herbs. Force, vanity, aggression,
and greediness pertain to the one class ; grace, agility,
sentiment, devotion, and temperance to the other.
The gallinaceous birds seem to be representatives of
the fervid and selfish passions of the East ; the Doves
to have been created as types almost of Christian
virtue. To suffer the onslaughts of the cruel ; to bear,
and, if possible, to escape, but neither to attack nor to
revenge; to adhere to chastity, even when gratifying
their natural affections ; to submit to an equal division
of the labour of tending the helpless young ; to prefer
a settled home to indulgence in capricious wanderings
these are a few out of the many attributes which
have conciliated towards them the approving regard of
mankind, and even perhaps caused them to be honoured
by being mysteriously connected with some of the most
meaning ceremonies and important events that are
mentioned in sacred history.
And yet, at the present day, a love for Pigeons is
considered rather low, a taste scarcely the thing to be
indulged in, a study of a department of nature from
which little can be learned, and, as a hobby, decidedly
out of fashion. But any pursuit may be vulgarized and
made the means of evil, by being taken up from base
motives and in an unworthy manner ; and, on the other
hand, even an indulgence in the Pigeon fancy may be
so regulated and conducted as to afford interest and
instruction to the young, and a healthy relaxation and
matter for speculative inquiry to their seniors.
What boy, whose parents permitted him to keep
ever so few pairs of Pigeons, forgets in after days the
pleasing anxieties of which they were the source the
occupation for spare half-hours which they never failed
BOY PIGEON-KEEPEKS.
to afford ? Well do we remember our first two pigeon-
houses, of widely-diverse construction ; the earliest
effort of contrivance being an old tea-chest fixed against
a wall, with the complicated machinery of a falling
platform, or " trap," in front, to be drawn up by a half-
penny-worth of string, so as to secure the inmates, or
their visitors, for a learned inspection ; the second, a
more ambitious piece of architecture, namely, a tub
mounted on the top of a short scaffold-pole, divided
internally into apartments, each of some cubic inches
capacity, and each with a little landing-place project-
ing for the birds to alight upon, after their meal on
the ground, or their circling exercise above the house-
tops. And the wonderment to behold the process of
fixing this lofty structure firm and upright in its site
in the back-yard ! How the man dug an awful hole in
the ground, from which he could with difficulty shovel
out the earth for the crowding, and the pushing, and
the peeping in of us children and the maids how the
tall structure was, by the combined efforts of all pre-
sent, slowly set upright how three or four vast flint-
stones (rocks they seemed to us to be) were jammed in
at the foot with a beetle borrowed from the paviour that
lived up a yard in our street how, when earth and
pebbles had been duly added to make all smooth and
tight, we retired a few yards and looked up with admi-
ration and when at last the short ladder was brought
wherewith to ascend, which we did without delay, and
inspect the lockers, Sineaton, gazing from the top of
the Eddystone Lighthouse, or Stephenson darting on a
locomotive engine through the Menai Tube, might
enjoy a pride higher in degree, but not stronger in
intenseness !
B 2
BOY PIGEON -KEEPERS. [CHAP. i.
And then, the strange events necessarily occurring to
us. (The plural is used because no boy pigeon-keeper
looks after his birds without a companion or two.) The
severe countenance with which our neighbour and land-
lord, hitherto beaming with benignant smiles, now
greeted us as we were walking over the tiles of the
outhouses in pursuit of an old " Duffer " with a
clipped wing ; the astonishment of a respectable shoe-
maker on the other side of the street, to see a boy's
face peeping over the ridge of the opposite roof, with
the air of Cortes surveying the Pacific Ocean from the
summit of the Andes, rather than with the conscious-
ness of being the mischievous urchin that he was ; the
arrival of a strange Pigeon with a sore and naked
breast ; the bold resolve to use decisive surgery, and to
decapitate it, lest the evil should prove contagious ; the
trepidation of the maid who held the body, while we
secured the head and wielded the fatal chopper ; the
universal horror that the body should flap, and flutter,
and palpitate for a while after the operation was com-
plete ; the enigmatical illustration from English his-
tory, " King Charles walked and talked ; half an hour
after, his head was off," uttered without proper pause
at the semicolon or comma these, and a whole chro-
nicle full of such-like accidents, soon showed us that
life, to the young, is an onward journey through an
unexplored country, every step in which leads to some
discovery, and opens to us a pleasant or a repulsive
prospect. In maturer age, pitfalls, famishing deserts,
and entangled wildernesses, or the flattering and de-
ceptive mirage, showing signs of refreshing waters
where drought alone exists, may await our advancing
footsteps ; or it may be our better fate to progress
OHAP. I.] PARADOXICAL INCREASE. 5
through glorious scenes, and mount to commanding
eminences, still excited in either case by fresh and
new adventure. Progressive must our journey ever
continue to be. Nor even in old age need our interest
in the novelties of existence flag, if we have but duties
and proper pursuits in this world, and a religious hope
for the next.
But Pigeons are useful, not as mere pets for child-
hood and diversions for men, but as affording, by their
extraordinary and most paradoxical increase, a valuable
supply of food both to man and to other carnivorous
creatures. It seems strange that a creature which
brings two at most at a birth, so to speak, should mul-
tiply rapidly into countless flocks ; and that the species
which is of all the most innumerable, darkening the
sky from one point of the horizon to the opposite
visible verge, and stretching its living streams no one
knows how many miles beyond it each way small
detachments from whose main army supply some of
the American cities with poultry by cart-loads, till the
inhabitants almost loathe the sight of the dish,
good as it is, upon their tables should yet lay no
more than two, and frequently only a single egg, and
still more frequently rear but a single chick*, while
* " My friend Dr. Bachman says, in a note sent to me, ' In the
more cultivated parts of the United States, the Passenger Pigeon no
longer breeds in communities. I have secured many nests scattered
throughout the woods, seldom near each other. They were built
close to the stems of thin but tall pine trees (Pinus strobus), and
were composed of a few sticks ; the eggs invariably two, and white.'
There is frequently but one young bird in the nest, probably from
the loose manner in which it has been constructed, so that either a
young bird or an egg drops out. Indeed, I have found both at the
foot of the tree. This is no doubt accidental, and not to be attri-
buted to a habit which the bird may be supposed to have of throw-
6 CAPTIVE BIRDS SOMETIMES LESS PROLIFIC. [CHAP. i.
the Partridge, the Turkey, the Guinea-fowl, and even
the Hen, notwithstanding the multitudinous broods
they lead forth, are not nearly so abundant, the closest
approach to them among gallinaceous birds being per-
haps made by the Quail. But a due attention to the
growth, mode of rearing, and subsequent proceedings,
of the young Pigeons go far to explain how so vast and
anomalous a result is obtained from means apparently
so inadequate, and which thus becomes less puzzling to
us than the existence of immense flocks of Sea-fowl, of
species which never lay but a single egg, and that only
once a year. These, however, are probably much in-
debted for their numbers to their hardiness and lon-
gevity, as well as to their security from serious perse-
cution. The Pigeon, on the contrary, seems to have
overspread the land in consequence of an innate force
of reproductiveness with which it seems to have been
purposely and providentially endowed for the sake of
affording a suitable prey to the numerous fleshly ap-
petites on earth and in air, of winged, quadruped, and
reptile gluttons which are perpetually craving to be
daily satisfied.
All this destiny of supplying meat to the eater would
ing out an egg or one of its young. I have frequently taken two
from the same nest, and reared them. A curious change of habits
has taken place in England in those Pigeons which I presented to
the Earl of Derby in 1830, that nobleman having assured me that
ever since they began breeding in his aviaries, they have laid only
one egg." Audubon's Orn. Biog. vol. v. p. 552. A similar de-
creased number of eggs and young is frequently produced by other
birds in captivity, as, for instance, sometimes in the Collared Turtle.
A Canary hen, mated with a Linnet, has with me this summer
(1849) laid a single egg, the young one from which she has reared
with the anxiety and care usually bestowed upon only children. I
have heard of other like cases of Canaries producing a solitary egg
and young one.
CHAP. I.] BEAUTY OF THE COLUMBIA. 7
have been hopelessly baffled, had the young Pigeons
required to be tended, and fed, and led about, and
guarded like little Chickens, for months after their
birth; in this case, there would have been no living
clouds consisting of millions of individuals, however
numerous the hatch from each female might have been ;
but in the existing wise arrangement there is no waste,
either of time or energetic force ; the coupling of a
single male with a single female proves to be an
economical plan, instead of the reverse, as those might
be apt to fancy on whose thoughts the polygamous
domestic Fowl so readily obtrudes itself: the help-
lessness and indolence of the young for a time, are
only made the means of their sooner becoming able
not merely to shift for themselves, but, in their own
rapidly-arriving turn, to rear young for themselves.
The details to be hereafter given will show how com-
pletely and effectually this great end is carried out
with the least possible expenditure of time and power.
The forcing by gardeners, and the fattening by graziers,
indeed all our artificial means of obtaining extra produce,
take very second rank when we compare them with the
process by which a couple of eggs, in the course of a
few weeks, are nursed into a pair of perfect creatures,
male and female, able to traverse long distances in
search of subsistence, and to fulfil the grand law, " in-
crease and multiply."
This alone would be wonderful; but to the innate
energies implanted for useful and necessary ends, we
find superadded a further quality beauty. To the
Deity alone do works of supererogation belong: He
gives what is needful with a paternal liberality, and
then is lavish of his bounty, and bestows ornament and
BEAUTY OF THE COLUMBIA. [CHAP. I.
decoration upon his creatures. There can scarcely be
a doubt that many of the appendages to the plumage of
birds, not to say a word about brilliant colours, are
given not for any use, or to serve the performance of
any function in the economy of the creatures, but
solely for appearance sake, a fact of which they them-
selves manifest a consciousness. Innumerable instances
of this might be adduced, but a less well-known ex-
ample is seen in the brilliant assemblage of Humming-
birds collected by Mr. Gould, and now under the
course of illustration by that gentleman, with his usual
great artistic and ornithological ability. One, perhaps
several, species, in addition to the parts which usually
reflect the most dazzling and glancing hues, has the
very under tail-coverts metallic. In most birds, colours
so disposed would be little if at all observed ; but in these
Humming-birds the flight is so abrupt, and the motions
so sharply checked and reversed, very much by the
action of the tail, that the metallic feathers are sud-
denly seen, like a momentary star, which as suddenly
vanishes, and which marks, by its appearance and ex-
tinction, the sparkling turns in the zig-zag course
which the flashing bird pursues through the sun-
shine.
And the Pigeons, too, have their amethystine necks,
and their metallic plumage, either whole or partial ;
sometimes a complete panoply of blazing scales, occa-
sionally a few patches of bronze and tinsel on the
wings. Crests, too, in others, are added to give grace
to the head, and voices, if not melodious, yet most
expressive, which is better far. In form and motion
we have everything that is charming and attractive,
either in repose or activity. Even in the individuals
CHAP. i.J EARLIEST HISTOEY.
destined for homely uses there is so much that is lovely
and pleasing, that we often spare their lives in order to
continue a little longer to admire their beauty and
protect their gentleness. Each in its kind has its own
special grace : there is the decorous Nun, the gro-
tesquely-strutting Powter, the comely Turbit, the gay
and frisky Tumbler, the stately Swan-like Fantail. In
any account of so varied and yet so closely related a
family, it will clearly be advisable to endeavour to pro-
duce something like a historic sketch, before proceeding
to details respecting either distinct species or their
supposed varieties.
The first mention of Pigeons to be met with is found
in the Holy Scriptures.
" And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that
Noah opened the window of the ark which he had
made. And he sent forth a raven, which went to and
fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters
were abated from off the face of the ground. But the dove
found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned
unto him into the ark ; for the waters were upon the
face of the whole earth. Then he put forth his hand,
and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.
And he stayed yet other seven days, and again he sent
forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came in
to him in the evening, and lo, in her mouth was an
olive-leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters
were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet
other seven days, and sent forth the dove ; which
returned not again unto him any more."*
* Genesis viii. 6-12.
10 THE OL1VE-BKANCH. [CHAP. i.
We have here quoted the very earliest record of the
Dove. The species mentioned is without doubt the blue
Rock Dove, one of our common Dovehouse Pigeons*.
The olive-branch, say Biblical notes, probably from some
obscure rumour of this event, has generally been the
emblem of peace ; but, what is curious, we hear that in
countries where scarcely the remotest tradition can have
penetrated, a like token is similarly recognised. The
sparse foliage of many Australian shrubs bears a faint
resemblance to that peculiar to the olive, both in its
sombre hue, and the little shade it affords. And Cap-
tain Sturt, when exploring the course of the Murray
River, found that tribes of natives, who, if they had
heard of white men, had evidently never before seen
any, traditionally, or perhaps instinctively, compre-
hended the spirit of peace denoted by the offered
branch.
In ancient Egypt, on the cessation of war, the troops
were required to attend during the performance of pre-
scribed religious ceremonies, when each soldier carried
in his hand a twig of some tree, probably olive, with
the arms of his peculiar corps. " A judicious remark
has been made by Mr. Bankes respecting the choice of
the olive as the emblem of peace. After the devasta-
tion of a country by hostile invasion, and the consequent
neglect of its culture, no plantation requires a longer
period to restore its previously flourishing condition
than the olive grove ; and this tree may therefore have
been appropriately selected as the representative of
* In the " flierozoici" of Bochart, lib. i. cap. vi., is a laborious
essay, " De Columba Noachi, et de Columbse specie quae in Baptismo
Christi apparuit."
CHAP. i. J ARAB LEGEND. 11
peace *. There is, however, reason to suppose that its
emblematic character did not originate in Greece, but
that it dated from a far more remote period ; and the
tranquillity and habitable state of the earth were an-
nounced to the ark through the same token.
" The Arabs have an amusing legend respecting the
Dove or Pigeon. The first time it returned with the
olive-branch, but without any indication of the state of
the earth itself ; but on its second visit to the ark, the
red appearance of its feet proved that the red mud on
which it had walked was already freed from the waters ;
and to record the event, Noah prayed that the feet of
these birds might for ever continue of that colour,
which marks them to the present day. The similarity
of the Hebrew words ' adoom,' red, ' admeh,' earth,
and ' Adm,' Adam, is remarkable. A * man' is still
called 'Adam in Turkish. "f
The learned Bochart correctly remarks, that the
Holy Scriptures rarely mention the clean birds, with
the sole exception of Doves and Pigeons, respecting
which more particulars are to be found than of all the
others put together. The extreme antiquity of their
domestication may be inferred from their employment
in the patriarchal sacrifices ; indeed it appears to be
coeval with that of the ox and the sheep : thus, in
Genesis xv. 9, the command given to Abraham is,
" Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat
of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a
* " Paciferseque manu ramum prsetendit olivae." Yirg. .ZEn. viii. 118.
" ' Resolve me, strangers, whence, and what you are
Your business here; and bring you peace or war?
High on the stern ^Eneas took his stand,
And held a branch of olive in his hand,
While thus he spoke
f Sir J. Gr. Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, vol. i. pp. 401, 2.
12 ANCIENT DOMESTICATION. [CHAP. i.
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 com-
mitted, two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, unto the
Lord." Similar mention of the Pigeon and the Turtle-
Dove is made at xii. 6; xiv. 22 ; xv. 14, 29 ; and in
Numbers vi. 10. Birds appear to have been the sacri-
fice of the poor, as cattle, sheep, and goats were of the
wealthy. There can be little doubt that the Turtle-
Doves 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 sea-
sons, and even then only according to the chance suc-
cess 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-
CHAP. I.] ANCIENT DOMESTICATION. 13
raer 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 Ix. 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 " win-
dows " 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' dwelling-
place.
The Rock Dove, then, had already become domesti-
cated, 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 unoc-
cupied 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
14 FERAL PIGEONS [CHAP. i.
early settlers, either in remote ages, or in a new coun-
try, than they can obtain where population is thick and
agriculture advanced. A dovecote, planted by the emi-
grant 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, de-
scribing 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 re-
claimed from the cliffs, or are deserters from the dove-
cote. 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 abun-
dantly 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 dove-
cote of an old manorial residence in England. " My-
riads 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, be-
sides the enjoyment of half an hour's very pretty prac-
tice."*
It is very probable that, before many years have
elapsed, \ve shall have similar accounts, from sporting
tourists in the New World, of shooting scenes in which
the very same species, the feral Columba lima, or Dove-
house Pigeon returned to an independent condition,
plays the principal part as victim and target for fowling-
piece 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,"
Mr. Thos. S. Woodcock says, " I can speak from per-
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 in-
troduction 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 un-
dergone in this long succession of ages, is really re-
markable, and ought to have its full weight in the con-
sideration 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.
1 6 NOT FOUND IN EGYPTIAN PAINTINGS. [CHAP. i.
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 lima, 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 archaeological poultry fan-
ciers, we will quote a few words from Sir J. G. Wilkin-
son : " 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 dis-
tinctly 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, how-
ever, 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
CHAP, i.] ANCIENT PIGEON-FANCIERS. 17
necessary to observe, was always abundant in Egypt ;
for no instance occurs in the sculptures of fowls or
pigeons among the stock of the farm-yard, though geese
are repeatedly introduced, and numbered in the presence
of the stewards."*
Aristotle appears to intend to confine himself to the
description of the wild species of Pigeon only, and
mentions five corresponding with those now seen in
Europe and Western Asia ; but in the classical period
they are repeatedly spoken of as well known, and no
novelty, only dear; just as choice Almond Tumblers
and Powters were with us twenty or thirty years ago,
when they were more the fashion than they are at this
moment ; and as Bronze- wings, Crowned Pigeons, and
other foreign rarities still are, and will be, till they
increase more rapidly. A few slight hints on the pecu-
liarities of these old kinds are here and there to be
picked up. Thus we learn from Columella (viii. 8),
that the Alexandrine and Campanian Pigeons were,
alieni generis, distinct breeds, and not advisable to
couple together. Pliny tells us that the latter were the
largest of Pigeons, Runts, in fact ; we may therefore
suppose that the taste of the Alexandrian fanciers was
more in favour of the smaller kinds, such as the
Tumblers, or the Nuns an old-established race, and
no doubt much more ancient than their Christian
namesakes.
It is commonly taken for granted that the Pigeon
Fancy is 'a modern taste; but it is clear, from many
'passages in the classics, that a number of different sorts
were cultivated by the ancients, though we have fewer
* Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 35.
18 ANCIENT PIGEON-FANCIERS. [CHAP: i.
particulars respecting the special characteristics of the
varieties then in vogue, than we have of their domestic
Fowls. Columella is scandalised at the inveteracy and
extravagance of the Pigeon Fancy amongst his contem-
poraries. " That excellent author, M. Varro, recorded
even in his more severe age, that single pairs were
usually sold for 8/. Is. 5^d. each. For it is the shame
of our age, if we choose to believe it, that persons
should be found to purchase a couple of birds at the
price of 32Z. 5s. 10d.* ; although I should think those
persons more bearable, who expend a heavy amount
of brass and silver, for the sake of possessing and
keeping the object of fancy wherewith to amuse their
leisure, than those who exhaust the Pontic Phasis
(for Pheasants to eat), and the Scythian lakes of
Moeotis (for a fish dinner). Yet even in this aviary, as
it is called, the luxurious process of fatting can be car-
ried on ; for if any birds happen to be sterile, or of a
bad colour, they are crammed in the same way as Hens."|
Pliny also records the prevalence of a Pigeon mania
amongst the Romans. " And many are mad with
the love of these birds ; they build towers for them
on the tops of their roof, and will relate the high
breeding and ancestry of each, after the ancient fashion.
Before Pompey's civil war, L. Axius, a Roman knight,
* One always feels uncertain and doubtful of accuracy when
converting ancient monies to the modern standard ; but Columella
would indeed be indignant could he know the prices now paid for
rare birds and animals. Mr. Jamrach told me that he had sold a
pair of the large blue Crowned Indian Pigeons for 6QL, and Mr.
Yarrell informed me that the market price of a really fine Tiger is
400Z. A pair of the Impeyan Lophophorus were, in the autumn of
1848, and may still be, worth IQQL sterling.
f Lib. viii. cap. 8.
CHAP, i.] MESSENGER BIRDS. 19
used to sell a single pair of Pigeons denariis quadrin-
gentis, for four hundred denarii."* Ainsworth sets down
the denarius at 7fd., so that the price of these birds
was 12Z. 18s. 4d., which is not so much out of the way,
if they were really good.
^Elian, too, familiarly mentions the distinction be-
tween wild and tame Pigeons. "Doves in towns live
in society with man, and are very tame, and crowd
about one's feet; but in desert places they fly away,
and do not await the approach of men."f
But it is as letter-carriers that Pigeons have obtained
the greatest celebrity among the ancients, and of their
services in this capacity we find very frequent and
interesting mention. The practice seems to have been
adopted in remote times, in modes, and upon occasions,
the exact counterpart of those which call forth the
powers of the bird at the present day. How likely is
it that the Patriarchs, remembering the tradition of the
ark, in their search for fresh pasture at a distance from
the main body of their tribe, may have taken with them
a few pigeons to be flown from time to time, and carry
home news of the proceedings of the exploring party.
During the last few years, the invention of the Electric
Telegraph has done more to bring Carrier Pigeons into
partial disuse than had been effected in the three
thousand years previous. Whether the bird so em-
ployed in early ages was identical with our Carrier does
not appear; but, until something to the contrary is
proved, we may be permitted to assume that it was the
same in every respect.
Varro writes, " It may be observed, that the habit of
Pigeons is to return to their home, because many per-
* Lib. x. 53. f Anecdotes of Animals, Book iii. 15.
C 2
20 MESSENGER BIRDS. [CHAP. i.
sons throw them off from their lap in the (roofless)
theatre, and they return home:" he innocently adds,
" they would not be thrown off unless they did return
home." And thus Pigeons, which once used to carry off
the name of a victorious gladiator, have since that time
been made to announce the result of the less fatal en-
counter of a pair of pugilists.
Some of the learned are of opinion, that this old
Roman practice of sending Pigeons off from the crowded
amphitheatre, from seats which it was not always pos-
sible for the occupier to quit at pleasure, and of making
them carry home the news, or the wishes and orders of
their owner, is the very origin of the custom, and gave
the hint to Brutus and others to avail themselves of
Pigeons as messengers in more important affairs. But
they seem to have forgotten that, long before the age in
which Varro lived, the ancients made use of letter-
carrying Pigeons, when they went any distance from
home, as the most certain means of conveying intelli-
gence back; and that, in the sixth century before
Christ, Anacreon wrote the Ode which has been so
Beautifully translated by Thomas Moore :
" Tell me, why, my sweetest dove,
Thus your humid pinions move,
Shedding through the air in showers
Essence of the balmiest flowers 1
Tell me whither, whence you rove,
Tell me all, my sweetest dove."
" Curious stranger ! I belong
To the bard of Teian song ;
With his mandate now I fly
To the nymph of azure eye ;
Ah ! that eye has madden'd many,
But the poet more than any !
CHAP. I.] AGENTS OF SUPERSTITION. 21
Venus, for a hymn of love
"Warbled in her votive grove,
('T was in sooth a gentle day,)
Gave me to the bard away.
See me now his faithful minion ;
Thus with softly-gliding pinion,
To his lovely girl I bear
Songs of passion through the air."
The birds which had been found so subservient as
messengers of love were likely to be employed as ac-
cessories to the commission of witchcraft ; and Julian
gives us reason to suspect, that many of the marvel-
lous revelations of second sight, at least, may be ex-
plained by supposing the seers to have employed the
agency of Carrier Pigeons.
" Some say that the victory of Taurosthenes at Olym-
pia was made known in one day to his father, at ^Egina,
by a vision : but others say, that Taurosthenes carried
a Pigeon away with him, making her leave her young ones
still tender and unfledged, and that having obtained the
victory, he sent off the bird, after attaching a piece of
something purple to her ; and that she, hastening to her
young, returned in one day from Pissa to .ZEgina." * It is
to be here noted that ^Elian uses the synonyms H-E^IOTE^*
and Trs^Eia to denote the same individual bird.
In his treatise on Animals, Book iv. 2, there is
another curious story of Pigeons being absent for a
time from their haunts in Eryce in Sicily, where was
a famous temple of Venus, and of their being regu-
larly led back after a stated interval, by a purple 7ro%-
(pvgea, Dove. The tale is unintelligible, unless we sup-
* Var. Hist. ix. 2.
2 AGENTS OF STJPEESTITION. [CHAP. i.
pose that a Carrier was made the engine of priestcraft,
by having its flight made to coincide with the migra-
tions of any wild species of Columba.
The ancient oracles also enlisted Pigeons into their
service. Lempriere informs us respecting the famous
temple at Dodona, that " two black doves, as Strabo
relates, took their flight from the city of Thebes in
Egypt, one of which flew to the temple of Jupiter
Ammon, and the other to Dodona, where with a
human voice they acquainted the inhabitants of the
country that Jupiter had consecrated the ground, which
in future would give oracles. The extensive grove
which surrounded Jupiter's temple was endued with the
gift of prophecy, and oracles were frequently delivered
by the sacred oaks, and the Doves which inhabited the
place." And it is in allusion to such sacred birds
that ^Elian writes, " A Locust implicated the Ephe-
sians and the Magnetae in war with each other, and
a Pigeon the Chaonians and Illyrians."* There was
a wood near Chaouia where Doves were said to de-
liver oracles; but Ovidf records that the birds in
question were not Wood Pigeons.
" Quasque colat turres Chaonis ales habet."
" And the bird of Chaonia has towers wherein to dwell."
The killing of a Stork would still incite a riot in
many countries, and the destruction of Robins is yet
regarded with as much indignation in England, as the
slaughter of Doves was in Chaonia.
Xenophon, Ctesias, Lucian, and other cotemporary
witnesses assert, that the Syrians and the Assyrians
either worshipped Pigeons and Doves, or at least ab-
* Nat. Anira. xi. 27. f A. Am. ii. 150.
CHAP. I.] MISREPRESENTATION. 23
stained from them as being of a sacred nature. How
this superstition was introduced into Syria or Assyria,
is not known ; but it is curious that the Russians, as
we are informed by Mr. Yarrell, should at this day re-
gard them with similar forbearance and even venera-
tion ; and we can hardly avoid guessing that the feel-
ing must be founded on some most ancient tradition
current amongst the Sclavonic races.
The great modern instance in which the Pigeon has
been made the tool of religious imposture, is the tale,
generally supposed to be forged, of the Dove which was
said to be always seated on the shoulder of Mahomet,
communicating past, present, and coming events to the
false prophet. But an able writer in the " Edinburgh
Review " considers the story to be a simple misinter-
pretation consequent upon putting a literal construction
upon an imperfect pictorial representation : " The
great teachers of the Church had been held, not with-
out reason, to have derived their wisdom from above.
In order to call attention to this accredited doctrine,
artists placed the holy emblem of the Dove upon the
shoulder of each spiritually enlightened father. Some-
times the bird was drawn in the very act of whispering
wisdom into the sage's ear. The people had learned
what was meant by the juxtaposition of one of the per-
sons of the Trinity and the Dove ; but they were con-
fused and deceived by the same personification, in
connexion with a well-known doctor, or a pope. They
consequently soon put a literal construction upon it.
The rumour ran, that these holy men had been at-
tended each by his inspiring Dove ; and the writer of
legends, who must often have been driven hard for facts,
gladly accepted a tale already sanctioned by popular
24 USE DURING SIEGES. [CHAP. i.
belief. Thus were the legends enriched by the poverty
of art. This tale is told of St. Thomas Aquinas, of St.
Basil, of St. Gregory the Great, of St. Hilary of Aries,
of eight other saints of less mark and note ; and, finally,
we may add, of Mahomet."*
Warfare has, however, given the most frequent occa-
sion for the employment of Carrier Pigeons. The
clever contrivance of Brutus is thus mentioned by
Pliny, and we quote it, although it is a well-known
passage, and has even had the honour of being para-
phrased in verse : " But they have also been used as
messengers in important matters : during the siege
of Mutina, Decius Brutus sent letters tied to their
feet into the camp of the Consuls. What service did
Anthony derive from his trenches, and his vigilant block-
ade, and even from his nets stretched across the river,
while the winged messenger was traversing the air ? " f
But the winged messenger, like every other human
instrument, sometimes fails to execute its office, as the
worthy Fuller tells us in his " Historic of the Holy
Warre." The Christians " began the siege of the citie
of Jerusalem on the North (being scarce assaultable on
any other side by reason of steep and broken rocks),
and continued it with great valour. On the fourth day
after, they had taken it, but for want of scaling-ladders.
Nearer than seven miles off, there grew no stick of
bignesse. I will not say, that since our Saviour was
hanged on a tree, the land about that citie hath been
cursed with a barrenness of wood. As for the Chris-
tians' want of ladders, that was quickly supplied : for
the Genoans arriving with a fleet in Palestine,
* Edinburgh Review,, April, 1849, p. 385. f Lib. x. 53.
CHAP, i.] USE DURING SIEGES. 25
brought most curious engineers, who framed a wooden
towre, and all other artificiall instruments. For we
must not think, that the world was at a losse for warre-
tools before the brood of guns was hatched. And now
for a preparative, that their courage might work the
better, they began with a fast, and a solemn procession
about mount Olivet.
" Next day they gave a fierce assault ; yea, women
played the men, and fought most valiently in armour.
But they within being fourty thousand strong, well
victualled and appointed, made stout resistance, till the
night (accounted but a foe for her friendship) umpired
betwixt them, and abruptly put an end to their fight in
the midst of their courage.
" When the first light brought news of a morning,
they on afresh; the rather, because they had intercepted
a letter tied to the legs of a dove (it being the fashion of
that country, both to write and send their letters with the
wings of a fowl), wherein the Persian Emperour pro-
mised present succours to the besieged. The Turks
cased the outside of their walls with bags of chaff,
straw, and such-like pliable matter, which conquered
the engines of the Christians by yeelding unto them.
As for one sturdie engine whose force would not be
tamed, they brought two old witches on the walls to
irichant it : but the spirit thereof was too strong for
their spells, so that both of them were miserably slain
in the place."*
Thus the intercepted Dove and the suborned old
witches were each working an antagonistic counter-spell,
till the Satanic influence was finally made to succumb.
* Book i. chap. 24.
26 ANCIENT PIGEON-HOUSES [CHAP. i.
Mr. Rogers has given us a companion picture to the
foregoing, expressed in a different form, but equally
interesting. His exquisite lines are founded on the
anecdote, from Thuanus, lib. iv. c. 5, that during the
siege of Harlem, when that city was reduced to the
last extremity, and on the point of opening its gates to
a base and barbarous enemy, a design was formed to
relieve it ; and the intelligence conveyed to the citizens
by a letter which was tied under the wing of a Pigeon.
The Poet naturally and feelingly asks,
" Led by what chart, transports the timid dove
The wreaths of conquest, or the vows of love ?
Say, thro' the clouds what compass points her flight ?
Monarchs have gazed, and nations blessed the sight.
Pile rocks on rocks, bid woods and mountains rise,
Eclipse her native shades, her native skies
'T is vain ! through Ether's pathless wilds she goes,
And lights at last where all her cares repose.
" Sweet bird ! thy truth shall Harlem's walls attest,
And unborn ages consecrate thy nest.
When, with the silent energy of grief,
With looks that asked, yet dared not hope relief,
Want with her babes round generous Valour clung,
To wring the slow surrender from his tongue,
'T was thine to animate her closing eye ;
Alas ! 't was thine perchance the first to die,
Crushed by her meagre hand, when welcomed from the sky."
The Pleasures of Memory, Part I.
But it is now time to retrace our steps, and return to
the Pigeons of a remoter age.
The accommodations provided for Pigeons in ancient
times could not have widely differed from those of the
present day. Many of those birds which are most tame-
able, and show the greatest inclination for human so-
CHAP, i.] AND FATTING-PLACES. 27
ciety and neighbourhood, rarely perch upon trees, but
regard rocks and buildings, especially those that are
ancient or ruined, as if they were one and the same
thing, or as if shifting their haunts from one to the
other was but a natural step. A wild Cormorant, that
most docile of birds, has been known to alight on the
grey battlements of King's College, Cambridge, mis-
taking them for the pinnacles of hoary rocks ; and so
the Rock Dove, or blue Dovehouse Pigeon, for these
are identical, may be known from the Stock-dove by its
seldom or never perching upon branches. Thus in
Jeremiah xlviii. 28 : "0 ye that dwell in Moab, leave
the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the Dove
that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth."
The Doves that " fly to their windows," in Isaiah, had
only made an instinctive change of abode : and the
Chaonian towers above-mentioned were, we should say,
tenanted by a set of birds whom a very slight affront
would have driven back into the wilderness.
The Romans kept domestic Pigeons very much in
the same way that we do ; and in addition to this were
in the habit of catching the wild species, such as the
Ring Dove and the Common Turtle, and fatting them
in confinement as we do Quails and Ortolans.
" The attempt to breed Turtles is superfluous : for
that genus neither lays nor hatches in an aviary. As
soon as it is caught from the wild state, it is destined
to be crammed, and that with less trouble than other
birds are fatted, but not at all seasons. In the winter,
although pains be taken, it is with difficulty made to
thrive : and yet, because Thrushes are then in greater
plenty, the price of Turtles is lower. In the Summer
again it most readily fattens, so there is but plenty of
28 CATO A PIGEON-FATTER. [CHAP. i.
food : for it is only necessary that food should be thrown
before them, but especially millet : not that they gather
less flesh upon wheat or other grain, but because they
are exceedingly fond of this seed. The fatting-places
for them are not, as for Pigeons, lockers or hollow cells ;
but brackets, fixed in line along the wall, hold little
hempen mats, nets being stretched over them to pre-
vent their flying, which would diminish their fleshiness.
In these places they are assiduously fed with millet or
wheat : but those seeds ought only to be given in a
dry state. Half a bushel (semodius) of food each day
suffices for a hundred and twenty Turtles. Water con-
stantly fresh, and as clean as possible, is given in the
same vessels as are used for Pigeons and Hens ; and the
mats are cleaned lest the dung should bum their feet,
which, however, ought to be carefully laid aside for the
culture of the fields and the trees, as ought that of all
except the water birds. This bird is not so suitable
for fatting in its adult state, as when very young.
Therefore about harvest, when the brood has got
strength, is the time to choose."*
Even the severe Cato could advise a troublesome
method of fatting Wood Pigeons. He was military
tribune B.C. 189. His work on agriculture is a collec-
tion of receipts rather than a complete treatise, but is
always respectfully referred to by other Roman writers on
agriculture. We give the original passage as a curious
specimen of Latinity, and of a style which would not
be allowed to pass current in a university prize essay :
" Palumbum recentem ut prensus erit, ei fabam coc-
tam tostam primum dato ; ex ore in ejus os inflate item
* Columella, viii. 9, our own translation.
CHAP, i.] THE DOVES OF THE CAPITOL. 29
aquam, hoc dies vii. facito. Postea fabam fresam puram,
et far purum facito, et fabae tertia pars ut infervescat,
cum far insipiat, puriter facito, et coquito bene, id ubi
excoxeris depsito bene, oleo manum unguito, primum
pusillum, postea magis depses, oleo tangito depsitoque,
dum poteris facere turundas, ex aqua dato, escam tem-
perato." " When a Wood Pigeon is fresh caught, first
give it roasted beans. From your mouth blow them
into its mouth, also water. This do for seven days.
Afterwards bruise unmixed beans, and make pure meal,
and let a third part be of beans, that it may be hot.
When the meal becomes unsavoury, make it up cleanly,
and cook it well. When you have thoroughly cooked
it, knead it well, grease your hand with oil ; first knead
a little, then more ; touch with oil and knead, whilst
you shall be able to make it into pellets, give it out of
water, mix the food."*
A charming scrap of evidence of the favour which
these birds enjoyed as ornamental pets amongst the
ancients, is seen in the famous mosaic in the Hall of
the Vase, at the Capitol Museum at Rome. Many a
lady wears a reduced copy of this most graceful compo-
sition, in the shape of a cameo brooch or bracelet,
without being aware of the interesting antiquity of the
original design. Murray's excellent " Handbook for
Central Italy," p. 433, thus describes it:" 101. The
celebrated mosaic of Pliny's Doves, one of the finest
and most perfectly preserved specimens of ancient
mosaic. It represents four doves drinking, with a
beautiful border surrounding the composition. It is
supposed to be the mosaic of Sosus, described by Pliny
* Chap. xc.
30 FRIENDSHIP OF THE KESTREL. [CHAP. i.
in his thirty-fifth book, as a proof of the perfection to
which the art had been carried in his day. He says,
that there is at Pergamos a wonderful specimen of a
Dove drinking, and darkening the water with the
shadow of her head ; on the lip of the vessel others are
pluming themselves. ' Mirabilis ibi columba bibens,
et aquam umbra capitis infuscans. Apricantur alise
scabentes sese in cathari labro.' It was found in
Hadrian's villa in 1737, by Cardinal Furietti, from
whom it was purchased by Clement XIII."
The tutelary patronage and grateful friendship sup-
posed to subsist between the Kestrel Hawk and the
Pigeon, ought not to be omitted in any account of the
Doves of yore. Pliny writes, " Speculator occultus
fronde latro, et gaudentem (columbam) in ipsa gloria
rapit." "The thievish Falcon watches under his
covert of leaves, and seizes the rejoicing bird in its
very pride." We have elsewhere noticed how trouble-
some the predacious birds seem to have been in Italy,
during the times when northern Europe was less thickly
inhabited than it is at present. " Wherefore, the bird
which is called tinunculus, or Kestrel, should be kept
with them ; for it defends them, and frightens Hawks
by a natural power to such a degree that they avoid the
sight and sound of it. On this account, Pigeons regard
them with especial love. And they say, that if they be
buried in four corners of the pigeon-house in fresh-
painted earthen vessels, the Pigeons will not shift their
habitation a result which some have endeavoured to
obtain by cutting the joints of their wings with a
golden knife, wounds otherwise inflicted not being
harmless and the bird being besides much of a
vagrant ; for it is their artifice to wheedle and corrupt
CHAP. I.] CHARMS FOR DOVECOTES. 31
each other, and furtively to return home with a party of
followers."*
Columella, equally anxious that the dovecote should
not be deserted, suggests rational means of keeping the
birds at home, at the same time that he does not forget
the Kestrel. " But their place ought to be frequently
swept out and cleansed, for the neater it is kept, the
more delight will the birds appear to take in it ; and so
fastidious are they, that if they have the liberty they
will often leave their own home in disgust, which fre-
quently happens in those districts where they are
allowed free egress. The old precept teaches how to
prevent that misfortune. A sort of Hawk is called
by the country people tinunculus : the young of this
bird are shut up in earthen vessels, one in each,
and closed in alive; the vessels are smeared with
plaster, and suspended in the corners of the pigeon-
house, by which means the birds are so attached to the
place that they never desert it."f
It may be supposed that if the Kestrel does drive off
larger birds of prey, it is with the motive of protecting
his own household rather than that of the Pigeons,
although they may be the more secure for the temporary
truce. But other potent charms for the increase of
columbine prosperity have had their advocates : one
worthy recommends the skull of an old man to be hung
up in the dove-house, thereby causing the Pigeons to
multiply and remain quietly at home ; another has faith
in hanging a piece of the thong or halter with which a
man has been strangled, from each window (per omnes
fenestras), which those may try who are careless about
* Pliny's Hist. x. 52. t Columella, viii. 8.
32 EFFECTUAL ATTKACTIONS. [CHAI-. I.
their character for sanity. A less absurd recipe, of the
same date, is a goat's head, stewed down with plenty of
cummin and salt, to which some add burnt clay, urine,
coriander, hempseed, honey, and substitute the herb
tragus (He Croat), if we could discover what that is,
for the stewed goat's head ; in short, making the regular
salt cat, which the trappists (not ecclesiastical) of the
present day know to be so irresistible a bait for stray
birds. But the great bond of attachment is to make
their home comfortable, of which Temminck gives an in-
structive instance. The proprietors of a farm went to
occupy it themselves, after it had been held by a tenant
for a lease of nine years : they had left the pigeon-
house amply stocked, but they found it deserted, dis-
mantled, filthy, and occupied by every enemy of the
poor fugitives. They took no further pains than to
whitewash the pigeon-house within and without, to
restore the dilapidations of the interior, to have it
cleaned out perfectly, and to keep abundance of water
and salt therein. The pigeon-house was replenished
with birds as if by enchantment ; so much so, that
when the owners again quitted their estate, there were
more than a hundred and fifty pairs of Pigeons, which,
moreover, were supplied with scarcely any food. Three
years was all the time required to work this change,
and even to attract deserters from the pigeon-houses
for three miles round. Rational means succeeded
better than all the charms and conjurations of Thessaly,
and the French land-owner may exculpate himself
almost in the words of Othello, from all malpractices
with " spells and medicines bought of mountebanks:"
" Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,
My very noble, and approved good masters,
CHAP. i.J PATRONIZED BY COMMERCE. 33
That I have ta'en away another's pigeons
It is most true ; true they do flock to me ;
The very head and front of my oifending,
Hath this extent, no more. Yet, by your leave,
I will a round unvarnished tale deliver
Of my whole management ; what drugs, what charms,
What conjuration, and what mighty magick
(For such proceeding I am charged withal),
I won the pigeons with
This is the only witchcraft I have used,
Here come the pigeons, let them witness it."
But these passages remind us that we are somewhat
-anticipating what we have to say respecting the habits
and disposition of the true Dove-house Pigeon, as differ-
ing from the other sorts kept in a domestic state.
From the ancients the pursuit of Pigeon-fancying seems
to have descended to the Dutch, as it is likely that it
would to such a wealthy, commercial, and observant
people. In old times, we are told, at least every fourth
Dutchman was a Pigeon-fancier. They were also dili-
gent hunters out, and importers of new kinds ; so that
what Pliny said of the Romans may be affirmed of the
Dutch, i. e., that they were mad after Pigeons. Venice
also, another mercantile state, had opportunities of ob-
taining new kinds, which were zealously cultivated.
But this chapter has already exceeded its due limits :
and the reader shall at once be introduced to the
habits of increase, and general modes of managing
these birds.
Pair of Trumpeters.
CHAPTER II.
MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS.
Feed their own young. New-hatched squabs. The pigeon-loft. The trap.
Nesting-places. Food and luxuries. Water-supply. Out-door pigeon-houses.
Pole-house. Dovecotes. Pigeon law. Varro's dovecote. Stocking the loft.
Commencement of breeding. Laying. Incubation. Merits of the cock.
Nutrition and growth of the squabs. Pairing of pigeons. Two hens will pair
together. Widowed pigeons. Young birds. Differences among the eggs and
the very young. Providential adaptations.
THE main difference between Pigeons and all other
birds that are bred with us for domestic uses, is, that
the young of the latter have to be supplied with suit-
able food as well as the parents, and on that supply
very much depends the chance of successfully rearing
CHAP, ii.] MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS. 35
them. No nest or pei-manent habitation is required for
them after they are once brought into the world; merely
a temporary shelter by day, and a secure and convenient
lodging by night, which, however, may be shifted con-
tinually from place to place with advantage rather than
injury to the restless little occupants. This is the case
with all the Water-fowl which we keep domesticated, as
well as with the gallinaceous birds. The Duck and the
Goose, as well as the Hen and the Turkey, lead out
their young by day to their proper food, any deficiency
of which, arising from their not being in a state of na-
ture, is supplied by man ; and when rest and warmth
are required by the tender brood, the mother herself
furnishes all that is needed under the shelter of her
wings. Her own personal attentions supply from time
to time whatever nest and covering is required; our
care is to exercise a general superintendence, and pro-
vide them liberally with the necessary articles of diet.
But with Pigeons the reverse of all this obtains. If
you cater for them plentifully, well and good ; they will
partake of the fare, and give themselves no more
trouble. If you stint them, never mind ; they will go
further a-field, and forage for themselves, not being
over-scrupulous as to the proprietorship of the corn
they may eat, or delicate about committing a trespass.
But if your allowance is quite too pinching, and the
neighbours wage a determined war against all pilferers,
then the Pigeons will pluck up their resolution, and
emigrate to some new home, where better treatment
awaits them : for a home they must have. With that
tolerably adjusted, and a decent allowance of food from
you, they will, by their own industry, with little further
interference, increase so rapidly, and produce so large a
D 2
36 NEW-HATCHED SQUABS. [CHAP. n.
supply of flesh for culinary purposes, that there are
cases in which the phenomenon strikes one with perfect
astonishment.
Young Pigeons, when first hatched, are blind, half
naked, weak, and helpless. They are fed, nearly till
they are able to provide for themselves, entirely by
their parents. The aliment necessary for their feeble
organs during their earliest stage, is elaborated in the
crop of the old birds just before hatching; they ad-
minister it according to their instinctive knowledge of
the fit intervals, and all we have to think of is to see
that they suffer no deficiency of their accustomed ra-
tions. But with such utterly dependent younglings, a
fixed and safe household establishment is the thing,
without which all other comforts are worthless to
them.
Now, there are three modes in which a home is
usually supplied to Pigeons in this country. First, by
the old-fashioned square Dovecotes, built of solid mate-
rials, and capable of accommodating a large number of
birds, such as we see forming part of the outbuildings
of manorial houses, which have enjoyed the privilege
of keeping them for many years. Secondly, in small
open wooden boxes, either placed against walls and
gables, or elevated and isolated on poles ; the birds, as
before, constantly having free access, arid being totally
unconfined, though usually forming a smaller population
than in the former case. And thirdly, in a room, or
chamber, or Pigeon-loft appropriated to the purpose,
which can be closed or opened at the pleasure of the
owner, containing also separate cages for special pur-
poses, and in short all the apparatus requisite for the
systematic practice of breeding, and of regulating the
CHAP. li.J MODES OF PIGEON-KEEPING. 37
pairing and rearing of the inmates, according to de-
terminate rules. This last mode, which may be made
equally profitable as regards the increase of stock, is the
only one which can prove satisfactory to the fancier, or
to the experimental naturalist. The first system is
slovenly and semi-barbarous, belonging rather to feudal
times, and a primitive state of agriculture, than to
the present day. The second plan may do to furnish
an ornamental addition to the outbuildings of a resi-
dence, or to accommodate a few children's pets, but is
otherwise unsatisfactory; and therefore it is, that of
this third mode of Pigeon-keeping we shall first and
principally give an account.
The apartment in one's house or its append ages which
can be most conveniently appropriated as a Pigeon-
loft, is seldom open to much choice. Where a selection
can be made, a sheltered and sunny aspect is most
desirable ; a lofty situation is especially eligible for
town -resident amateurs. An adequate amount of win-
dow-light is wanted more for the pleasure of the owner
than for the requirements of the birds, which appear
naturally to prefer obscure retreats for their home and
breeding-place. Pigeons can see to feed late after sun-
set, when it is quite dusk, and when other domestic
birds would give it up. The power of sight which they
have to distinguish distant objects, seems extensible
also to those that are but faintly illuminated. Their
eye is convertible from a telescope to a night-glass.
The main external feature of the Pigeon-loft is the
trap ; and none can be better than a projecting box ; an
old tea-chest has often served the purpose efficiently,
with the sides, top, and bottom either quite closed and
boarded in, or made of lattice-work, the back opening
38 THE TEAP. (CHAP. II
into the Pigeon-loft and the front consisting of a latticed
door, or rather a drawbridge, conducting the birds to
the open space in which they are to exercise their
powers of flight. The drawbridge (from which the trap
derives its use and name) opens at the top and turns
on hinges below. It is raised or let down by a string,
which should pass through the loft, so that it can be
drawn up, and the trap closed by the owner outside or
beneath the loft, or in an adjoining chamber, without
disturbing the birds, after he has ascertained, by peep-
ing through a chink or aperture, that they have entered
their apartment. The peculiar fittings of the trap, as
most suitable to the room to which it is attached, are
best left to some clever carpenter who is experienced in
such work, and do not need further detail here, except
to state, that at the opening by which the trap enters
the loft, it is usual to have pieces of lath hanging ver-
tically and freely suspended from a wire above, in
such a way as to allow the entrance and prevent the
egress of the birds. These the owner can raise at
pleasure.
The trap here figured is copied from one now in use
by Mr. Brown, of St. Margaret's, Norwich. A differ-
ence exists between this, and most others, in that only
the outer door or drawbridge of this trap is outside the
building ; by which means, that gentleman says, there
is some convenience gained. The little swinging doors
hang on a wire ; they are round, and are broader to-
wards the bottom, i. e., long cones, so as to be steadied
by their own weight, as in the woodcut.
The accommodations provided as nesting-places, and
their arrangement, must also very much depend upon
circumstances. The most important point is, that there
CHAP. II.]
THE TKAP.
39
should be at least two convenient Pigeon-holes or breed-
ing-places to each pair of birds, and that there be not
the least pretext for their disturbing each other or
quarrelling on this account. In other respects, it may
Exterior.
Interior.
Trap of Pigeon-loft.
A, the door of the trap (outside the building).
B, the inner end of the trap where the swinging doors hang.
C C, the string used to pull up the outer door of the trap.
Trap of Pigeon- loft.
Interior showing the loose bars called " the bolt.
B, the little swinging doors on the inner end.
C, the string which pulls up the outer door.
40 NESTING-PLACES. [CHAP. 11.
be said of Pigeon-lockers, as of governments, "which
e'er is best administered, is best." In the rare " Trea-
tise on Domestic Pigeons," an excellent plan is thus
suggested :
" You may erect shelves, of about twenty inches
broad, for breeding places, allowing eighteen inches
between shelf and shelf, that Powters may not be under
the necessity of stooping for want of height, for in that
case they would contract an habit of playing low, which
spoils their carriage. In these shelves partitions should
be fixed at about three feet distance, making a blind,
by a board nailed against the front on each side of every
partition, which will make two nests in the extent of
every three feet ; and the Pigeons will not be liable to
be disturbed, as they will then sit in private. (This
is an excellent plan, for a reason to be hereafter men-
tioned.) Some fix a partition between each nest, which
prevents the young ones from running to the hen sitting
at the other end, and thereby cooling her eggs ; for in
breeding time, when the young ones are about a fort-
night or three weeks old, the hen, if a good breeder,
will lay again, and leave the care of the young ones to
the cock. Others let them breed in partitions entirely
open in front, for the greater convenience of cleaning
out their nests. I find by experience, that nests made
on the floor are much more convenient than otherwise,
if the loft will admit of it, for it prevents the young
ones falling out of their nests, which sometimes breaks
a leg, and very often lames them, and also gives them
a chance of being fed by other Pigeons, as well as their
parents, which frequently happens. In every nest should
be placed a straw basket, or earthen pan, that has not
been glazed, which prevents the straw from slipping
CHAP. ii.J FOOD AND LUXUE1ES. 41
about, both which are made for this purpose, and the
size must be in proportion to the Pigeons you breed :
for instance, a pan, fit for a Tumbler, or other small
Pigeon, should be about three inches high, and eight
inches over at the top, and sloping to the bottom like
a wash-hand bason, and that in proportion for other
larger Pigeons, remembering to put a brick close to the
pan, that they may with greater safety get upon their
eggs ; and by the means of this pan, the eggs are not
only prevented from rolling out of the nest, but your
young Pigeons from being handled when you choose to
look at them, which often puts them into a scouring.
Some prefer the basket, as judging it the warmest, and
not so liable to crack the egg when first laid; others the
pan, as not so apt to harbour vermin, and being easier
cleaned ; and say that the foregoing inconveniences are
easily remedied by putting in a sufficient quantity of
clean straw, rubbed short and soft, or frail; the frail is
most valued, because it lays hollow, and lasts a great
while, the dung shaking off it as occasion requires."*
Although in the country, arid such situations where
the Pigeons may safely be allowed almost entire liberty,
it is not necessary to furnish a loft with hoppers or
meat boxes (of which there are several patterns to be
had) ; still it may be as well to feed them occasionally,
i. e., four or five times a week, in their chamber, even
though it may be wished to see them take their food on
the ground with the other poultry as a general rule.
For this purpose it will be sufficient to throw down a
moderate supply of peas or barley on their floor, which
we suppose to be swept and fresh gravelled with some
* Treatise on Domestic Pigeons (Lond. 1765), pp. 4-6.
42 WATEK SUPPLY. [CHAP. n.
degree of regularity. The object of thus feeding them
within-doors is partly to confirm their affection for the
spot, and partly to give the forward squeakers that may
have quitted the nest, a chance of learning to peck for
themselves. Colder, old mortar, and the lime-rubbish
from dilapidated buildings, when it can be had, is an
excellent thing to strew their floor with, in addition to
the gravel ; if it is not obtainable, a few lumps of clay
or brick-earth, and a spadeful of dry loamy soil may be
put down here and there. Two other luxuries should
never be wanting, salt and water ; day by day it should
be looked to that there is a sufficiency of these. They
will be more effectual than almost anything in prevent-
ing the birds from straying, and, if you wish it, in tempt-
ing your neighbours' birds to repeat their chance in-
trusions. The salt may be of any coarsely-granulated
kind, set down in an earthen pan ; it can be eaten more
readily than rock-salt, and is therefore more agreeable.
Fanciers who are more superstitious than cleanly, can
prepare the Salt-Cat according to the most potent and
the nastiest recipe *, but we have found that the mineral
in its natural state answers every purpose of keeping
the birds healthily contented with their lot, and so have
avoided handling ingredients amongst which assafoatida
is not the most disagreeable.
As to the water supply, every earthen-ware and glass
shop affords plenty of choice ; the open pan gives the
* " So named, I suppose, from a certain fabulous oral tradition of
baking a cat, in the time of her salaciousness, with cummin seed,
and some other ingredients, as a decoy for your neighbours' pigeons."
Treatise^ p. 31.
" Some make use of a goat's head boiled in urine, with a mixture
of salt, cummin, and hemp." The New and Complete Pigeon-
Fancier, by Daniel Grirton, Esq., p. 59.
CHAP. II.] WATER SUPPLY. 43
birds an opportunity of bathing, in which they delight ;
but they will soon splash out all the water from that,
and therefore a reservoir with a narrow opening is more
sure to satisfy the wants of the community. It is best
to provide one of each. Of the latter kind none can
be preferable to that described in the " Treatise," af-
fording, as it does, opportunity for a lecture on Hydro-
statics.
" The water-bottle should be a large glass bottle with
a long neck, holding four or five gallons (the carboys,
in which various fluids are received by dispensing che-
mists, are very suitable for the purpose), and its belly
made in the form of an egg, to keep them from dung-
ing on it ; but the shape is not material, as a piece of
paste-board, hung by a string at three or four inches
above the bottle, will always prevent that, by hindering
them from settling thereon. This bottle should be
placed upon a stand, or three-footed stool, made hollow
at top to receive the belly, and let the mouth into a
small pan ; the water by this means will gradually de-
scend out of the mouth of the bottle as the Pigeons
drink it, and be sweet and clean, and always stop when
the surface of the water meets with the mouth of the
bottle.
" The reason of which is evident ; for the belly of the
bottle being entirely close at top, keeps off all the ex-
ternal pressure of the atmosphere, which pressing hard
upon the surface of the water in the pan, which is con-
tiguous to that in the bottle, is too potent for the small
quantity of air which is conveyed into the belly of the
bottle with the water, and which consequently, as being
the lighter matter, rises to the top of the bottle, as it
stands in its proper situation; but the water being
44 OUT-DOOR PIGEON-HOUSES. [CHAP.II.
sucked away by the Pigeons, that it no longer toucheth
the mouth of the bottle, the confined air exerts its power,
and causeth the water to descend 'till they become conti-
guous as before." *
Of the small Pigeon-houses that are affixed to walls,
or elevated on poles, there is a considerable variety.
Among the former, the best are those which are con-
trived on the principle of having two nesting-places
accessible to each pair of birds. Sometimes the whim
of the architect makes them to represent baby-houses,
or mansions adorned with battlements and turrets, and
one is amused with the incongruity of seeing a Pigeon
peep out at a Gothic window. But strict criticism is
not applicable to castles in the air. The great objec-
tion to all such Pigeon-houses is, that they are subject
to every variation of temperature, are ill sheltered from
pelting rains and stormy winds, and allow but little
control to be exercised over the birds themselves. The
best pole-house with which we are acquainted is that
of which a plan and elevation is given in the accom-
panying cuts. A pair of birds take possession of the
suite of apartments whose landing place is marked A.
They will probably pass through the vestibule B when
they first bring in straws for a nest, and deposit them
in one of the chambers, as c : when the young are a
fortnight or three weeks old, the hen will probably
leave them mostly to the care of the cock, and make
a fresh nest and lay in the opposite apartment D.
As soon as the first pair of young are flown, c will
be vacant for the hatching of a third brood, and so
by shifting alternately from parlour to study, and never
* Treatise, pp. 8-10.
CHAP. II.]
POLE-HOUSE.
45
being idle, a good pair of parent birds will produce
quite a little flock by the end of the summer.
10 * 11
/;* 12
ffl*H
D
B
C
But the old manorial Dovecote belonging to bygone
days is a substantial cubical building, with a pyrami-
dal tiled roof, surmounted by an unglazed lantern by
which the Pigeons enter. It frequently forms the upper
half of a square turret, and then can only be entered
46 MANORIAL DOVECOTES. [CHAP. n.
by a ladder without, the lower half being used as a
cow-house, cart-shed, or root-house. It is usually so-
lidly built of either brick or stone, and the interior
fittings are of brick also. Nesting-places are thus made
to occupy the four entire walls, except where the open-
ing for the door prevents them. The place gets cleaned
out twice or thrice in the year, and is very snug ; but
as the birds which die are not removed when they ought
to be, it is sometimes very offensive, to the human sense
at least. In many places in the west of England brick
nesting-boxes for common Dove-house Pigeons are built
outside the walls, according to the exact pattern of
those in the ancient Dovecotes, but the plan has none
of the security, warmth, and quiet of the old system, and
retains all its disadvantages. On Colonel Petre's estate
at Westwick in Norfolk, an arch is thrown across the
road, and the pediment and upper portions of each pier
are tenanted by Pigeons. The idea was probably sug-
gested by Capability Browne, who assisted in laying out
the grounds. The effect is really very good, and the
birds thrive and evidently enjoy the vicinity of the lake
as a convenient watering and bathing place. But those
gentlemen who reside in a rocky district might contrive
the most picturesque of all Dovecotes, by hollowing out
a space in the face of a cliff, and fashioning the en-
trance as nearly like a natural cavern as possible. A
few pairs of Rock Doves once settled here in lockers
hewn in the rock itself, would indeed feel themselves
at home ; and if an elevated spot were selected, their
out-door proceedings would be observable from the man-
sion and pleasure-grounds generally, and could not fail
to form an agreeable point of view.
The above-mentioned cubical, brick-built receptacles
CHAP, ii.] DOVECOTES OF TORE. 47
are the Dovecotes to which so many privileges once
attached, though they are now nearly obsolete. It is
certain that Dovehouse Pigeons were kept for use and
profit at an early period of English History. In
Degge's " Parson's Counsellor," Ellis's edition, p. 314,
we find that " there was a canon made by Robert Win-
chelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, and his clergy, in the
year 1305, whereby it was declared, that ' all and every
parishioner shall pay honestly and without diminution
to their churches the below mentioned tithes ; that is to
say, . . . of Pigeons . . . &c. &c., on pain of
excommunication,' " although the claims of the clergy on
these birds do not seem to have universally obtained in
England. For in Blomefield's elaborate history of Nor-
folk we find that, " in the time of King James I.
there was a long suit about the customs of the Rectory
of Dice or Diss, and at length it was ended, and an ex-
emplification under seal passed" of what the rector was
to receive in kind, and what in lieu thereof. Goslings,
Eggs, Bees, and Milk, are mentioned, but not a word
about young Pigeons, a delicacy which would have been
hardly omitted, had they been then and there subject
to payment of tithes. Neither are they enumerated
among the customary payments from copyhold tenants,
which in those days seem to have been very strictly
exacted. Among all the oppressive claims that were
then insisted upon, none appears, that we can find, on
the poor Pigeons or their Dovecote. See Blomefield's
account of the Manor of Brisingham. The " Parson's
Counsellor," at p. 343, indicates somewhat of a middle
course : " But of young Pigeons in Dovecotes or in
Pigeon-holes, about a man's house, tithes shall be paid
if they be sold ; but if they be spent in the family no
tithe shall be paid for them."
48 SPANISH DOVECOTES. [CHAP. n.
But Mr. Borrow, who is always amusing, though he
is often severe upon the ignorance of the parish priests
of the Peninsula, gives an entertaining instance of
clerical privileges in connection with Pigeon-houses. A
priest, who afterwards talks of Holy Pablo's (Paul's) first
letter to Pope Sixtus, (Qu. ? the Epistle to the Romans,)
is made to say, " * I hope you will look in upon me, Don
Jorge, and I will show you my little library of the
Fathers, and likewise my Dovecote, where I rear nu-
merous broods of Pigeons, which are also a source of
much solace and at the same time of profit.'
" ' I suppose by your Dovecote,' said I, ' you mean
your parish, and by rearing broods of Pigeons, you al-
lude to the care you take of the souls of your people,
instilling therein the fear of God and obedience to his
revealed law, which occupation must of course afford
you much solace and spiritual profit.'
" ' I was not speaking metaphorically, Don Jorge,'
replied my companion ; ' and by rearing Doves, I mean
neither more nor less than that I supply the market of
Cordova with Pigeons, and occasionally that of Seville ;
for my birds are very celebrated, and plumper or fatter
flesh than theirs, I believe, cannot be found in the whole
kingdom. Should you come to my village, Don Jorge,
you will doubtless taste them at the venta where you will
put up, for I suffer no Dovecotes but my own within my
district. With respect to the souls of my parishioners, I
trust I do my duty I trust I do, as far as in my power
lies.'"*
Private property in Pigeons is more strictly protected,
and any infringement of it more severely punishable
by English law, than is generally imagined. An Act
* The Bible in Spain, vol. i. p. 355.
CHAP. n.J PIGEON LAW. 49
passed in the second year of James I. enacts, " That
all and every person and persons, which from and after
the first day of August next (1604) following, shall
shoot at, kill, or destroy with any gun, cross-bow, stone-
bow, or long-bow, any Pheasant, Partridge, House-dove
or Pigeon, Hearn, Mallard, Duck, Teal, Widgeon,
Grouse, Heathcock, Moregame, or any such Fowl, or
any Hare, .... shall be by the said justices of
peace, for every such offence, committed to the common
gaol of the said county, city, or town corporate, where
the offence shall be committed, or the parties appre-
hended, there to remain for three months without bail
or mainprise, unless that the said offender do or shall
forthwith upon the said conviction, pay or cause to be
paid, to the churchwardens of the said parish where the
said offence shall be committed, or the parties appre-
hended, to the use of the poor of the said parish, the
sum of twenty shillings for every Pheasant, Partridge,
House-dove or Pigeon, Hearn, Mallard, Duck, Teal,
Widgeon, Grouse, Heathcock, Moregame or any such
Fowl, and for every egg of Pheasant, Partridge, or
Swans, and for every Hare, which any and every such
person and persons so offending and convicted as afore-
said, shall take, kill, or willingly destroy, contrary to the
true purport and true meaning of this statute," &c.
This law was enacted to reach " the vulgar sort, and men
of small worth, making a trade and a living of the spoil-
ing and destroying of the said games, who are not of
sufficiency to pay the said penalties in the said statutes
mentioned, nor to answer the costs and charges of any
that should inform and prosecute against them."
Nor has time mitigated the penalty for such offences.
The 7th and 8th George IV., chap. 29, sec. 33, which
E
50 PIGEON LAW. [CHAP. ii.
repealed former Acts, tells us, " And be it enacted,
That if any person shall unlawfully and wilfully kill,
wound, or take any House-dove or Pigeon, under such
circumstances as shall not amount to larceny at com-
mon law ; every such offender, being convicted thereof
before a justice of the peace, shall forfeit and pay over
and above the value of the bird, any sum not exceeding
two pounds" By the 67th sect, of the same Act, the
magistrates may, in case of default in payment of value
and penalty, commit for any term not exceeding two
months.
A lord of a manor may build a Dove-cote upon his
land, parcel of his manor ; but a servant of the manor
cannot do it without licence.
It hath been adjudged that erecting a Dove-house is
not a common nuisance, nor presentable in the leet.
*[f Pigeons come upon my land and I kill them, the
owner hath no remedy against me ; though I may be
liable to the statutes which make it penal to destroy
them.
Doves in a Dove-house, young and old, shall go to
the heir, and not to the executor.
The reader will now have had enough law, unless he
be one of those foolish persons who are amateurs of it,
and cannot live without it. This part of the subject
shall be concluded with Varro's account of his Dove-
cote, just before the commencement of the Christian
era.
" The n^to-TE^wv, or Pigeon-house, is made like a
large pent-house (testudo), covered with an arched roof,
having one narrow entrance, with Carthaginian shutters,
or wider ones, latticed on each side, that the whole
place may be light, and that no serpent, or other
CHAJMi.) VAKRO'S DOVECOTE. 51
noxious creature, be able to enter. Within, the walls
and roof are plastered over with the thinnest possible
coat of mortar, and without also, around the shutters,
lest any mouse or lizard should be able to creep up to
the lockers; for no creature is more timid than a
Pigeon. Round lockers for each pair are placed close
in ranks. There may be as many rows as possible
from the ground up to the roof. Each locker should
have a separate opening for entrance and exit : within
three palms (of capacity) each way. Under each row
of lockers, shelves, two palms broad, to be used as a
vestibule, and for them to walk out upon. A stream of
water should run in, where they may drink and bathe,
for these birds are very cleanly. Therefore the keeper
ought to brush out the Pigeon-house every month ; for
what denies that place is most suitable for agriculture,
so that many authors have described this manure as
excellent. If a Pigeon ails anything, it should be
cured ; if one dies, it should be removed ; if any squabs
are fit for sale, they can be brought out. Also, if any
are about to lay, they should be removed to a separate
place parted off by a net, whence the breeding birds
can fly abroad, which they do on two accounts : first,
that if they lose their appetite, or grow feeble from
confinement, they may be refreshed by the open air
when they go into the fields ; and, secondly, because of
the tie that binds them to their home ; for they will
return on account of the young which they have left,
unless they happen to be intercepted and destroyed by
a Crow or a Hawk.
" Their food is placed around the wall in troughs,
which are supplied from without by means of tubes.
They delight in millet, wheat, barley, peas, haricot-
52 STOCKING THE LOFT. [CHAP. n.
beans, vetches. Those who keep these wild and rustic
Pigeons in towers, and in the tops of their farm-
houses, should, as far as possible, introduce them to
their Dovery at a good age ; they should be procured
neither too young nor too old, as many males as females.
Nothing is more prolific than Pigeons, so that in forty
days they conceive, and lay, and incubate, and rear.
And they do this nearly the whole year: they only
make an interval from winter to the vernal equinox.
Two young ones are hatched, which, as soon as they
have attained their growth and strength, begin to lay
in company with their parents."*
The reader, if he will be advised, will select a warm
well-fitted loft, as the best place to keep Pigeons in.
Having prepared that, the next step is not merely to
furnish it with a sufficient population, but to settle the
new colony in a state of contentment with their loca-
tion. With all other poultry, it is enough to get them
home, feed them, and leave them to inspect their new
master's premises at their uncontrolled leisure. Not so
with Pigeons. Bring a score fine birds to your com-
fortable loft; give them all the peas, and water, and
salt they can wish for ; let them out at the end of a day
or two ; and the chances are, that in a few hours they
will all have disappeared, never to be caught sight of,
by you, again. You then go to the dealer with a
doubting face, and complain that all the birds you
bought of him the other day have flown back again.
He replies, " Sir, I am very sorry for that ; very sorry
indeed ! Such good specimens ; and, altogether, at a
long price ! "
" Well, but," you say, " of course you will let me
* De Re Rustica, iii. 7.
CHAP, ii.] SETTLING THE BIRDS. 53
have them back again ; the bill is paid, and I feel
assured that you are a respectable tradesman."
" Thank you, sir," he rejoins with a bow ; "and you
may believe that it would give me the greatest pleasure
to assist you in recovering them ; but it is not to this
place that they have returned. I bought them of
parties who are strangers to me, and I really do not
know where to apply to hunt them up for you."
At this you look very blank, and a little sceptical ;
which calls forth the remark, " If you doubt my word,
sir, you are welcome to look round and see. John !
take the gentleman backwards, and show him all the
Pigeons we have on the premises."
You have no more to say, and depart. A fortnight
afterwards, passing the shop of some other dealer, you
observe Pigeons offered for sale, so exceedingly like
those you had a little while ago, that you are struck
with admiration at the certainty and perfection at which
the art of breeding has been brought of late years.
But Pigeons must be made to form an attachment to
their home, before they can be safely trusted with
liberty. One great inducement to them to stay where
they may happen to be brought to, is to find them-
selves in the midst of an old-established society ; for
though monogamous, they are eminently social. But
the founder of a new settlement of Doves is not pos-
sessed of this means of temptation wherewith to allure
strangers. A common plan is to clip the feathers of
one wing, with newly-purchased birds, in the expecta-
tion that the interval between that time and their next
moult will be sufficient to reconcile them to a strange
home, especially if they can be induced to breed mean-
while. But the operation does not always answer in
54 STOCKING THE LOFT. [CHAP. u.
the end. Some birds, as soon as they regain their
accustomed powers of flight, start off, taking away per-
haps a companion or two with them, in search of their
old haunts. And besides this, a clipped-winged Pigeon
is as sad a sight as a blind greyhound or a lame race-
horse. The poor thing cannot get up and down to its
locker, without hopping like a Sparrow when it should
glide like a Hawk. It tumbles in dirt while it should
be mounting on air.
If the dealer could warrant that his adult birds of
choice breeds had never been flown, but had been kept
incarcerated from the moment of their sprawling out of
the divided egg-shell a warrant which he can but
rarely give with satisfaction to his own mind then the
purchaser might safely keep them at home just for a
few days, and afterwards let them out with but little
fear of their leaving him. But it is a rare case to be
able to place any such dependence on new-bought
Pigeons. Whether they go back to their old home, or
whether they simply get strayed and lost, the disap-
pointment is the same to him who wishes to retain
them. The only safe way to stock an unpeopled loft,
in which the birds are intended to be allowed any de-
gree of liberty in the open air, is to procure, by order-
ing them beforehand, several pairs of the young birds
of the sorts required, as soon as they are able to peck
for themselves, i. e., at about five weeks old. Such
colonists as these will take to their settlement without
giving much trouble. The only fear of losing them is
from their being decoyed away by older birds in the
neighbourhood before they have fairly mated, and
have become fully conscious that an independent home
of their own is desirable.
CHAP, ii.] COMMENCEMENT OF BREEDING. 55
When these young Pigeons are about six months old,
or before, they begin to go together in pairs, except
while associated with the entire flock at feeding times ;
and when they are resting on the roofs, or basking in
the sun, they retire apart to short distances for the pur-
pose of courtship, and pay each other little kind atten-
tions, such as nestling close, and mutually tickling the
heads one of another. At last comes what is called
" billing," which is, in fact, a kiss, a hearty and intense
kiss. As soon as this takes place, the marriage is com-
plete, and is forthwith consummated. The pair are
now united, companions, not necessarily for life, though
usually so, but rather durante bene placito, so long as
they continue to be satisfied with each other. If they
are Tumblers, they mount aloft, and try which can
tumble best ; if they are Powters, they emulate one the
other's puffings, tail-sweepings, circlets in the air, and
wing clappings ; while the Fantails and the Runts, and
all those kinds which the French call Pigeons mondains,
walk the ground with conscious importance and grace.
But this is their honeymoon the time for the frolics
of giddy young people. The male is the first to be-
come serious. He foresees that " the Campbells are
coming " better than his bride, and therefore takes pos-
session of some locker or box that seems an eligible
tenement. If it is quite empty and bare, he carries to
it a few straws or slight sticks ; but if the apartment has
been already furnished for him, he does not at present
take much further trouble in that line. Here he settles
himself, and begins complaining. " Oh, oh ! " he
moans, " do come and help me ; do come and comfort
me! " His appeal is sometimes answered by the lady
affording him her presence, sometimes not ; in which
56 LAYING INCUBATION. [CHAP, 11,
case he does not pine in solitude very long, but goes
and searches out his careless helpmate, and with close
pursuit, and a few sharp pecks, if necessary, insists
upon her attending to her business at home. Like the
good husband described in Fuller's " Holy State," " his
love to his wife weakeneth not his ruling her, and his
ruling lesseneth not his loving her. Wherefore he
avoideth all fondnesse, (a sick love, to be praised in
none, and pardoned onely in the newly married,) whereby
more have wilfully betrayed their command, and ever
lost it by their wives' rebellion. Me thinks the he-viper
is right enough served, which (as Pliny reports) puts
his head into the she-viper's mouth, and she bites it
off. And what wonder is it if women take the rule to
themselves, which their uxorious husbands first sur-
render unto them ? " * Well, the cock Pigeon is no
he-viper, and so the hen obeys, occasionally, however,
giving some trouble ; but at last she feels that she
must discontinue general visiting and long excursions ;
she enters the modest establishment that has been pre-
pared for her performance of her maternal duties. A
day or two after she has signified her acceptance of the
new home, an egg may be expected to be found there.
Over this she (mostly) stands sentinel, till, after an
intervening day, a second egg is laid, and incubation
really commences ; not hotly and energetically at first,
as with Hens, Turkeys, and many other birds, but gently
and with increasing assiduity.
And now the merits of her mate grow apparent. He
does not leave his lady to bear a solitary burden of ma-
trimonial care, while he has indulged in the pleasures
* Book I. chap. iii.
\
CHAP, ii.] MEEITS OF THE COCK. 57
only of their union. He takes a share, though a minor
one, of the task of incubating ; and he more than per-
forms his half-share of the labour of rearing the young.
At about noon, oftentimes earlier, the hens leave their
nests for air and exercise as well as food, and the cocks
take their place upon the eggs. If you enter a Pigeon-
loft at about two o'clock in the afternoon, you will find
all the cock birds sitting a family arrangement that
affords an easy method of discovering which birds are
paired with which. The ladies are to be seen taking
their respective turns in the same locations early in the
morning, in the evening, and all the night. The older
a cock Pigeon grows, the more fatherly does he become.
So great is his fondness for having a rising family, that
an experienced unmated cock bird, if he can but in-
duce some flighty young hen to lay him a couple of
eggs as a great favour, will almost entirely take the
charge of hatching and rearing them by himself. We
are possessed of an old Blue Antwerp Carrier (with
probably a cross of the E,unt), who, by following this
line was, with but little assistance from any female, an
excellent provider of pie materials, till he succeeded in
educating a hen Barb to be a steady wife and mother.
It quite put us in mind of those discreet old gentlemen
who send their young brides to school before they
marry them. The pair are still equally prolific. In-
deed, Pigeons that have become attached to their home,
and have made choice of a partner, no matter of what
sort, cross-bred or otherwise, should never be destroyed.
They will have rendered, if fairly fed, such substantial
assistance to the pastry-cook in the course of their adult
period (the duration of which is not well defined), as to
58 GKOWTH OF THE SQUABS. [CHAP. 11.
merit an immunity and free commons till the time of
their natural decease.
At the end of eighteen days from the laying of the
second egg (but the time cannot be invariably fixed
within several hours) a young one will appear. Subse-
quently, at a short but uncertain interval, sometimes
comes another chick, sometimes remains an addle egg.
Of all young things, babies included, a new-hatched
Pigeon ranks among the most helpless, as the annexed
cut indicates with tolerable accuracy. Most little birds,
Pigeon-Chick, a day old.
if blind, if weak, can at least open their mouths to be
fed ; but these actually have their nutriment pumped
into them. They have just instinctive sense enough
to feel for the bills of their parents ; they will make
the same half -conscious movement to find the tip of
your finger, if you take them in your hand. And this
act of pumping from the stomachs of the parents is so
efficiently performed, as to be, without offence, incre-
CHAP. II.] GROWTH OF THEIE FEATHERS. 59
dible by those who have not watched the result. A
little Pigeon grows enormously the first twelve hours ;
after the third day, still more rapidly ; and for a time
longer at a proportionate rate. If it do not, something
is wrong, and it is not likely to be reared at all. The
squab that remains stationary is sure to die. Some-
times, of two squabs, one will go on growing like a
mushroom or a puff-ball, and the other will keep as it
was, till the thrifty one weighs six or eight times as
much as its brother or sister on which the spell of
ill-luck has been laid.
The young are at first sparsely covered with long
filaments of down ; the root of each filament indicates
the point from which each stub or future feather-case
is to start. The down, for a while, still hangs on the
tips of some of the feathers during their growth, and
finally, we believe, does not drop off from them, but is
absorbed into the shaft of the growing feather. No
domestic birds afford such good opportunities of ob-
serving the growth of feathers as Pigeons. Mr. Yar-
rell gives some minute details respecting the growth of
that peculiar clothing with which this Class of Birds are
outwardly protected, in the " Transactions of the London
Zoological Society," vol. i. p. 13, which might be largely
quoted did space permit ; but still, as it is, room must
be found for a few sentences.
" The bulb or pulp, which is the foundation of each
feather, has its origin in a gland or follicle of the
skin ; and as the pulp lengthens, this gland or follicle
is absorbed. The pulp still lengthening becomes in-
vested on its outer surface with several concentric layers
of condensed cellular membrane, from which the shaft,
the filaments of both lateral webs, the colouring matter,
60 PAIRING OF PIGEONS. [CHAP. n.
and the horny quill are severally produced; but ana-
tomists appear to differ a little in opinion as to the
exact manner in which the growth of the various parts
takes place. The pulp, which nearly fills the barrel of
the quill while the feather is forming, is connected with
the body of the bird by an aperture at that end of the
quill which is fixed in the skin, through which aperture
or umbilicus a portion of the pulp is extended. The
whole of the pulp, within as well as without the quill,
is the only part of the feather which appears to be vas-
cular, and the large feathers of the wing may be in-
jected, while growing, from the humeral artery; but
the feathers once perfected, the injection can no longer
be sent even into the pulp. The membranes of which
it was composed, the former nidus of vessels now obli-
terated, dry up, contract, and ultimately separating
transversely into funnel-shaped portions (which remain
in the barrel of each quill), are well known by the fami-
liar term of pith."
The pairing of Pigeons is a practice so strictly ad-
hered to by them, that if the number of male birds in a
Dovecote is less than that of females, the supernumerary
hens will pair with each other, and set up an establish-
ment for themselves; if the males are in excess they
will make an excursive tour in search of a mate, and
either remain with her at her residence, or, which is
just as frequently the case, bring the lady with them to
their own home. The unmated hens that thus enter
into partnership will go through all the ceremonies of
pairing, make a nest, lay two eggs each, sit alternately
and carefully, and, if they are members of a large flock,
very often rear young. I had a couple of hen Pigeons
that generally produced one or two young ones in this
CHAP. n.J WIDOWED PIGEONS. 61
way, thus proving that the conjugal fidelity of the male
birds at least has been somewhat exaggerated ; for they
were seen in the fact of yielding to the blandishments
of the independent spinsters. But the two eggs of the
Pigeon produce one male and one female chick in so
nearly an invariable manner, that any disproportion in
the sexes, by which these aberrations from ordinary
rules are caused, arises rather from disease or acci-
dent, than from any chance result of the hatchings.
Julian curiously mixes up true facts with superstitious
notions on this subject. " They say that Doves incu-
bate alternately ; when the young appear the male spits
on them, to avert by this means, it is said, the evil
eye, and that they may not excite envy. The female
brings forth two eggs, the first of which always pro-
duces a male, the second a female."* This point I
have not verified, but it is very likely. ^Eliau, like
others who do not strictly adhere to truth, is often
doubted when his statements are really correct. He
repeats, from Aristotle, the account of the solitary hens
coupling together, which we ourselves know to be in
accordance with their present habits.
When a hen Pigeon has the misfortune to lose her
mate, by gunning or trapping, she is certainly uncom-
fortable for a while, but not inconsolable. She does not
go pining on, like poor Lady Russell, exclaiming with
her, " I cannot be comforted, because I have not the
dear companion and sharer of all my joys and sorrows.
I want him to talk with, to walk with, to eat and sleep
with ; all these things are irksome to me now ; the day
unwelcome, and the night so too!" She does not in any
* Var. Hist. i. 15.
62 CAEE OF THE YOUNG BIRDS. [CHAP. 11.
way of this kind adopt the character which sentimenta-
lists have assigned to her. Nor, to her credit, does she
follow the example of those jaunty widows, who, having
secured their jointure on the family estate, and their hus-
bands in the family vault, then begin to enjoy life. It
will not do for her to make insincere advances to any
unmated male in the neighbourhood, be he bachelor
or widower. She will soon find it as dangerous a
game as playing at marriages is in Scotland, and
will be driven to nest with a peck and a buffet, hard
enough to show plainly that cock Pigeons, though they
have no gall-bladder*, are yet a little choleric, and are
not to be trifled with in matters of the heart. Flirta-
tions ending in nothing, and femmes seuls intending to
keep so, are things intolerable in a columbine commu-
nity. But she knows better, and soon follows the more
respectable example of the Widow of Ephesiis a lady
whom we all approve in our hearts, while we think
it decent to blame and ridicule her openly.
If the Pigeons are to be kept entirely confined in
their loft, the nests should be supplied with a little
short straw in each; but if they are to be flown, and
twigs and straws are at hand, it is better to leave them
to make the nests themselves. This indulgence will
allow them to exhibit a very curious habit. Just at the
time of hatching, the cock bird brings new materials to
* Fuller (about 1650) alludes to this peculiarity in the anatomy
of the Pigeon, and assumes that it ought to be known to all well-
educated medical men. " Unworthy pretenders to PhysicTc are rather
foils than stains to the Profession. And commonly the most ignorant
are the most confident in their undertakings, and will not stick to
tell you what disease the gall of a Dove is good to cure." The
Holy State, Book I., chap. ii.
CHAP, ii.] DIFFERENCES AMONG THE EGGS AND YOUNG. 63
the nest, to increase the accommodation for his two
little new-comers ; so that if a pair are known to be sit-
ting, and the cock is observed to fly up to the loft with
sticks and straws in his bill, it is a sure sign that
hatching is about to take place. The object is pro-
bably to keep the young squabs from contact with
their own accumulated dung; otherwise it is very apt
to clog their feet, and hang in hardened pellets to each
claw. The same thing often happens to adult birds
that are closely caged. The pellets should be re-
moved by splitting them with a pen -knife ; but it is best
done by two operators ; one, to hold the bird. Calling
on a worthy old Pigeon-fancier, now no more, on looking
round I could not help asking, " Why, where 's your
Bronze-wing? You have not parted with that ?" " Ah,
Sir," he replied, "such a misfortune this morning!
I took it out of the cage to clean its feet ; it struggled,
and I held it tight against my chest: too tight for
when I had done, the bird was dead ! I would not have
taken five guineas for it. It was sent me all the way
from Sydney !"
The eggs of the different breeds of Domestic Pigeons
are much less dissimilar than those of Fowls ; they vary
a little in size, but their shape and proportions are the
same. I have never seen a buff Pigeon's egg, of the
hue of those of the Malay or of the Cochin China Fowl,
and not even a cream-coloured one. All the wild
Pigeons' eggs, too, that I have had an opportunity of
inspecting, as well as those of the Collared Turtle, look
as if they were every one of them cast after the same
model. It would be most difficult, on being shown an
egg of any of the Columbidce, to pronounce by which
species it had been laid.
64 PROVIDENTIAL ADAPTATIONS. [CHAP. n.
In the new-hatched young, likewise, of Pigeons, for
the first few days but slight differences between the
different breeds are to be observed, so contrary to
what we see in the gallinaceous birds, and in those
water birds which are hatched in a state capable of loco-
motion, and of feeding themselves ! These may at once
be determined by an experienced eye ; but it would be
difficult for a fancier to point out characteristics of a
little Pigeon just escaped from the shell. In the Piock
Dove, there is a dark mark at the tip of the bill ; in the
Nuns the feet are dark instead of fleshy yellow ; but they
mostly run all after the same pattern. Pigeons are
among those creatures that come into the world in a
very rudimentary state ; a wise ordinance, if we think
for a moment. The very helplessness of the chicks is
a convenience to parents that are obliged to be so much
absent from home, and have to provide sustenance for
their offspring often by long flights.
But in the young of almost all creatures we may see,
with a glance, the Providential wisdom of the Almighty
in Creation, exemplified by the different degrees of de-
velopment of different organs in various creatures, in
the earliest stages of their existence, accordingly as those
organs are most demanded by their peculiar necessities.
The Foal, which, in a state of nature, has to follow its
mother over boundless grassy plains, has its legs extra-
ordinarily developed in proportion to the rest of its body.
For some months her milk supplies its principal nutri-
ment ; all it has to do, is to keep pace with her wander-
ings. The same feature is equally striking in Lambs
and Kids. We have elsewhere noticed an analogous
provision in the rapid growth towards usefulness in the
wings of Pea-chicks and little Guinea-fowl. The small
CHAP, ii.] IN THE YOUNG OF VARIOUS CREATURES. 65
birds which are hatched in warm nests, and there fed
and brooded by their parents, want neither thick cloth-
ing nor locomotive power ; accordingly, they are for a
time weak and half-naked, but furnished with a wide
mouth and gullet, and with a powerful digestion, to re-
ceive and make the most of every morsel which is brought
to them by their heaven-instructed nurses. Contrast
these feeble, gaping nestlings, with a brood of little
Geese of any species, which from the first have to crop
for themselves a day-long meal of grass, to the tenderest
of which, often growing in low damp spots, they are led
by their parents a few hours after escaping from the
shell. These are covered, as by defensive armour, with
a thick, stiff, coating of down, or rather fur, which hardly
any wet will touch ; and their bill, instead of being soft
and gaping, is almost as efficient a pair of shears as
that of Geese a twelvemonth old. That very extraor-
dinary Australian bird the Leipoa ocellata, for a know-
ledge of whose strange habits we are indebted to Sir
George Grey and Mr. Gould, does not sit upon its
eggs, but makes a vast heap of sand, dried grass, &c.,
of such dimensions as to be mistaken by the first dis-
coverers for a tumulus, or grave-heap of the Natives. The
temperature of this fermenting mass, though not so
warm as would be thought necessary for the purpose of
hatching eggs, is still sufficient for the object required.
" There are two great peculiarities about these eggs,
besides their immense size in proportion to that of the
bird, the average weight of the egg being eight ounces,
while the Leipoa appears to have as large a body as the
female Turkey, but is shorter on the legs : the first
peculiarity is, that both ends are of nearly the same
size ; which form is peculiarly adapted to the position
66 PROVIDENTIAL ADAPTATIONS [CHAP. n.
in which they are always placed, i. e., vertically, with the
smaller end downwards ; the egg being compressed in
every part as nearly as possible towards the axis, in
which the centre of gravity lies, there is the least pos-
sible tendency to its equilibrium being destroyed when it
is placed in vertical position. A second peculiarity is the
extreme thinness of the shell, and its consequent fra-
gility. This is so great, that, unless the egg is handled
with the greatest care, it is sure to be broken, and
every effort which has been made to hatch these eggs
under domestic fowls has failed, the egg having in every
instance been broken by the bird under which it was
placed."*
What need of a firm shell for an egg which has not
to bear a touch, from the moment of laying to that of
hatching, but which is intended to remain an undis-
turbed deposit in a hot-bed, till the marvellous work of
transmutation into a living creature shall have been
completed ? The substance of the shell was not wanted,
and is not supplied ; the form, by which it rests se-
curely in its place, has been provided for. And the
Chicks, which have to effect their own deliverance from
this cumbrous nursing cradle, are not like the flabby
nestlings that are hatched on the branching twig, or in
the snug thicket : " the young emerge fully feathered,
and capable of sustaining life by their own unaided
efforts, The young one scratches its way out alone ;
the mother does not assist it. They usually come out
one at a time ; occasionally a pair appear together. The
mother, who is feeding in the scrub in the vicinity,
hears its call and runs to it. She then takes care of
* Gould's Introduction to the Birds of Australia, p. 85.
CHAP, ii.] TN THE YOUNG OF VARIOUS CREATURES. 67
the young one as a European Hen does of its chick."*
The Kangaroo, an animal which uses an almost con-
vulsive mode of progression on its two hind legs, and
would undoubtedly be seriously hindered and endan-
gered by arriving at a gravid state, as heavy as that
which is attained by quadrupeds that go on all-fours,
has been relieved by the wisdom of its Creator from
the impeding burden and incumbrance at a very early
stage, and ordained to bring forth its young small
and immature. But a warm pouch has been prepared
for their reception, and as to themselves and their or-
gans, they want but one a mouth wherewith to imbibe
milk: they seem to be all mouth ; they secure themselves
so firmly to the nipple, that they are not readily de-
tached from it ; in other respects they are, for some time,
little more than shapeless lumps of living flesh. All
that is wanted for their safety and their sustenance, is
granted them abundantly. And little Pigeons, to which
we have at last arrived, in our survey, are, like the
young Kangaroos, provided with a disproportionately
large, soft, absorbent mouth or bill the very thing
they want, in order to live by suction on the milky ali-
ment secreted by the parent birds. The bill of a young
Pigeon is a ridiculously prominent feature, a laughable
caricature of what we might suppose a bill ought to be.
In new-hatched squeakers it measures a considerable
part of the creature's whole length ; a frightfully ugly
appendage in the eyes of whoever forgets to observe the
exact fitness with which it is adapted to the end in view,
namely, to be the instrument of rearing a feeble nest-
ling to attain the independent condition of a robust
adult.
* Gould's Introduction to the Birds of Australia, p. 85.
68 INFERENCE. [CHAP. n.
Now let us suppose any of these peculiarities of im-
perfect organization to be changed or reversed, that
the mouth of the Foal was twice as convenient as it is
for draining the udder of its dam, but that its legs were
only half as capable of keeping company with her pro-
gress over the prairies, that the gallinaceous birds,
which make their nest on the hard earth, and are rough
in their motions, and scratch, never gently, with their
feet, that they had laid eggs as unwieldy and fragile
as those which the Megapodida3 or Brush Turkeys drop
and then bury in a soft stratum of sand and grass,
that the preponderance of growth in the young Pigeon,
instead of being directed to its bill, had been bestowed
upon strengthening its legs, or quickly pluming its
wings, suppose any such alterations as these, and what
fearful disasters would ensue ! So that even what we
call imperfect organization is made to subserve a wise
purpose ; out of weakness and deficiency are brought
forth strength to the individual, security and perma-
nence to the race ; just as in the moral world, what
at the time are often thought afflictions hard to bear,
prove in the end to have been the steps leading to
future welfare.
The study, too, of these incomplete commencements
of existence in all animated beings, and of the way in
which that very incompleteness is made to answer a
purpose, must, one would say, prove that " the progres-
sion of forms," " the evolution of species," and their
advancement by some innate energy of their own, or
some " law " of nature, from fishes to reptiles, from
reptiles to birds and quadrupeds, from quadrupeds to
quadrumans or monkeys, and from monkeys to human
beings with a reasoning soul, is an error as complete as
CHAP, ii.] INFERENCE. 69
is the " creation of species by Man" of the continental
naturalists. When Man sets to work to create a spe-
cies of sentient animal, he manages it so well, that his
results are of a very short-lived nature. And if Man
bungles and mismanages his work so badly, the conve-
nient Goddess Chance, is not likely to succeed much
better.
Pigeons fighting.
CHAPTER III.
CLASSIFICATION OF PIGEONS.
Proposed classes. Ambiguous nomenclature. The question of origin. Ground
of the received opinion little investigated by naturalists. Estimate of Tem-
minck's authority. Difficulties and doubts suggested by the accounts of former
ornithologists The reader to sum up the evidence. Scheme of arrangement.
As it is our object to consider these birds mainly in
reference to their actual or possible domesticability, it
will be found most convenient to arrange them into
three classes ; the first consisting of those which are
found in the domestic state only, and never met with
wild. It is a mistake to suppose that -any of the Fancy
Pigeons ever become even feral. A few half-breeds
between them and either the Blue Rock, or the Dove-
CHAP, in.] PROPOSED CLASSES.
bouse Pigeon, may, very rarely, assume an independent
mode of life ; but wild Fantails, or Nuns, or Powters, or
Jacobins, are things unheard of. Our second class will
embrace those Pigeons which are found both in the do-
mestic and the wild state. These are the birds that
seem now and then to oscillate between the abodes of
men and the solitude of cliffs and mountains. The
third class will comprise those which appear quite inca-
pable of domestication, and are only to be retained in
captivity by strict aviary confinement, without which
restraint they would immediately fly back to their woods
and wildernesses. It is possible that a few domesticable
birds, whose tempers have as yet been untried, may be
included in this third class, which is so large, embracing
such a number of species, that we can only just touch
upon some of them in the present volume. It will be
seen also that this arrangement does not in the least
clash with the classification of the systematic Natu-
ralist, but is quite independent and irrespective of it.
At this early stage of our history we may be asked,
and may as well endeavour to answer the question, what
is the distinction between the words " Pigeon" and
' Dove."* Pigeon is of Gallic, Taube (pronounced
* The name of the Pigeon, like that of several of our other
domestic birds, has been used by voyagers, in the poverty of their
ornithological vocabulary, to denote certain species of oceanic water-
fowl. Thus we often read of the Greenland Dove ; but the only
Dove which can support the rigorous climate of Greenland is a Gull
subsisting on fish, blubber, or the lower marine animals. We often
in childhood, while reading Cook's and still earlier voyages, have
been struck with the mention of Port Egmont Hens, and wondered
whether the Hens which our sailors were so delighted to find in
antarctic regions, were as pretty as our neighbour's Bantams, and
whether the Port Egmont Cocks, which we took for granted to exist
in due proportion to the Hens, were as splendid as the red game
fowls with which we were acquainted. The charm is dispelled by
72 AMBIGUOUS NOMENCLATURE. [CHAP, ill-
Dowby) of Teutonic derivation. That is all the dif-
ference we can discover between them. They are mostly
convertible terms, Dove being preferred to denote the
smaller species. If we followed the analogy of " beef,"
" mutton," "veal," &c., in distinction to " ox," "sheep,"
" calf," &c., Pigeon should be applied to the bird in its
dead, Dove in its living state. But such is not strictly,
though it is partially, the custom ; for Shakspeare speaks
of "a dish of Doves;" and we usually apply the first
term to the larger, and the latter to the smaller species
of the Columbine family.
The arrangement now adopted will give an opportu-
nity for passing gradually from those Pigeons which are
completely domestic, to those that are utterly wild;
and then will arise the question, What is the origin of
the domestic races ? respecting which, we are anxious
to exhibit neither a timid silence nor a presumptuous
decision. There can be no harm in stating one's sin-
cere belief; and I must say that, having kept Pigeons,
though with intervals, from childhood, and having
thought much upon the subject, my code of natural his-
torical faith is this: that the domestic races of birds
and animals are not developments, but creations. I
discovering that the Port Egmont Hens are Skua Gulls, and that
the flesh, though eatable in the form of a sea-pie by men who know
what it is to have a salt-water appetite, would scarcely do to set
before dainty epicures to represent boiled chicken with white sauce.
Again, Pintado, i. e., painted, a term by which the Guinea-fowl is
sometimes known, is also still applied by sailors in the South
Atlantic to a bird whose habits are entirely marine ; but in this
case it would appear that the traverser of the ocean has the first
claim to the title, which was subsequently, or at least not earlier,
bestowed upon the only addition to our poultry stock which Africa
has furnished, on which account we have scrupulously abstained from
thus using the word in our former volume, considering that the
designation ought to be yielded in courtesy to the favourite bird of
the old Portuguese discoverers.
CHAP, in.] ORIGINS AND DERIVATIONS. 73
believe that the Almighty gave to the human race tame
creatures to serve and feed it, as designedly as he gave
it eyes to see with, and hands to work with. I do not
believe that the Dunghill Fowl is derived from the
Jungle Cock, the Sheep from the Mouflon, the Dog
from the Wolf, or the Runt from the Rock Dove, by any
parentage whatever. This is a great heresy ; but philo-
sophers will be tolerant, and will not too hastily con-
demn the holder of such erroneous opinions to the fag-
got and the stake, " for his soul's health."
Is there any higher authority than Buffon and the
French writers, for the assertion that the Blue Rock
Dove is actually the source and origin of all the Fancy
kinds ? Both in Temminck and in Buffon, the Pigeons
are done by a variety of hands, and the accounts in each
are contradictory with themselves. In both authors,
the Columba lima, as occupying the Dovecotes of the old
regime, is well described ; much better than any other
species. Buffon says, that in these Dovecotes, contain-
ing perhaps hundreds of birds, the occurrence of even a
white or albino bird is rare. His account of those Dove-
cote Pigeons much reminds us, in its details, of the do-
mesticity of Bees*. Have Bees been rendered domestic
by man ? or was not their immediate capability for the
* I remember being asked by a gentleman, whether, if he placed
an empty hive in his garden, the Bees that were flying to and fro
there, on perceiving the convenience, would enter it one by one, and
so congregating, abide and store it with honeycomb : which made
me laugh in my sleeve at his small acquirement of natural history.
But it would not be so great an absurdity, in a thinly-peopled
country, to build a Dove-cote in a site that was as suitable for
Pigeons as a garden is for Bees, with the intention that wild Eock
Doves should come and tenant it, especially if they were decoyed, in
the first instance, by a pair of young birds established there, and by
the tempting allurements of a few peas and a little salt.
74 GROUNP OF THE RECEIVED OPINION [CHAP. in.
occupancy of hives when prepared for them by man, im-
planted in them by their Creator or by nature, if the
term be preferred ; but, have we had much to do with it ?
Or, have we created any fancy breeds of Bees, in the
same way that we are supposed to have originated fancy
breeds of Pigeons?
It is true that in all modern works on Ornithology
which we have read, it is taken for granted, without in-
quiry, as an acknowledged fact which does not admit of
doubt, that our Fancy Pigeons are all derived, by the
transmuting effects of domestication, from the Rock
Dove. Now no one need doubt that one of our dove-
house Pigeons is derived from the wild Rock Dove ;
but we believe that it is not generally known how iden-
tical they are, how closely the wild bird approaches the
domestic one, how much the occupant of the dovehouse
clings to the manners of its forefathers, and how soon
it is drawn off to pursue exactly their course of life.
Mr. Yarrell's beautiful figure of the Rock Dove might
be taken for a well-selected specimen of the domestic
race descended from it. The only self-originated va-
riations amongst dovehouse Pigeons that we have heard
of, are different depths of hue. There sometimes are
produced a few light blue or lavender individuals, like
those which occasionally occur amongst Guinea fowl ;
but further changes are attributable to intermixture
with stray tame or Fancy Pigeons. And it will be
seen that the combination of existing kinds is a very
different thing to the originating of novel breeds.
Unfortunately, writers 011 natural history, whose
works it is impossible to read without pleasure and
admiration, have received this opinion, as a sort of sci-
entific heir-loom, and have transmitted it undisturbed
CHAP. in. j LITTLE INVESTIGATED BY NATURALISTS. 75
to their disciples and successors. Zoologists are too
busy with the vast array of objects they have to set in
order, to be able to spare much time on the diversities
of domesticated animals, and are, I may be permitted
to say, too easily contented to receive without investi-
gation the traditional accounts offered to them by per-
sons whom they believe good authority in that depart-
ment. Mr. Selby, in his elegant volume on Pigeons,
leans mainly on " the opinion of the most eminent na-
turalists as to the origin of the peculiar varieties in the
domesticated bird, which is strongly insisted on by M.
Temminck in his valuable work, the " Histoire Gene-
rale Naturelle des Pigeons." Temminck's work on the
Pigeons and gallinaceous Birds is really so valuable,
that it has, we believe, remained untranslated only be-
cause it is unavoidably deficient in giving the habits and
life of the creatures it describes ; but he avows his dis-
taste for the study of Fancy Pigeons ; " it is only with a
degree of disgust that we occupy ourselves with them :
one can scarely treat of these degraded races, except by
simple suppositions, which are for the most part made
at hazard." But " suppositions" in natural history,
which are merely " hazarded for the most part," ought
not to be made use of as trustworthy arguments to sup-
port the imaginative theories of Buffon, or as safe pre-
mises whence to deduce such schemes of displaying the
processes of Creation, as are put forth by the Author
of the " Vestiges." After Temminck's confession of
disgust at his subject, we may withhold our implicit
confidence in his authority when he says, " I combine
in this article (Columba livid), and regard as so many
descendants of the Biset sauvage, all the dovehouse
Pigeons, the diverse races of Pigeons of the aviary, which,
76 ESTIMATE OF TEMMINCK's AUTHORITY. [CHAP. in.
by the form of their beak and their principal parts,
resemble this bird, the Domestic Pigeon of naturalists,
the pretended species of Roman Pigeon and its varie-
ties, and the Rock Pigeon or Rocherai. These birds
produce together fertile individuals, which reproduce in
their turn, and form by the interference of Man, those
singular races which we remark in the Pigeons of the
aviary ; these races are maintained by the care which
is taken to assort them. Of these Pigeons, especially,
the different shades are innumerable. Men, in per-
fecting them for their pleasure, have multiplied these
races more from luxury than necessity ; they have al-
tered their forms, and their sentiment of liberty is
found to be totally destroyed. ( ?)
" The production of great numbers is the source of
varieties in species. Our Dovecotes, peopled with a
quantity of Pigeons accustomed and familiarised to
these buildings, have successively offered accidental
varieties, among which the most beautiful, and those
with the most singular variety of colours, will be sure
to be chosen. These, isolated from the flock, reared
with assiduous care and assorted according to fancy,
have successively generated all these singular races of
which Man is the Creator, and which, without him,
would never have existed."
The process, or rather, we believe, the project for the
creation of new species by Man, runs on smoothly
enough in the prospectus here given ; but what people,
who are sceptical about the result, want, is, the sudden
appearance in a Dovecote of blue Rock Pigeons, of
two nestlings as much differing from their parents, as
the Fantail, or Turbit, do from them. These instances
are not recorded ; nor can any owner of the vastest flock
CHAP. III.] ESTIMATE OF TEMMINOK's AUTHORITY. 77
produce such. Several such examples would be strictly
demanded to establish any novel principle in physiology ;
but the current, oft-repeated notion, that all Fancy
Pigeons are modifications of the Rock Dove, is allowed
to pass as a matter of course.
Temminck's aversion to the task of disentangling do-
mesticated species, led him to lean in these matters far
too much on the guidance of such men as Buffon, Oli-
vier de Serres, and Parmentier. The first believed that
climate alone could effect such transformations as would
now be accounted miraculous. However, when Tem-
minck does think for himself, he arrives at a conclusion
not exactly consistent with the views of his predecessors,
or with his own introductory announcement. " The
Turbit," (Le Pigeon a Cravate,) he says, " does not will-
ingly pair with other Pigeons. This breed appears to
us to have constant characters which scarcely permit us
to suspect that it was originally derived from the Rock
Dove ; the bill, excessively short, thick and hard, sepa-
rates these Pigeons widely from other breeds ; the difii^
culty which amateurs experience in making them pro-
pagate with the different breeds derived from the Rock
Dove, joined to their small stature, destroy in some sort
all supposition in respect to their specific identity. We
must nevertheless, not permit ourselves to form any con-
jectures as to the origin of these Pigeons a Cravate; the
date of their enslavement, which runs back into ages too
remote, will be an obstacle to all strict inquiry."
It does not follow, that because the orgin of a race of
beings is removed beyond our search, that we are there-
fore at liberty to propose the first theory that comes to
hand, or, indeed, any theory, except those of either Au-
tochthonism (native growth) or importation, which is not
78 DIFFICULTIES [CHAP. HI.
supported by the strongest proofs, and which will bear
the most searching test. When a chemist announces to
the world a new discovery, a new mode of combining or
separating material atoms, his declaration is listened to,
and other chemists attempt to verify his facts. If they
can succeed in doing what he asserts that he has done,
they are sure he is right; if they cannot they believe
him to be wrong, and to have been deceived by some
error in his observations.
Now we have in our aviaries certain curious forms of
Pigeons, very remarkable and very unlike each other.
We are told they are all derived by selection, and com-
bination, and special modes of rearing (by soins parti-
cullers assidus very favourite words of Temminck), from
another race as different from them as they are from
each other. Proofs of this transmutation are as much
wanted, as they are of the chemist's solitary experiment,
till it is repeated. We demand, therefore, to have the
Zoological experiment repeated : let man create (we
hardly dare use the expression) a truly new species, or
race, or breed of Pigeons, quite unlike those now existing,
by the stated modes of combination and selection, or in
any other way. The London Zoological Society, with
every means which wealth, power, and talent can com-
mand, has not done it. The experiment cannot be veri-
fied. The conclusions have been arrived at too hastily.
Mr. Yarrell, to whom British Zoology owes so much,
both for the valuable information he has imparted to
the world, and the elegant form in which it has been
given he also, unfortunately, has declined to include
in his work figures, or lengthened descriptions, of those
birds which exist in this country only in a domesticated
state. Scientific naturalists all seem to avoid the task
CHAP, in.] AND DOUBTS. 79
of investigating the history of domesticated creatures ;
and when they are compelled to touch upon the subject,
are apt to generalize hastily, and glide through the dif-
ferent forms that are presented to them with unsatis-
factory rapidity. Mr. Yarrell, however, asserts, like
Temminck, without offering the least evidence, " that
there appears to be no reason to doubt that the Rock
Dove is the species from which our domestic Pigeons
were originally derived The numerous and re-
markable fancy Pigeons, however first established, are
now maintained and perpetuated by selection and re-
striction, and some of them are among the most curious
of Zoological results. In some instances a remarkable
change has been effected in the character of the feather;
thus in the Jacobins, more frequently for brevity's sake
called Jacks, there is a range of feathers inverted quite
over the hinder part of the head, and reaching down on
each side of the neck as low as the wings, forming a
hood. Another change, equally extraordinary, has been
effected in that variety called the Broad-tailed Shakers;
the tail-feathers in these birds, all beautifully spread,
amount to thirty-six, though the normal number of tail-
feathers is but twelve.
"The changes, however, in some Fancy Pigeons are
not confined to the feathers, but modifications in form
are effected in the bones. A comparison of the Short-
faced Tumbler and the Carrier, exhibits the first-named
with a very small round head, and a short, straight,
conical beak, not more than half an inch in length,
with a proportionally elongated head."*
It is surprising, if the effects of domestication are
* British Birds, vol. ii. p. 263.
80 DIFFICULTIES AND [CHAP. in.
really so great, that abundant food has not made the
Pigeons produce more than their usual two eggs, as
well as change their appearance so completely. It
ought to make them extend their laying from the dual
to the plural number. This would be a less remarkable
change than those which are supposed to have taken
place. But it never happens. We ought, in truth, to
be more thankful than we are for the varied bounty of
Providence in creating the Pigeons to be prolific of
young, arid to supply an abundance of flesh in their
proper regions, while the Fowls are made to offer to us,
in profusion, a different kind of aliment.
In the case of domesticated birds and animals, the
science of Comparative Anatomy hesitates to establish
the same distinctions that it is made, in the proficient
hands of Mr. Yarrell, to determine with the Swans, and
by M. Temminck with the Guans, and which, to some
minds, it ought to draw between Pigeons, unless the
actual process of transition from the Rock Dove to a
Fan-tail or Carrier has actually been observed and
recorded while going on, and can be repeated whenever
Man chooses to set about the task. And students, who
are not satisfied with the mere dictum and opinion of a
fallible, though learned, authority, have a right to re-
quire either documents proving how, when, and where
these races were first established, or else the exhibition
of a few more zoological results, to make it possible to
their belief that any such results ever have been pro-
duced in the way asserted.
I have thus made bold to state a few reasons for
historic doubts whether the French savans and their
followers are standing on quite sure and impregnable
ground, when they derive all these curious races from
CHAP.III.J DOUBTS. 81
the Kock Dove, as the results, in the first instance, of
domestication, special treatment and soins particuliers.
In the first place, when any wide departure from the
usual course of nature is announced as having taken
place, it is required that those who make the announce-
ment, produce evidence of the appearance of the pro-
digy, and the circumstances that attended it. Now the
usual course of nature in these days is, that the off-
spring of all creatures resemble their parents, within
tolerably close limits, which, though not exactly defined,
are so well understood that any excessive aberration
from them is immediately remarked. Exceptions to
this usual course do occur from time to time, in the
shape of imperfect animals and monsters, with a de-
ficiency, or a duplication of parts, double-bodied, some-
times even headless. Such are incapable frequently of
existence, much less of reproduction. In hybrids, too,
between species or varieties that are allied with suffi-
cient closeness to be able to procreate young together,
the usual course of nature is, that the offspring bear
a varying proportion of resemblance to both parents :
their forms are intermediate between the two, not some-
thing unlike to either. Now the production of a pair of
Fantails, as an example, from a pair of Rock Doves,
would be a circumstance so out of the course of nature,
as to constitute one of those prodigies demanding every
unquestionable confirmation. If it be said that the
Fantail, or, as the French call it, Pigeon Paon, or Pea-
cock Pigeon, is a hybrid, there is no known Pigeon, nor
any other bird, capable of being the progenitor of such
an offspring, with the Rock Dove. But a class of
naturalists assert that it is the offspring of the Rock
Dove. They affirm a prodigy to have taken place, with-
82 FURTHER DOUBTS. [CHAP. in.
out being able to point out the time, the locality, or the
means. We surely cannot be condemned for profess-
ing utter scepticism in such an unsupported theory, and
a disbelief in so unattested a history. Other sceptics
have expressed their doubts on far weightier matters,
with much more conclusive testimony to allay those
doubts.
Secondly, in the absence of these requisite par-
ticulars from the upholders of the transmutative theory
of creation, we are led to search among the older orni-
thologists for what can be found to illustrate the point.
We do not there light upon any mention of the sudden
appearance of new forms in the ancient Dovecotes.
Aldrovandi (the volume to which we refer bears date
1 637) speaks of several of the Fancy Pigeons, not as
new, or produced by breeding, but as peregrinas, foreign
introductions, and points out the traditional source from
whence some of them were obtained. The Jacobines,
" which are called culcellata, monachince, and at Fer-
rara, Sorella, or Nuns," he styles the Columba Cypria,
or Dove of Cyprus. Another sort is the Columba Cre-
tensis, or Cretan Pigeon; and there are, besides, the
Persian and the Turkish. That the ancients were not
acquainted with so many varieties as ourselves is to be
imagined, from their scanty geographical knowledge and
limited foreign intercourse. Here is the amount of
Aldrovandi 's information : " But whether M. Varro,
Aristotle, and the other ancients, were acquainted with
the species of Pigeons which our times now furnish, I
not only do not doubt about, but am not even led to
believe it, although I well know that the ancient
Romans had an insane passion for Pigeons, as I have
before related from Pliny. Now-a-days, such a diver-
CHAP. iii.J WHAT FORMER ORNITHOLOGISTS TELL US. 83
sity of Pigeons is found in Europe, and principally, as
I hear, with the Belgae, and, among these, with the
Dutch, that I could scarcely credit what I was told by
a man who in other respects is most trustworthy. I
also remember that this nation, if any, takes an extra-
vagant delight in Pigeons, and therefore keeps as many
sorts as possible. For that gentleman told me that,
besides the common domestic and Rock Pigeons, of
which they had besides an immense number, there was
a certain sort generally twice the size of the common
dove-house kind, with bristly, that is feathered feet,
which, while it is flying, and while it is cooing, swells
out its crop into an immense tumour ; the larger they
display it in their flight, the better bred they are pro-
nounced to be. That kind is called kroppers, that is,
large-throated Pigeons, with which name they also come
to us, for they are sometimes brought even to Italy.
Ornithologus records that he observed Pigeons at
Venice, which were almost equal to Hens in size ; but
his belief that they are the produce of tamed Ring
Doves of the largest size, is in my judgment entirely
wrong, for Ring Doves are never tamed. But whether
those, which that gentleman said were kept in Holland,
be the same with the Campanian Pigeons of Pliny, who
writes that the largest are bred in Campania, I dare not
affirm, although meanwhile I would not in the least
deny. Bellonius certainly is of his opinion, and asserts
that those are mistaken who suppose that Pliny and the
other ancients were unacquainted with them."
The intelligent reader, who can bring to this sub-
ject a mind unprejudiced by previous statements and
opinions, and who can, as he would be advised by an
impartial judge, banish from his thoughts whatever he
& 2
84 THE READER WILL SUM UP THE EVIDENCE. [CHAP. III.
may have heard out of court, will, when he has read the
foregoing remarks, perhaps be led to inquire whether
the ideas current amongst the great majority of natu-
ralists be not a clever, plausible, and well- expressed
hypothesis, rather than a series of facts which we may
admit without sure and unmistakable evidence for
them. The evidence is wanting : the steps by which
so wonderful a change in the form and habits of the
same creature have been made, cannot be shown ; and
we may be allowed, without offence, to hesitate before
we give in our adherence to the grand theory, that a
gradual change is going on in the nature and condition
of all animated creatures.
We would wish to speak of Temminck and his con-
temporaries with all due respect. Natural science owes
them much ; they performed well the difficult task of
arranging and describing the existing forms which were
offered to their study. Without this arrangement and
classification, as far as it proceeded, their followers
could have little hope of further advancing science.
They performed a great work, and we ought to be most
thankful to them for it. But that is no reason why we
should set up Temminck, or Buffon, or Lamarck, or
Blumenbach, as idols to be blindly worshipped, as was
Aristotle of yore, and push aside as profane and here-
tical any suspicion which will intrude itself, that some
of their conclusions, on a most mysterious and difficult
question, may possibly have been hasty, or even incor-
rect ; a question, too, for information respecting which
they confessedly relied upon other and less acute per-
sons, and which they really had not time and leisure,
amidst their many herculean tasks, to investigate for
themselves. Temminck at least indicates, by many ex-
CHAP, in.] SCHEME OF ARRANGEMENT. 85
pressions which he casually lets fall, that had he pur-
sued such an inquiry personally, he would have been
more slow in putting forth those views, which we have
ventured to discuss, of the derivation of all our Fancy
Pigeons from the Columba lima, or Rock Dove.
The reader shall now have our scheme of arrange-
ment :
I. Pigeons which are found in the domestic state
only :
Fantails. Turbits.
Runts. Barbs.
Trumpeters. Tumblers.
Archangels. Bald Pates.
Nuns. Powters.
Jacobins. Carriers.
Lace Pigeons. Frizzled Pigeons.
II. Pigeons which are found both in a domestic and
a wild state:
Blue Rock Dove Indian Rock Pigeon
(Columba lima of authors). (Columba intermedia of Strick-
land).
Dovehouse Pigeon Collared Turtle
(Columba affinis of Blythe). (Turtur risoria).
III. Pigeons not capable of true domestication :
The Passenger Pigeon. Bronze-winged Pigeons.
The Long-tailed Senegal Pigeon. Harlequin Pigeons.
&c. &c. &c. &c.
Bald-pate
TurMt. Fantail.
CHAPTER IV.
DOMESTIC PIGEONS.
FANTAILS; their powers. Effects of crossing. Accident to one. Pigeon
Paon. The lean poet of Cos. Runts. Pigeon mondains. Comparison of eggs
and weights. Synonyms of Runts. Runts at sea. Rodney's bantam. Pecu-
liarities of Runts. Runts in Italy. Effects of crossing. Trumpeters. Arch-
angel Pigeons. Nuns. Jacobines. Columbarian distinctions. Supposed cari-
cature. Turbits. Temminck's ideas. Owls. Progress of the young. Rapid
growth. Barbs. Tumblers. Their performance in the air. Feats of wing.
The Almond. Peculiarity of form. Learning to tumble. Baldpates. Hel-
mets. Powters and Croppers. Their carriage, flight, and colouring. Defects
and remedies. Crosses. Carriers. Castle of the birds. How they find their
way. Phrenological hypothesis. Carriers in Turkey. Sir John Ross's birds.
Explanation. Antwerp Carriers. De Beranger. English Carriers. Oriental
origin. Lace and Frizzled Pigeons. Eggs and young of the Columbidye.
Quarrels and attachments. Mating. Love of home. Food. Merits of the
Runts. Etymology of the Trumpeter.
FANTAILS are by no means the miserable degraded
monsters that many writers would induce us to believe
CHAP. iv.J FANTAILS. EFFECTS OF CEOSSING. 87
them to be. They may be, and often are, closely kept
in cages, or dealers' pens, till they are cramped and
out of health. The most robust wild pigeon would
become so under the same circumstances. But if fairly
used, they are respectably vigorous. It is a mistake
to suppose that they are deficient in power of flight,
unless their muscles have been enfeebled by long incar-
ceration. Their tail is not so much in their way, and
therefore not so unnatural (if hard names be allowed to
have any force), as the train of the Peacock. It is true
the tail of the Fan tail consists, or ought to consist, of
thirty-six feathers three times the number which most
other Pigeons can boast of; but it is an excellent
aerial rudder notwithstanding. A pair of Fantails given
me early this spring (1850) by a friend living a few
miles distant, were suffered to fly very soon after their
arrival here, on the supposition that they could not
possibly return home by their own carriage. Nor did
they. But they took a very decided flight of half a mile
in the direction of their old home, and then finding they
could not make out their way, flew back again. Then,
instead of nesting in the Pigeon-loft, the cock bird
chose to carry his bundle of twigs to the gutter on the
roof of our house, in a snug nook just out of the way
of the rain-stream ; and they would have hatched there
but for the late severe frosts of that season, which
addled their eggs.
When Fantails breed with other Pigeons, in the off-
spring sometimes the fan tail entirely disappears, some-
times a half fantail remains ; and I am cognisant of a
case where, by coupling a true Fantail with such a bird
as the last mentioned, the pure race was re-established.
It is probable (but I am not able to state it) that in
88 FANTAILS. PECULIARITIES. [CHAP. iv.
this case the true Fantail was a male, and the half-bred
of male Fantail parentage. In cross-bred Pigeons, as
far as my own observations have gone, the male influ-
ence is nearly paramount. Similar facts have also oc-
curred in the much larger experience of the London
Zoological Society, as I am assured by Mr. James Hunt,
their intelligent head-keeper. Eesults with the same
tendency have proceeded from crosses in other genera,
as is instanced in Lord Derby's wonderful experiment
with the common Colchicus and versicolor Pheasants,
as detailed in the December number of the Quarterly
Keview for 1850, by which it appears that a solitary
male bird may prove competent to introduce his species
to Great Britain, by a temporary alliance with a female
quite an alien to his own blood. In a letter from Mr.
Edward Blythe, dated Calcutta, October 8, 1850, he
kindly informs me, " A native friend of mine has this
season bred two fine Hybrids between the male Pavo
muticus and the common Peahen, apparently a male and
a female. They take much after the papa, and the male
should be a splendid bird when he gets his full plu-
mage." The same is the rule with many quadrupeds.
Mules are not greatly in favour with ladies and gentle-
men in England, and therefore the less is known about
them by educated people ; but the humbler class of
Horse and Donkey dealers will tell at once, by the ears
and hoofs, as well as by the temper and disposition, whe-
ther any Mule, offered for sale, had a Mare or a Donkey
for its mamma. The Mule children of the latter animal
are much more valuable, as they exhibit not only the form,
but the docility of the Horse rather than of the Ass.
Fantails are mostly of a pure snowy white, which,
with their peculiar carriage, gives them some resem-
CHAP, iv.] A FANTAIL'S MISADVENTURE. 89
blance to miniature Swans. Rarely, they are quite
black; occasionally, they are seen white, with slate-
coloured patches on the shoulders, like Turbits. A sin-
gular habit is the trembling motion of the throat, which
seems to be caused by excitement in the bird. The
same action is observed in the Runts, in a less degree.
The iris of the Fantail is of a dark hazel, the pupil
black, which gives to the eye a fulness of expression
quite different to what is seen in most other birds. I
mention this, because Colonel Sykes, in the Transactions
of the Zoological Society *, makes the colour of the iris an
important guide in determining the affinities or dissimi-
larities of species, believing it occasionally to manifest
even generic distinctions. Now amongst fancy Pigeons
the iris varies greatly, and is thought of much conse-
quence, as is known to every amateur. The cere, at the
base of the Fantail 's bill, looks as if covered with a white
powder. These birds, Willughby tells us, are called
Broad-tailed Shakers ; " Shakers, because they do almost
constantly shake, or wag their heads and necks up and
down ; Broad-tailed, from the great number of feathers
they have in their tails ; they say, not fewer than twenty-
six. When they walk up and down, they do for the most
part hold their tails erect like a Hen or Turkey- Cock."}
A friend writes, " I had a white Fantail Pigeon
which lived nine years, and died at last almost blind
with old age. But the most curious thing which ever
happened to her, is that she fell down one of the
hothouse chimnies, and then walked along about sixty
feet of the flue, that was nearly choked up with soot,
before she got into the furnace, in which there luckily
was no fire. The door happened to be shut, and poor
* Vol. ii. pp. 7, 8. f Willughby, p. 181.
90 PIGEON PAON. [CHAP. iv.
old Fanny lived there five days without food before her
prison door happened to be opened. When at last she
came forth, instead of being milk white, she was all
dingy, like a blackamoor." J. W.
Pigeons generally can bear long fasts, and perform
long journeys, better than common fowls. Their tena-
ciousness of life under starvation must be considerable.
I have seen the remains of a Pigeon that had been
starved to death in a hole in a church wall ; and the
webs of the feathers had all been absorbed, leaving the
shafts only remaining before the poor bird died at last.
" The Pigeon Paon or Peacock Pigeon," says Tem-
minck, "is so named, because it has the faculty of
erecting and displaying its tail nearly in the same way
in which the Peacock raises and expands his dorsal fea-
thers. This race might also be called Pigeons Dindons,
or Turkey Pigeons, their caudal feathers being also
placed on an erector muscle capable of contraction and
extension at pleasure." But here M. Temminck is
surely in error : the tail of the Fantail is always ex-
panded and displayed, and when other domestic Pigeons
do spread their tail in the actions of courtship, it is
brought downwards, so as to sweep the ground like a
stiff train, not upwards like the Turkey or the Pea-
fowl. " When they raise their tail," they bring it for-
ward; [and it is always raised and brought forward,
except in flight;] " as they at the same time draw back
the head, it touches the tail ; and when the bird wishes
to look behind itself, it passes its head between the in-
terval of the two planes which compose the tail. They
usually tremble during the whole time of this operation,
and their body then seems to be agitated by the violent
contraction of the muscles. It is generally while making
CHAP, iv.] THE LEAN POET OF COS. EUNTS. 91
love that they thus display their tail ; but they also set
themselves off in this way at other times." That is, in
plain English and in matter of fact, the position in which
the tail-feathers are fixed, is unalterable.
" These Pigeons are not much sought by amateurs ;
they seldom quit the precincts of their aviary ; appa-
rently the fear of being carried away by the wind
(which, acting forcibly upon their broad tail would
infallibly upset them),* is the reason why they do not
venture far from their domicile, nor undertake long
journeys. Lastly, these Pigeons which cannot by their
own powers travel far, have been transported to a great
distance by Man ; perhaps, even, they are not natives of
our climate, for many doubts arise against their specific
identity with the wild Rock Dove. Striking characters,
such as the number of tail-feathers, do not permit us to
consider the wild Rock Dove as the type of the Fantail
Pigeons.
" The Fantails are furnished with a considerable num-
ber of caudal plumes ; the greater part of indigenous
and exotic species of Pigeons, have generally only twelve
tail-feathers, more or less. The choicest have thirty
tail feathers ; the majority of the Fantails have thirty-
two and even thirty-four, but such are rare.
* In this respect the Fantails remind us of ^Elian's Philetas, the
lean poet of Cos, who was so slim and slight, that, being liable to
be carried away by the slightest acting force, he wore (they say)
leaden soles to his sandals, lest he should be borne off by the wind,
when it happened to be high. " But," remarks .ZElian gravely, " if
he was so weak as to be unable to withstand the wind, how could he
manage to carry about such a burden with him ] / do not believe
everything that I read (he was a writer) ; ip.1 plv ovv ro X&%01* ol
vt'ifoi." The reader, therefore, need not load his Fantails with
leaden clogs on the questionable example of Philetas the Blown-
away.
92 PTGEONS MONDAINS. [CHAP, iv-
" The Shakers, and those which have the tail only
partially elevated, are of this race."
The BUNTS are by far the largest and heaviest race of
domestic Pigeons, and are less known and cultivated in
this country than they deserve to be, mainly because
their powers of flight are not such as to afford much
amusement to the amateur. But they are very prolific,
if placed in favourable circumstances. A pair, for
which I am indebted to Mr. James Kemp, of Great
Yarmouth, last season (1849) produced twelve young
ones. Their heaviness unfits them for being the occu-
pants of ordinary dovecotes ; and they are best accom-
modated in a low house or nesting-place, raised only a
few feet from the ground. Many a rabbit-hutch would
be very easily convertible into a convenient Runt-locker,
where the birds might be petted, and wherein they
would bring forth abundantly. The Runts prefer walk-
ing and resting on the ground, to perching on buildings,
or strutting on roofs*. Hence Buffon very properly
calls them Pigeons mondains, which we might English
by applying to them the designation of Ground- Doves,
were not that term already appropriated by a family of
foreign wild Pigeons. The eggs of Runts are much
larger than those of other breeds, as may be seen by
the outline here given, of the exact natural size, of eggs
of the Runt, the Nun, and the Collared Turtle, to show
their relative proportions. Buffon truly says that the
mondains are nearly as big as little Hens. A note of
* Their love of slightly-elevated nesting-places has long been
observed. " Perchance these may be the same with those which,
Aldrovandus tells us, are called by his countrymen Colombe sotto
banche, that is, Pigeons under forms or benches, from their place ;
of various colours, and bigger than the common wild Pigeons in-
habiting Dove-cotes." Willughby, p. 181.
COMPARISON OF EGGS AND WEIGHTS. 93
their weight, and of that of a few other Pigeons, made
Nov. 6, 1849, will show how much more ponderous they
are than the rest of their brethren. Of course, live
weights are given.
lb. oz.
Pair of Leghorn Runts .... 2 7
Jacobins 1 7
Cinnamon Tumblers ... 1 5
Archangel Pigeons . . . 1 10
Blue Rocks 1 6
Croppers 1 14 f
Nuns 1 10
Barbs 19
Blue Antwerp Carriers . . 1 12
Black do. do. . . . 1 11
Pair Owl Cock, mated with Turbit Hen 1 7
Pair of Collared Turtles . . . 13
Another pair of Leghorn Runts . . 37
94 SYNONYMES OF RUNTS. [CHAP. iv.
The contrast of weight is remarkable : but the point
respecting Runts which most deserves the notice of
speculative naturalists, is their extreme antiquity. The
notices of them in Pliny, and other nearly contemporary
writers, are but modern records; for Dr. Buckland
enumerates the bones of the Pigeon among the remains
in the cave at Kirkdale, and figures a bone which he
says approaches closely to the Spanish Runt, which is
one of the largest of the Pigeon tribe. Ever since the
classic period these birds have been celebrated among
the poultry produce of the shores of the Mediterranean.
" The greater tame Pigeon, called in Italian, Tronfo
and Asturnellato ; in English, a Hunt ; a name (as I
suppose) corrupted from the Italian Tronfo : though, to
say the truth, what this Italian word Tronfo signifies,
and consequently why this kind of Pigeon is so called,
I am altogether ignorant. Some call them Columba
Russicce, Russia-Pigeons, whether because they are
brought to us out of Russia, or from some agreement of
the names Runt and Russia, I know not. These seem
to be the Campania Pigeons of Pliny. They vary much
in colour, as most other domestic birds : wherefore it
is to no purpose to describe them by their colours,"*
Their name of Russia- Pig eons, I can in part explain.
The Runts in my possession were purchased at Great
Yarmouth, as " Russian Carriers" admirable letter-
carriers they would be, when they can hardly carry
themselves through the air ! But they came by their
title thus : Vessels from Yarmouth go laden with red
herrings to the Mediterranean and the Levant, and
having exchanged their cargoes there for fruits, oil,
* Willughby, p. 181.
CHAP, iv.] RUNTS AT SEA. BODNEY's BANTAM. 95
maccaroni, &c., frequently sail thence direct to Russia
to St. Petersburgh or Archangel, without touching
port at Yarmouth, though they may even perhaps pass
through the Roads, and get a glimpse of their town,
and speak a friendly vessel or two. The Yarmouth
sailors are very fond of buying Pigeons in the Mediter-
ranean ports, and they are great pets on board ship*.
They breed there in lockers and hen-coops, and are
sometimes allowed their liberty, and permitted to fly
round about the vessel, while she is pursuing her course
on a fine day. If the breeze is but steady they get on
very well, and enjoy themselves as much as they would
in calm weather on shore. The mathematical reader
will remember, that as the wind and the ship are both
proceeding (we will suppose the ship to be sailing right
before the wind) in one direction, the excess of the velo-
city of the wind above that of the ship is all the Pigeons
would have to contend with; and that, in a fast sailer, is
nothing formidable, while a moderate breeze is blowing.
It is squally weather that would be their ruin ; and then
they are kept safe within-doors. At the Russian ports
the ship parts with her cargo of fruits, &c., perhaps also
with some of her Pigeons, and returns home, laden with
tallow, hemp, hides, &c. ; and, perhaps, the choicest of
the birds are after all brought home to please a friendly
* These feathered favourites at sea are particularly interesting.
Here is one which ought to be immortalised. It would do capitally
either for a statuette or a bas-relief.
" In the famous victory of the 12th April, a little Bantam Cock
perched himself upon the poop of Rodney's ship, and at every broad-
side that was poured into the ' Ville de Paris/ clapt his wings and
crew. Eodney gave special orders that this Cock should be taken
care of as long as he lived." Southey's Common Place Book, 2nd
Series, p. 607.
96 HUNTS THEIR PECULIARITIES. [CHAP. iv.
townsman or townswoman. But they come from Rus-
sia ; and therefore, Russian they are called. From Alex-
andria is usually obtained alarge feather-footed bird, much
resembling, if not identical with, the Trumpeter. These
are often styled Muscovy Pigeons. This summer I pur-
chased in Great Yarmouth, of my thoroughly honest
friend, Jack Hall, a pair of birds which were allowed to
retain their name of Egyptian Pigeons. The vessel, on
board which they were cruising, was wrecked in the
Roads, and the crew and passengers, including four
pairs of Pigeons, all saved. They were Runts of the
second degree of magnitude, cinnamon coloured, with a
slight vinous under tint.
These Pigeons vary in colour ; also in having feet
feathered or not ; and somewhat in bulk ; but the limits
of their variations are not hard for the experienced eye
to detect, though not easy to describe. Fulness of the
cere at the base of the bill, terrestrial habits of life, and
plumpness and inactivity of body, are among their prin-
cipal characteristics. Their prevailing colours are shades
of brown, light slate colour, and white. Their cooing
is less distinct than in other breeds, having a sort of
muffled sound. They tremble when excited, though not
so much as the Fantails. " Spanish Runt," " Leghorn
Runt," are both names which indicate their Mediterra-
nean home. Many travellers in Italy have noticed, with
retrospective relish, the size and flavour of these excel-
lent birds. We remember once at Montefiascone having
complained (not very angrily) of a dinner-bill, which
seemed to amount to more pauls than might have been
expected in the not too stylish Albergho of that not too
important town ; but we were met by the unanswerable
reply from the handsome padrona, " Yes, Signore, the
CHAP. iv.J EUNTS IN ITALY. EFFECTS OF CROSSING. 97
nota is high ; but Ecco ! Signore, you have had a flask
of the famous Montefiascone il re di vino ! and two
Pigeons ! "
The reader must have another instance ; all the bet-
ter that it is not a modern one.
" Wee came home by the island of Nisida, some two
miles in compasse, belonging to one gentleman, who in
it keeps all creatures tame by force, haueing no way to
get from him, in sight of Caprea, once the delight of
Tiberius, and so under the mountain Pausilippo again,
with torches in our hands, it being night before wee
could reach it, which wee passed safely ; the better by
reason that the holy virgin is gouuernesse of this cauerri,
and hath a chappell dedicated to her in the middle of it.
By this time you must coniecture wee had a good stomach
to our supper, which wee made of pigeons, the best heare
without controuersy in the world, as big as pullets."*
Notwithstanding the disproportion of size and incon-
gruity of habits, Runts breed freely with other domestic
Pigeons. One of my cock Runts mated with a Bald-pate :
all their offspring, except one bird, resembled their father
entirely, and their mother not at all. Those were all
eaten, so we did not see what their young would turn out
to be. Another male Runt mated with a Nun, with like
result; all conventual character disappeared from the
offspring, and the illegitimate family suffered extinction
in a pie. Mr. James Kemp had a hybrid between a
Brown Runt and a White Fantail, in which the fan tail
was quite obliterated. The bird had no brown feathers,
being principally white : so that it resembled neither
* Mr. Edward Browne to Mr. Craven, 1664.
H
98 TRUMPETERS. WHY SO CALLED. [CHAP. iv.
parent. Which was male and which female I am unable
to state. It was, however, larger than ordinary-sized
Pigeons.
" The TRUMPETER," says the Treatise, " is a bird
much about the size of a Laugher (some sort of Runt ?),
and very runtishly made ; they are generally pearl-ey'd,
black-mottled, very feather-footed and leg' d, turn-crown'd
like the Nun, and sometimes like a Finnikin, but much
larger, which are reckoned the better sort, as being more
melodious ; but the best characteristic to know them, is
a tuft of feathers growing at the root of the beak ; and
the larger this tuft is, the more they are esteemed : the
reason of their name is from their imitating the sound
of a trumpet after playing ; the more salacious they are,
the more they will trumpet ; therefore, if you have a
mind to be often entertained with their melody, you
must give them plenty of hemp-seed, otherwise they will
seldom trumpet much, except in the spring, when they
are naturally more salacious than usual."
It seems more probable that the Trumpeter took its name
from its military air : the helmet-like turn of feathers
at the back of the head, the booted legs, and the fierce
moustache at the base of the bill, give it quite a soldier-
like appearance. I have not heard much in their " trum-
petings " that differs greatly from the cooing of other
Hunts (for such they may be considered to be): perhaps
the inspiration at the end of the coo may be a little
more sonorous. But Pliny's description (lib. x. 52) is
applicable to all domestic Pigeons. " In all, the song,
similar and the same, is completed in a trine verse, be-
sides a groaning conclusion. In winter they are mute,
in spring vocal." A well-grown moustache is the point
CHAP, iv.] AKCHANGEL PIGEONS CHARACTERISTICS. 99
which the amateur is advised most strongly to insist
upon. Good Trumpeters are not common. Occasion-
ally they are met with pure white.
The ARCHANGEL PIGEON is not mentioned in any
treatise on the subject that I have met with : nor can I
ascertain whether it owes its name to having been ori-
ginally brought to us from the Kussian port, or via Arch-
angel from some other quarter, as Tartary or India. My
first glimpse of the bird was at Knowsley; and I have
since, through the liberal kindness of the Earl of Derby,
become possessed of a pair from those. His lordship had
them from the Messrs. Baker, of Chelsea. The colour-
ing of these birds is both rich and unique. The head,
neck, and fore part of the back and body, is chestnut, or
copper-colour, with changeable hues in different lights.
The tail, wings, and hinder parts of the body are of a sort
of blue-black ; but many of the feathers on the back and
shoulders are metallic and iridescent a peculiarity not
usual in other domestic Pigeons. The chestnut and blue
black portions of the bird do not terminate abruptly, but
are gently shaded into each other. There is a darker
bar at the end of the tail. The iris is very bright orange-
red : the feet clean and unfeathered, and bright red.
Archangel Pigeons have a turn of feathers at the back of
the head very similar to that of the Trumpeter, or to
Aldrovandi's woodcuts of his Columba Cypria. It is
the colouring rather than the form which so specially
distinguishes them. Their size is very much that of the
Rock Dove. It is curious, that of two Archangel Pigeons
sent me by a Yorkshire friend, one had the " turn " at
the back of the head, and the other was smooth-headed,
or rather smooth-occiputed ; and the young they have
H 2
100 NUNS. [CHAP. iv.
produced, when two have been reared, have mostly, if not
always, been one " turned " and one smooth-pated bird,
exactly as their parents. The older Ornithologists fur-
nish no hint of Archangel Pigeons, that we have been
able to find. A cock of this kind is now assiduously
courting one of our cream-coloured Tumblers ; but I am
unable to describe the result of their crossing with other
domestic breeds, which they doubtless will do. They are
sufficiently prolific to be kept as stock birds ; but they
are at present too valuable, either as presents or for
exchange, to be consigned to the hands of the cook.
Still it is with the higher rather than the lower class
of Pigeon-fanciers that they are in much request.
Bigoted Tumbler-breeders and panting blowers-up of
Powters will look on a pair of glowing Archangels
with almost the same contemptuous glance that they
would bestow on a parcel of " Duffers," or dovehouse
Pigeons, packed up to be shot at for a wager.
NUNS are dear little creatures. The former breed
belongs to the "gravel eyes," these are pleasing in-
stances of the "pearl eye," the iris being delicately
shaded from pink into white. Their colouring is vari-
ous. " The most beautiful specimens," says Temminck,
" are those which are black, but have the quill feathers
and the head white: they are called Nonnains-Maurins."
But the most usual sort, and exceedingly pretty birds
they are, are what Buffon styles coquille hollandais, or
Dutch shell Pigeons, " because they have, at the back
of their head,, reversed feathers, which form a sort of
shell. They are also of short stature. They have the
head black, the tip (the whole ?) of the tail and the
ends of the wings (quill feathers) also black, and all the
NUNS.
101
rest of the body white. This black-headed variety so
strongly resembles the Tern (hirondelle de mer) that
some persons have given it that name."
" The Nun," says the Treatise, " is a bird that
attracts the eye greatly, from the contrast in her
102 NUNS THEIR PECULIARITIES. [CHAP. iv.
plumage, which is very peculiar, and she seems to
take her name entirely from it, her head being, as it
were, covered with a veil.
"Her hody is all white; her head, tail, and six of
her flight feathers ought to he entirely either black, red,
or yellow, viz., if her head be black, her tail and flight
should be black likewise ; if her head be red, then her
tail and flight should be red ; or if her head be yellow,
her tail and flight should also be yellow ; and, accord-
ingly, they are called either red-headed Nuns, yellow-
headed Nuns, &c., and whatever feathers vary from this
are said to be foul ; for instance, should a black-headed
Nun have a white, or any other coloured feather, in her
head, except black, she would be called foul-headed ; or
a white feather in her flight, she would be called foul-
flighted, &c. ; and the same rule stands good in the
red-headed or yellow-headed ones; though the lest of
them all will sometimes throw a few foul feathers, and
those that are so but in a small degree, though not so
much valued in themselves, will often breed- as clean-
feathered birds as those that are not.
"A Nun ought likewise to have a pearl eye, with a
small head and beak; and to have a white hood, or
tuft of feathers on the hinder part of the head, which
the larger it is, adds the more beauty to the bird."*
In size, Nuns are somewhat less than the common
dove-house Pigeons. Their flight is bold and graceful ;
they are very fairly prolific, and by no means bad
nurses. A peculiarity in the new-hatched chicks of the
black-headed Nuns is, that their feet are frequently,
perhaps always, stained with dark lead colour. All
* Treatise, p. 124.
CHAP, iv.] JACOBINES. "TOY" PIGEONS. 103
the Nuns are great favourites, except with those fanciers
who are devoted to monstrous Tumblers and Powters.
A flock consisting entirely of the black-headed sort has
a very pleasing effect ; but one containing individuals of
all the procurable varieties of colour, (the arrangement
of this on the birds, and their shape, being exactly
similar,) would have a very charming appearance.
I have seen a half-bred Nun and Carrier in which
the Nun almost entirely predominated : respective sex
of the parents, unknown.
JACOBINE, Euffled Jack, Ruff, Pigeon carme, Co-
lumba cucullata, and Capuchin, are names all appli-
cable to the same type of bird, however bred or crossed,
and all derived from some reference to ecclesiastical
costume*. Where there are Nuns, it is natural to look
for Friars in the neighbourhood ; and here they are,
only not half so pretty, nor half so good. The Ja-
cobines are about the most unproductive of our Pigeons ;
they lay small eggs, which they incubate unsteadily,
and, if they hatch them, nurse carelessly. It is best to
transfer their eggs to some more trustworthy foster-
parents. These are included among the Pigeons tech-
nically called " toys ; " Tumblers, Powters, and Car-
riers being alone considered worthy of the serious
attention of fanciers. It is really amusing to read of
* " Jacobines, called by the Low Dutch, Cappers, because in the
hinder part of the head, or nape of the neck, certain feathers re-
flected upward encompass the head behind, almost after the fashion
of a Monk's hood, when he puts it back to uncover his head. These
are called Cyprus Pigeons by Aldrovand, and there are of them
rough-footed. Aldrovandus hath set forth three or four either
species or accidental varieties of this kind. Their bill is short. The
Irides of their eyes of a pearl colour, and the head (as Mr. Cope
told us) in all white." Willughby.
104 COLUMBAEIAN DISTINCTIONS. [CHAP. iv.
the superiority and importance conferred by the pos-
session of a first-rate stock of Pigeons. The following
quotation will show the notions entertained on the sub-
ject by genteel people in 1765 :
" It may not be amiss, before 1 conclude this head
(The Almond Tumbler), to remark a distinction which
the society of Columbarians make between Pigeon-
fanciers and Pigeon-keepers, viz., such gentlemen who
keep good of the sort, whether they are almond, black-
mottled, or yellow-mottled Tumblers, Carriers, Powters,
Horsemen, Dragoons, Leghorn or Spanish Runts, Ja-
cobines, Barbs, Turbits, Owls, broad-tailed Shakers,
Nuns, Spots, Trumpeters, &c., are stiled fanciers ; on
the contrary, those who keep trash are called Pigeon-
keepers, of which last denomination there are a sur-
prising number. It is prodigiously amazing and un-
accountable, that any gentleman will bestow food upon
such as are not in reality worth the tares they devour,
and can be accounted for no other way than by sup-
posing such gentlemen utterly unacquainted with the
true properties and perfections of the several species
they entertain, which, it must be confessed, is rather a
harsh supposition (except they breed for the spit only,
and even then their table might be as amply supplied by the
better sort), the expense of keeping either being equal
in every respect, the difference arising only in the pur-
chase of one pair. Should any objection be made to
the expence of the first purchase of the better sort, I
answer it is infinitely cheaper to bestow four or five
guineas on one pair of good birds, than to begin with
bad ones at eighteen-pence a pair, the value of which
can never be enhanced. I hope I need not here apolo-
gize, or be thought ill-natured by those gentlemen
CHAP, iv.j JACOBINES. DEALEKS' THICKS. 105
whose fancy may differ from mine, in giving my real
sentiments and opinion so freely, as I have advanced
nothing but matter of fact, and what is the result of
many years' experience."*
One feels inclined humbly to intreat this connois-
seur, if he were surviving, to condescend to look in one
day, and wring the necks of all one's " trash." There
is a degree of sublimity in the idea of pigeon-pie com-
posed of birds at five guineas the pair !
The same author, however, describes the points of
the Jacobine so clearly, that we cannot do better than
refer to him again for aid. " It has a range of feathers
inverted quite over the hinder part of the head, and
reaching down on each side of the neck to the shoulders
of the wings, which forms a kind of hood, something
like a friar's, from whence it takes the name of Jaco-
bine ; the fathers of that order wearing hoods to
cover their baldness. Therefore the upper part of this
range of feathers is called the hood ; and the more
compact these feathers are, and the closer they are to
the head, so much the more the bird is valued : the
lower part of this range of feathers is, with us, called
the chain, but the Dutch call it the cravat the fea-
thers of which should be long and close, that were you
to strain the neck a little, by taking hold of the bill, the
two sides should fold over each other, which may be
seen in some of the best. Sometimes the pigeon-dealers
cut a piece of skin out between the throat and the chest,
and sew it up again, by which means the chain is drawn
closer.
" The Jacobiue should have a very small head, with
* Treatise, p. 65.
106 CARICATUEE. TURBITS. [CHAP. iv.
a quick rise, &c., and a spindle beak, the shorter the
better, like that of a Tumbler, and a pearl eye. In
regard to the feather, there are various coloured ones,
such as reds, blues, mottled, blacks, and yellows ; the
preference of which seems to be given to the last
mentioned ; but whatever colour they are of, they
should have a clean white head, with a white flight and
white tail. Some of them have feathers on their legs
and feet, others have none ; and both sorts are equally
esteemed according to the different inclinations of those
who fancy them.
" The following being in itself so uncommon, and a
fact, I cannot help taking notice of it ; a person the
other day passing through Fleet Street, seeing a print
of this bird at a shop-window, stopped to make his
observations thereon, and having well viewed it, he
went in and purchased it, declaring to the seller, that
he never saw a stronger likeness in his life ; and as for
the wig, it was exactly the same he always wore. For
he imagined it altogether a caricature of one of his
intimate acquaintance; and the person of whom he
bought it, did not think it necessary at that time to
undeceive him."
The TURBIT* is the breed which the French
writers have supposed to be the most isolated of the
domestic races, and to have greater claims than any of
them to specific distinction. I cannot say that my
* " Turbits, of the meaning and original of which name I must
confess myself to be ignorant. They have a very short thick bill,
like a Bullfinch ; the crown of their head is flat and depressed ; the
feathers on the breast reflected both ways. They are about the
bigness of the Jacobines, or a little bigger. I take these to be the
Candy or Indian Doves of Aldrovand, the Low Dutch Cortbeke."
Willughby.
. iv.] TEMMINCK'S NOTIONS. 107
own experience or observations confirm this remark.
It is just as distinct, and no more so, as the other
domestic breeds. Whatever right they may be ad-
judged to have to specific honours, the Turbit also has,
but no greater.
Temminck complains of the difficulties which ama-
teurs experience in making them propagate with other
races supposed to be derived from the Biset ; but two
brown-shouldered hen Turbits in my possession have
paired and bred, one with an Owl (Pigeon) the other
with a Rock Dove, or Biset itself. In the former
case, the young mostly resembled one the male and
the other the female parent, with a few foul feathers on
each ; in the second case the young resembled the male
parent, or Rock Dove, with scarcely a trace of the ma-
ternal plumage. Instances sometimes occur of sterile
males among Turbits ; a fact which may have led Tem-
minck to suppose that these birds entertain some general
aversion to the females of other breeds ; but like cases
of infecundity occur with China Ganders and even with
Turkey Cocks.
Buffon says of the Pigeon Cravate, or Turbit, that it
is scarcely larger than a Turtle, and that by pairing
them, hybrids are produced, a statement which is
quoted by Temminck. But in one very important
point it differs from the Turtle ; its time of incubation
is the same as that of other domestic Pigeons, whereas
the Collared Turtle at least hatches in a much shorter
period.
According to the Treatise, " This Pigeon is called
by the Dutch Cort-beke, or Short-bill, on account of
the shortness of its beak; but how it came by the
108 OWLS. [CHAP. IV.
name of Turbit I cannot take upon me to deter-
mine.
" It is a small Pigeon, something larger than the
Owl ; its beak is short like that of a Partridge ; and
the shorter it is the more it is valued ; it should have
a round button head, with a gullet ; and the feathers
on the breast (like that of the Owl) open, and reflect
both ways, standing out almost like a fringe, or the frill
of a shirt ; and the bird is valued in proportion to the
goodness of the frill or purle.
" In regard to their feather, the tail and back of the
wings ought to be of one entire colour, as blue, black,
dun, &c., the red and yellow ones excepted, whose tails
should be white ; and those that are blue should have
black bars cross the wings ; the flight feathers, and all
the rest of the body should be white, and are called by
the fanciers according to the colour they are of, as
black-shouldered, yellow-shouldered, blue-shouldered
Turbits, &c. They are a very pretty light Pigeon ; and
if used to fly when young, some of them make very
good flyers.
" There are some Turbits all white, black and blue,
which by a mistake are often called and taken for
Owls," pp. 127-8.
And well they may be : distinction of colour is all
that can be perceived by common eyes. It is said that
in Owls, the feathers round the neck ought to have a
certain, slight, hardly describable twist : but wishing
only to describe the really typical domestic forms, I
hesitate to give the Owls any paragraph to themselves.
The iris in the brown-shouldered Turbit is dark
hazel surrounding a large black pupil. The attention
CHAP. iv.J RAPID GROWTH OF YOUNG COLUMBHXE. 109
of naturalists may be directed to the similarity in the
shape and air of the head in the Fantail, the Jacobin,
and the Turbit, all races "with striking peculiarities of
feather. Turbits, if the faulty members of the family
are rejected, are a satisfactorily prolific race.
The results obtained from a bird of this breed, will
serve as a special instance of the rapid rate of increase
of the young among the Columbida in general.
On the 27th of June, 1849, a male blue Owl that had
mated with a female black-headed Nun, hatched one
chick. The second egg, being clear or unfertilised, had
been taken away from them some days previously. The
egg producing this chick had been cracked three or four
days before hatching, by a blow from the Owl's wing,
given in anger at my examining it. The chick had
grown much in the few hours intervening between its
exclusion and the time of my seeing it. It was blind,
and covered with long yellow, cottony down. In the
afternoon of the 1st of July, it first opened its eyes to
the light. Now the average weight of a domestic Pi-
geon's egg is about half an ounce ; rather more for the
large breeds, as Runts and Powters, and rather less for
the smaller ones, such as the parents of our present
chick. A Collared Turtle's egg weighs about a quarter
of an ounce. But on the 3rd of July, this little crea-
ture, that on the 27th of June would hardly balance a
half ounce weight, now weighed/oz^r ounces and a half,
and its feathers, or rather its feather-cases, were prick-
ing through its skin like a Hedgehog's spines. On the
4th it weighed 5 oz. 6 dr. ; of course part of that weight
was made up of the contents of the crop, which now
contained a portion of hard food. July 6th, weight
8i oz. ; feather-cases very long and much started, the
110 INCREASE OF THE SQUABS. [CHAP. iv.
feathers themselves much protruding. July 9th, weight
10 oz. ; only one parent attending to it. July llth,
weight 10 J oz. July 14th, 11 oz. July 16th, 11^ oz.
July 18th, llf oz.; the growth seemed now principally
directed to the quill feathers, which accounts for its less
rapid increase in weight. July 26th, the weight of the
squeaker was 12 J oz. ; it was capable of flying and feed-
ing itself, and only wanted strength and a little corro-
borative time, to be a perfect independent adult bird.
At the same date of July 26th, the weight of the Owl,
its male parent, was only ll^oz. ; so that, in about a
month, its own young one had exceeded it in weight.
It takes many quadrupeds several years to attain the
bulk of their parents; the chick of a common hen, at
the end of a month from hatching, is very far indeed
from equalling its mother in weight ; but in the case of
Pigeons, we have the enormous increment of growth
from half an ounce to twelve ounces and a quarter,
within that short period. The wonder is accounted
for by our knowledge that, for the first fortnight, the
chick has the assistance of two digestions in addition to
its own ; and that during the month it has to undergo
little or no exertion of body or brain, but merely to
receive a liberal supply of ready-prepared nutriment.
In another case, a Powter mated to a Nun produced
one chick on the 16th of July, 1849. Its weight when
hatched was half an ounce. Its bill was not pink, but
tinged under the cuticle with a dark pigment; this
character it derived from its Nun parent. But on the
15th, another pair of Pigeons, both Powters, had hatch-
ed a couple of chicks, one perhaps during the previous
night, the other not till the middle of the day ; their
joint weight was then 1 oz. On the 16th, it had reach-
CHAP, iv.] BAKES IMPEOVE WITH AGE. Ill
ed to 1 oz. only: and on the 19th, the smallest chick
died, seemingly of starvation, as the old ones appear to
have neglected it : the other chick had been transferred
on the 18th to the Nun and Powter which had hatched
on the 16th. Under their care, on the 20th the eyes
of both squabs were open, and a little hard food was in
their crops. On the 26th, their joint weight was 15
oz. ; their crops were half filled with hard food, the
webs of the feathers were protruding through many of
the feather-cases, and the birds advanced as rapidly to-
wards maturity as in the former instance.
BARBS are elegant little birds; very quiet and demure
in their appearance, and yet full of fun and activity.
Their chief characteristic is a naked, wrinkled, red skin
round the eye, which the books say, most likely with
truth, increases till they are four years old. But
Pigeons improve much, both in appearance and in con-
stitutional powers, with age. They live, I believe, and
continue fertile, much longer than is generally ima-
gined. Many young pairs of Pigeons are condemned
because their owners do not exercise sufficient patience
with them ; and from their peculiar habit of settling in
a fixed home, to which they will return, if they can, at
all hazards, it is not easy to possess a good stock of
birds without passing through this preliminary disci-
pline of patient pigeon-feeding. The best, though not
the only colour for Barbs, is an entire black. In such,
the prismatic shadings of the neck are particularly beau-
tiful. The rate at which they will breed is not to be
complained of: and as to their crossings, the rule of the
paramount influence of the male seems to obtain. A
little hen Barb that had lost her mate, was soon taken
under the protection of a blue Antwerp Carrier. The
112 TUMBLEES THEIR MERITS. [CHAP. iv.
young she has reared have borne but little resemblance
to herself, and a marked one to their papa.
And now for the TUMBLERS, the prettiest of the pretty.
In approaching them one had need have more courage
than Master Slender in the presence of sweet Anne
Page ; for the dealers and ultra-fanciers are standing
by, like so many duennas or chaperons over a supposed
marketable beauty or vendible heiress; and whatever
eloquence may escape the lips of the suitor who does
not quite answer their views, coolness and reserve are
the reception he must expect to meet with. But of all
the Doves that cleave the air, give me, in its unsophis-
ticated and vulgarly bred state, the pretty little Tumbler.
Birds at two or three shillings the pair are better than
those at two or three guineas, in spite of the Treatise ;
the learned author of which we may magnanimously
gainsay, without fear of contradiction, as he is long since
quiet in his grave. The Tumbler, whether you Frenchify
it as the Pigeon Culbutant. or Latinise it as the Colum-
la gyratrix, is sure to attract notice for its intrinsic
excellences. Do you want a bird to eat? It is as
good as any; a merit, though a humble one. It breeds
as freely, and with as little trouble ; and there is
nothing so neat and trim as it is among domestic birds,
not even the most perfect of the Sebright Bantams.
With its little round head and patting red feet, it is
exactly a feathered goody-two-shoes. And then, its
performances in the air ! beating all the Cordes Volantes,
or Tightrope Diavoli, into disgraceful inferiority. It is
decidedly the most accomplished member of the aerial
ballet. Pirouettes, capers, tours de force, and pas
d'agilite, all come alike in turn. Other Pigeons cer-
tainly can take any course in the air, from a straight
CHAP, iv.] TUMBLERS. FEATS OF WING. 113
line, that would satisfy Euclid as being the shortest
distance between two points, to circles and ellipses that
remind us of the choreal orbits of the planets round
the sun ; but the Tumbler, while it is rapidly wheeling
past some sharp corner in a tightly-compressed para-
bola, seems occasionally to tie a knot in the air through
mere fun ; and in its descents from aloft, to weave
some intricate braid, or whip-lash. This latter per-
formance, I suspect, is quite a leger-de-vol, or sleight of
wing ; the bird does now and then tumble heels over
head, and perform somersets, which the best clown at
Astley's would be unwilling to risk at the same alti-
tude above terra firma for example, on the tip of
a cathedral spire, or in the car of a balloon but
many of these intricate weavings are the result of
some trick, best known to the performer, the real
solution of which may be suspected to be the
non-coincidence of the apparent centre of gravity of
the bird with its real one. The Indian jugglers have
a similar feat, in throwing a ball in a spiral course
instead of in an acute parabola, more or less approach-
ing to a vertical straight line ; and the laws of motion
would assure us that, with a homogeneous ball, such a
feat is impossible, under the existing circumstances of
the universe. But take a large hollow sperical shell,
heavily loaded internally at one point of its circum-
ference with* lead, so that the centre of gravity of the
mass is by no means in the centre of the hollow sphere,
and a clever juggler, by a dexterous twist, will make it
play strange freaks. Just so, the wings and tail of the
Tumbler are made to follow the impulse which them-
selves have given, and to revolve round the solid body
114 TUMBLERS. MORNING PERFORMANCE. [CHAP. iv.
of the bird, in seemingly the most unaccountable
fashion.
Our birds have all been shut up over-night, so to-day
let us have a morning performance, by special desire.
Terpsichore, the saltatory Muse, belongs as much to air
as to earth. House-tops, or better, tree-tops, shall be
the boards of our rustic opera-stage ; clouds shall be
the wings ; the blue sky, the flies ; the rising sun shall
do his best to fill the place of the gas in the footlights ;.
the orchestra are selected from the elite of Cocks and
Hens, Ducks and Geese, with China Geese for the
wind instruments and ophicleides, Thrushes and Larks
for first fiddles, and the Cow and the Pig for a pedal
bass, though the threshing-machine in the distance
best represents that. The audience is composed of
yourself, your wife, three or four boys and girls, the
nursemaid with the little one, the woman who is hang-
ing out the the week's washing in the orchard, and the
gardener who is come with a wheelbarrow to fetch some
columbine guano for his melon-bed. This fresh breeze
is better than the smell of orange-peel ; that hedge of
sweet-briar is more fragrant, though less powerful, than
a leaky gas-pipe. The word is given ; open sesame
falls the trap; the performers appear on their little
platform, for all the world like the strolling actors in
front of a show at a fair, cooing, bowing, advancing,
retiring, in this their divertissement. They plunge
into their air-bath like truant schoolboys into a brook
during the dog-days. The respectable aldermanic
Powter swells his portly paunch to the utmost, claps
his wings smartly, and sails about in circles : it seems
marvellous that he should be able to fly at all ! But
CHAP. IV.] TUMBLEES OF DIVEES COLOUES. 115
that darling little cinnamon Tumbler, what a height it
is ! And now, seven times, I thought I counted, it
went over ; but whether it was over, or under, or round-
about, it would be difficult to say. Does your neck ache ?
Pray do not complain of it; greater folks than us,
when the Hawk and the Heron were trying to over-
reach each other, had to strain their eyes and necks a
great deal more to enjoy the sport, and had a chance
too of scratching out the one, or breaking the other,
by riding into a bramble-bush or a pit a danger we
are not likely to incur on this pleasant grass plot. But,
you see, the Fantails and the Runts are content to
decline these ambitious flights, and to make sure of
what grain they can while the chickens are being fed.
And now, as the Tumblers are descending to earth
again, the business of "The Dovecote " must proceed
more steadily.
" Tumblers ; these are small," saith Willughby,
" and of divers colours. They have strange motions,
turning themselves backward over their heads, and
shew like footballs in the air." Among the prettiest
of them are what are called Kites, when purely, not un-
naturally bred. Kites, are those Tumblers which are
self, or whole-coloured, i. e., all black, or all cinnamon-
colour, in various shades, or all cream-colour ; there are,
besides, various " splashes," as myrtle-splash, cinnamon-
splash, &c. ' But, it will be perceived, that, at any dis-
tance from the eye, whole-coloured birds are by far the
most telling in a group, and the most ornamental, where
the birds are flown, and not mewed up in a loft all their
lives long. " The fancy" worship the Almond Tum-
blers, which are curious enough when minutely in-
spected; but a quotation from the Treatise will show,
i 2
116 ALMOND TUMBLEES. [CHAP. iv.
that however beautiful near at hand, they can only look
dirt-coloured when seen from any distance. " I have
had," boasts the anonymous author of that shamefully,
because un thankfully, plagiarised little volume, " I have
had some so remarkably beautiful in feather, that their
flight, tail, back, and rump, have resembled a bed of the
best and finest broken tulips that can be imagined, or a
piece of the best and most high-polished tortoise-shell ;
for the more they are variegated, particularly in the
flight and tail (provided the ground be yellow) the more
they are esteemed." " I have had some in my collec-
tion that have had few feathers in them, but what have
contained the three colours that constitute the almond
or ermine, viz., black, yellow, and white, variously and
richly interspersed." " In short, their beauty far sur-
passes all description, and nothing but the eye can
convey a just idea of them." But all these intricate
markings are lost to the eye, unless the Pigeon is
kept almost as a cage-bird.
For those who will have the perfect tri-colour Al-
mond Tumbler, it is better, in purchasing young
ones, not to form a judgment upon the birds them-
selves, but, if it can be managed, to get a sight of their
parents. The bill shrinks, that is, hardens, for some
weeks after the old ones have ceased to feed them ;
and the gay colouring has only very partially appeared
in early youth. At the first moult, many of the diverse
markings break out for the first time, and Tumblers in
general do not attain their complete beauty till they are
at least two or three years old. Our experience is con-
firmed by the Treatise. " It requires a very nice
judgment to form any kind of true knowledge of them ;
and amongst the whole circle of my acquaintance, there
CHAP, iv.] ALMOND TUMBLERS DEFORMITIES. 117
are but very few that may be said to understand tbem :
every time they moult their feathers, they increase in
beauty for some years ; and when in decline of life, they
gradually decrease, till they become sometimes a mot-
tled, splashed, or whole colour." We wish it had been
recorded at what epoch of a Tumbler's life the sun of its
tricolorism begins to set.
But what has caused the great wonderment about Al-
mond Tumblers, is their form ; the whole thing, how-
ever, is very simple. The common Tumbler, au naturel,
has a compact little body, with a round head, a short
beak, and neat little feet. But this did not content the
fanciers. By pairing together birds, in which these
qualities were the most exaggerated, they got bodies
still more compact, heads yet rounder, beaks shorter,
and feet neater. It was the breeder's art carried to the
uttermost, but no sample whatever of the creative power
of man (I can hardly bring the pen to write the words!)
according to Gallic phrase. As to the beaks, do what
the fancier would, they still were not small enough, and
then the penknife was brought into use to pare them
down below the standard. The young of the birds so
operated on had not, perhaps, smaller beaks than those
originally possessed by their parents, any more than a
wooden-legged man is necessarily the father of a wooden-
legged family ; but still they sold, and that was enough.
And by coupling the most monstrous individuals of a
race, a family of monsters are kept in existence for a
time. It is possible that a despot might be able to in-
crease the number of club-footed men and women in his
dominions, just as William of Prussia tried hard to suit
all his extra-tall guardsmen with wives of equally alpine
altitude ; but in the long run club feet might follow the
118 LEAKNING TO TUMBLE. [CHAP. iv.
usual average, by the same law of nature the best of
despots which has prevented the stature of the Prus-
sians from becoming altogether colossal. Tumblers have
been bred with their beaks so small that they cannot
feed their own young, and with their frames so com-
pact, that they cannot fly to the top of their breeder's
bedstead. They are called Tumblers, only because if
they could fly they would tumble. The variation of the
species Tumbler has been pushed to its utmost possible
limits. Were the limit exceeded, the bird could not be
propagated, if it could exist, at all.
Tumbling in the air, on the part of good unsophisti-
cated Tumblers, is to themselves an act of pleasure.
They never do it, unless they are in good health and
spirits : their best performances are after being let out
from a short confinement. The young Tumbler, as soon
as it has gained sufficient strength of wing, finds out by
some chance that it can tumble ; it is delighted at the
discovery, and goes on practising, till at last it executes
the revolution with satisfaction to itself a feat the
French have not performed of late years. Often and
often the young Tumbler may be seen trying to get over,
but cannot nicely; the same firmness of muscle and deci-
sion of mind are required to execute that coup, which em-
power the leading men at Astley's to throw their fortieth
or fiftieth somerset backwards, and enable the premiere
danseuse at the opera to drop from the air, and stand
for a second or two in an impossible attitude on tiptoe.
Beginners are incapable of such excellence. In short,
the Treatise sums up all with an enthusiasm which
distances criticism and overwhelms cavil.
" The Almond Tumbler is a very small Pigeon, with
a short body, short legs, a full chest, a thin neck, a very
CHAP, iv.] BALD-PATES. HELMETS. 119
short and spindle beak, and a round button head, and
the iris of the eye a bright pearl colour ; and when in
perfection is perhaps as great, if not the greatest curio-
sity in the whole fancy of Pigeons ; and would take up
a small volume to expatiate on and enter such a descrip-
tion as it would admit of, and really deserves."
Tumblers with feathered feet and legs are not at all
uncommon.
BALD-PATES are pleasing birds, with a very genuine
look about them. The character of the head much re-
sembles that of the Turbit and the Jacobine. Their
name is derived from their having usually the head,
tail, and flight feathers white, and the rest of the body
of some uniform colour : those with slate-coloured bodies
are as pretty as any. Sometimes the arrangement of
this colouring is reversed ; the body is white, and the
head, tail, and quills coloured. They then answer to
the description of a breed given in the Treatise.
The Helmet is about the size of a Nun, or somewhat
bigger : the head, tail, and flight feathers of the wings,
are always of one colour, as black, red, yellow ; and I
believe there are some blue, and all the rest of the body
white ; so that the chief difference between them and a
Nun is, that they have no hood on the under part of the
head, and are commonly gravel- eyed.
" They are called Helmets from their heads being
covered with a plumage which is distinct in colour from
the body, and appears somewhat like an helmet to cover
the head."*
Bald-pates are robust birds, strong flyers, good
breeders, and sufficiently prolific to be kept for table
* Treatise, p. 135.
120 POWTERS. [CHAP. iv.
purposes. They are nothing new in the Pigeon world.
Willughby describes them. " Helmets. In these the
head, tail, and quill feathers of the wings are always of
one colour, sometimes white, sometimes black, red, yel-
low, or blue ; the rest of the body of another, different
from that, whatever it be. These are also called Helmet
by the Low Dutch, as Aldrovandw writes from the
relalation of the fore-mentioned Dutchman"* Aldro-
vand's own description is so nearly the same as this,
that it is unnecessary to quote it. To this race are to be
referred the Magpies, Spots, Swallows, &c. of the dealers.
In all these the form, size and powers of the bird remain
the same; there are certain variations of colour only,
which follow a definite rule in all the sub-races, the
leading principle being that the head exhibits a marked
contrast to the body. In none of these are the colours
shaded or blended into each other, as is the case with
the Archangel Pigeon ; but, in all, the line of demar-
cation is as sharp as the junction of the white and the
chestnut in a piebald Horse. Buffon mentions them.
"II y en a qu'on appelle aussi (besides the Nuns)
Pigeons hirondelles. C'est a cette variete qu'il faut
rapporter le pigeon cuirasse de Jonston et de Wil-
POWTERS appear to us to be the most isolated of the
domestic Pigeons ; they bear little resemblance to any
of the other kinds, and it is difficult to say to which
breed they are most nearly related. If, as some writers
have held, the inflation of the crop is the peculiar dis-
tinction of the Pigeon, Powters ought to stand at the
head of the whole family of ColumUda. Provincially
* Treatise, p. 182.
t Columba galeata. Av. p. 63.
CHAP, iv.] CROPPEKS THEIR CARRIAGE. 121
they are called Croppers, which is not a vulgarism, but
an old form of speech.
" Croppers, so called because they can, and usually do,
by attracting the Air, blow up their Crops to that strange
bigness that they exceed the bulk of the whole body
beside ; and which, as they fly, and while they make that
murmuring noise, swell their throats to a great bigness,
and the bigger, the better and more generous they are
esteemed/' *
The hen Cropper also has an inflated crop like the
male ; the same in kind, though less in degree. When
zealous fanciers want to form an opinion of the merits
of a Cropper Pigeon, they inflate the crop by applying
the bird's mouth to their own, and blowing into it, ex-
actly as if they were filling a bladder with air, till it is
extended to the very utmost. Nor does the patient
seem in the least to dislike the operation ; but the con-
trary; and when set upon its legs choke-full of wind, it
will endeavour to retain the charge as tightly as it can,
and appears actually to be pleased with, and proud of,
the enormity of the natural balloon which it carries
about with it. The only analogous case I am acquainted
with is the fish which blows itself out with air, and then
floats on the surface of the sea, belly upwards.
I cannot agree with those who think the gait and
appearance of Cropper Pigeons at all displeasing or un-
natural, although they certainly are a very marked arid
peculiar style of bird. We can admire the classic figure
of Atlas with the globe upon his shoulders ; the Cropper
is an Atlas wearing the globe under his shirt front. He
* Willughby.
122 CROPPERS. SM1TERS. [CHAP. iv.
has indeed something of a military air, and requires but
a few finishing touches from a drilling-master to make
his demeanour perfect in formality and politeness. We
have seen gentlemen belonging to Her Majesty's army,
whose back-thrown head, super-erect carriage, taper
waist, and well-padded breast, brought them very much
to the model of a gigantic Cropper, and whose counte-
nances betrayed no dissatisfaction with their own personal
appearance; and a style of beauty which contents a man,
may surely be allowed to please a bird. The feathered
legs and the sweeping tail may be supposed to complete
the likeness, by representing spurs and dangling and
trailing what-nots.
The flight also of the Cropper is stately and dignified
in its way. The inflated crop is not generally collapsed
by the exertion, but is seen to move slowly forward
through the air, like a large permanent soap-bubble,
with a body and wings attached to it. The bird is fond
of clapping his wings loudly at first starting to take
his few lazy rounds in the air ; for he is too much of
a fine gentleman to condescend to violent exertion.
Other Pigeons will indulge in the same action in a less
degree, but Croppers are the claqueurs par excellence ;
and hence we believe the Smiters of Willughby to be
only a synonym of the present kind. He says, " I take
these to be those, which the fore-mentioned Hollander
told Aldrovandus, that his countrymen called Draiiers.
These do not only shake their wings as they fly : but
also flying round about in a ring, especially over their
females, clap them so strongly, that they make a greater
sound than two battledores or other boards struck one
against another. Whence it comes to pass, that their
CHAP. IV.] POWTERS PECULIAEITIES. 123
quill-feathers are almost always broken and shattered ;
and sometimes so bad, that they cannot fly."
Smiters and Croppers, or something very like them,
must have been known and kept so long back even as
Pliny's time. " Nosse credas suos colores, varietatem-
que dispositam : quin etiam ex volatu quseritur plaudere
in ccelo, varieque sulcare. Qua in ostentatiorie, ut vinctaB,
praebentur accipitri, implicatis strepitu pennis, qui non
nisi ipsis alarum humeris eliditur." " You would think
they were conscious of their own colours, and the va-
riety with which they are disposed : nay, they even
attempt to make their flight a means of clapping in the
air, and tracing various courses in it. By which osten-
tation they are betrayed to the power of the Hawk, as
if bound, their feathers being entangled in the action
of making the noise, which is produced only by the
actual shoulders of their wings." *
Powters are of various colours ; the most usual are
blue, buff (vulgd cloth), splashed in various mixtures, and
white. Pure white Powters are really handsome, and
look very like white Owls in their sober circlings around
the Pigeon-house. Apropos of the blue and the cloth-
coloured birds, a friend asks, " Have you ever observed
that if you pair a chestnut with a blue Pigeon, the cock
being, say the chestnut, the chances are that the young
cock is blue, and the hen chestnut, and their offspring
will come vice versa round again ? " H. H. This is a
curious alternation.
Powters have deservedly a bad character as nurses,
and it is usual to put the eggs of valuable birds under
other Pigeons to hatch and rear ; but otherwise they are
* Lib. x. 52.
124 POWTERS. DEFECTS AND REMEDIES. [CHAP. iv.
not deficient in natural powers, either of hardiness,
flight, or memory. I am well acquainted with the party
to whom the following case happened :
" I once had a pair of Pigeons of the Cropper kind
given to me by a friend. I confined them about a
month, with the view of breaking off the thoughts of
their former home; but as soon as they had their liberty,
they flew towards their old habitation. The hen arrived
immediately ; but, strange to say, her mate did not till
two years afterwards. No doubt he was trapped, and re-
mained in confinement during the whole of that time.
The distance to their old home was only four miles and
a half, but what seems curious is, that a Pigeon should
recollect his home after two years' absence. My friend
told me, that as soon as the Cropper cock got back
again, he began to play the same tricks as he used to
do before he was sent away to me." J. W.
An objection to Powters is, that the largest-cropped
birds seldom have their crops perfectly covered with
feathers, but show a great deal of naked skin (from their
rubbing off) which leaves the beholder to imagine the
beautiful plumage which ought to be beheld. They are
also apt to be gorged by over-feeding themselves ; in
which case we have proved the benefit of the directions
in the Treatise, adding to them, however, a calomel
and colocynth pill. " When they have been too long
from grain, they will eat so much that they cannot di-
gest it ; but it will lie and corrupt in the crop, and kill
the Pigeon : if this, therefore, at any time happens, take
the following method :
" Put them in a strait stocking, with their feet down-
ward, stroking up the crop, that the bag which contains
the meat may not hang down ; then hang the stocking
CHAP, iv.j POWTERS THEIR CROSSES. 125
upon a nail, keeping them in this manner till they have
digested their food, only not forgetting to give them now
and then a little water, and it will often cure them ;
but when you take them out of the stocking, put them
in an open basket or coop, giving them but a little
meat at a time, or else they will be apt to gorge again."*
No space remains to give the technical points of the
Powters of the fancy, which would best be done by
liberal quotation from the Treatise. The author
quite sympathises with the " insanity" of the ancient
Romans. He elaborately describes five properties of
the standard Powter, and six rules for the manner in
which a Powter should be pied, as " published arid in
use among the columbarians;" and sums up all philo-
sophically thus :
" A Powter that would answer to all these properties,
might very justly be deemed perfect ; but as absolute
perfection is incompatible with anything in this world,
that Pigeon which makes the nearest advances towards
them is most undoubtedly the best."f
Some of the crosses between Powters and other Pigeons
are held in esteem ; that most prized is the cross with
the Carrier, as being a bird of powerful flight. " Light
horsemen. This is a bastard kind, of one parent a Crop-
per, the other a Carrier, and so they partake of both, as
appears by the wattles of their bill, and their swollen
throats. They are the best breeders of all, and will not
lightly forsake any house to which they have been ac-
customed. "I The same mixture of breeds often goes
by the name of Dragoon. The Treatise applies the
* Treatise, p. 38. f Il >- P- 160- { Willughby.
126 CARRIERS. [CHAP. iv.
term to the cross between the Horseman and the Tum-
bler.
There is another Horseman, of which the Treatise
observes, " It is to this day a matter of dispute, whether
this be an original Pigeon, or whether it be not a bas-
tard strain, bred between a Carrier and a Tumbler, or
a Carrier and a Powter ; and so bred over again from a
Carrier ; and the oftener it is thus bred, the stouter the
Horseman becomes.
" The only thing that seems inclinable to favour the
opinion that they are original, is a strain of this kind
brought over from Scandaroon, which will fly very great
lengths, and very swift; but still the answer readily
occurs, that they may be bred originally the same way
at Scandaroon, and so transmitted to us ; but that we
cannot determine."
CARRIERS are a race of Pigeons which from a remote
antiquity have been employed in the office of fetching,
rather than of carrying, letters. They thus bring in-
telligence home from whatever place, within their
power of return, they may have been purposely sent to.
They do not carry letters out wherever they are bid, as
some have supposed. They are the reverse of the
General Post : that forwards a note to any part of the
known world ; they will only deliver a note from any
part of the world known to them. To avail one's self of
the services of Carrier Pigeons, birds must first have
been sent to the place from which intelligence is
desired : so that in cases where difficulty of access is
likely to occur, considerable foresight has to be exer-
cised. It would be no use wishing for the arrival of
a courier Pigeon from a fortified town, or the Eddystone
CHAP, iv.] CARRIERS. CASTLE OF THE DOVES. 127
Lighthouse, if the one were in a state of siege, and the
other fairly in for six weeks had weather. The birds
have to he kept and confined in the places whence
they may be required to start on any emergency.
If the points from which intelligence is to be con-
veyed are situated at great angular distances from each
other and from the central home, different sets of birds
have to be maintained. The Pigeon which will tra-
verse with practised ease the space from London to
Birmingham, may be unable to find its way from
Bangor or Glasgow to the same town.
Carrier Pigeons have been largely employed in con-
veying messages across the English Channel ; the
Antwerp birds are so celebrated as to be cultivated as a
separate sub-race ; and there are few seaport towns on
our eastern and southern coast, from Great Yarmouth
to Penzance, in which there are not one or two Pigeon-
trainers resident, to whose hands a variety of birds are
constantly entrusted. It is over seas and desert tracts
that Pigeons are the most useful as well as the surest
messengers ; in civilized arid thickly-peopled countries
they are less needed, and are moreover apt to get
entrapped or shot, and their secret stolen from them.
Accordingly we find that they have been much em-
ployed in the East : our Carrier Pigeons are nothing
but an imitation of Oriental example. From the
many instances that might be given, we select one
less hackneyed than usual.
" The Castle of Kooshler, or Castle of the Birds (at
Bagdad), borrows its name from the Doves, by which an
old monk formerly residing at this convent conveyed
his letters. The convent crumbled into ruins on the
birth-night of the Prophet ; the remains of it go now
128 HOW CARRIERS FIND THEIR WAY. [CHAP. IT.
by the name of the Doves. The letter-doves (Koordjer)
of Bagdad remained, and became an institution cele-
brated in Greece, Arabia, and Persia. The inhabitants
of Bagdad feed them together, and separate then the
coveys, sending them to Syria, Egypt, and even to
Yemen and India, from whence they return with letters
written on fine silk paper. There are examples that
such a Dove has been sold for five hundred piastres.
The merchants of Cairo feed a great number of such
Doves to convey letters to (from ?) their correspondents
at Damietta, Rosetta, Alexandria, Algiers, Tunis, and
Morocco on one side, and to (from ?) Jedda, Yenboo,
and Mecca on the other. These Dove messengers are
continually under way from and to Bagdad and Cairo,
and I saw many of them during my stay in Egypt. It
is from them that this convent bears its name." *
The great puzzle to most persons is, how the Pigeon
finds its way through such long distances as we know
to be occasionally traversed by it. A correspondent,
whose name stands high in the scientific world, guesses
that animal magnetism may have something to do with,
it. " I should like," he writes, " to inclose a Pigeon
in some active galvanic machine, of such a nature, that
if a magnet was also inclosed, its poles would be re-
versed, and see whether the Pigeon thus transported
would find its way home. I can imagine a bird to have
a sense of its own diamagnetic condition, and so keep
a sort of rough dead reckoning when transported."
I once asked a Pigeon-fancier whether he believed
that there ever existed such a person as an honest
Pigeon-dealer; after some consideration, he replied,
* Southey's Common-Place Book, 2nd Series, p. 447.
CHAP, iv.] PHRENOLOGICAL DOCTRINE. 129
" No ! " I believe that such people, though rare, still
are to be found. But this galvanic experiment, if suc-
cessful, would completely and practically baffle the old
tricks of the trade. We should only have to purchase
a lot of Pigeons, reverse their poles by galvanism, and
then turn them loose at once, fearless of the traps,
not of the seller, but of the breeders who sold them to
the seller, who, when lost Pigeons are inquired after,
is so seldom able to remember the name and address of
the parties from whom he had them. M, Temminck,
unfortunately writing on Domestic Pigeons not from
his own experience, but relying on Parmentier and
others does not say a word about the Carrier; an
omission in his valuable work which will render any
information I can communicate all the more welcome
to my readers. It is doubtful how far the faculty or
instinct of these birds would enable them to discover
their home through long intervals of unknown country,
where the space between, say, two of their horizons
from their highest elevation, is all fresh and devoid of
recognisable landmarks. It is usual not to trust to
such a power of discovery in birds that are to be em-
ployed on any important service, but to train them, by
taking them further and further from home. In con-
ducting this mode of education, many a time, when a
boy, have I gone out for a country walk, with two or
three Pigeons in my pocket, or wrapped up in a silk
handkerchief tucked under my arm, to be tossed off at
the furthest point of the excursion, and to be found at
home on my arrival there.
Mr. George Combe, and the phrenological writers,
account for the feats performed by the Carrier and
other Pigeons, by supposing them to result from the
130 THE ORGAN OF LOCALITY. [CHAP. iv.
action of a special organ of the brain, which they have
named Locality, and which, when highly developed in
man, appears as " two large prominences, of singular
form, a little above the eyes, commencing near each
side of the nose, and going obliquely upwards and out-
wards, almost as high as the middle of the forehead."
Sir George Mackenzie considers the primitive faculty
to be that of perceiving relative position. The organ is
affirmed to be large in the busts and portraits of all
eminent navigators and travellers, such as Columbus,
Cook, and Mungo Park. Dr. Gall believes the organ
to be possessed by the lower animals, and relates
several amusing stories of dogs returning to their
homes from a great distance, without the possibility of
their having been guided by smell or sight ; indeed, his
whole work is full of delightful illustrations of natural
history. Similar facts with regard to other animals
and birds must occur to the memory of every reader ;
and we must allow that no credible hypothesis for the
means by which this surprising faculty is exercised
has been offered, except by the phrenologists. Dr.
Gall considers it to belong to the organ of Locality.
The Falcon of Iceland returns to its native place from
a distance of thousands of miles ; and Carrier Pigeons
have long been celebrated for a similar tendency,
though of inferior power. The migrations of Swallows.
Nightingales, Terns, &c., are attributed by Dr. Gall to
periodical and involuntary excitement of the organ of
Locality ; for this excitement, it cannot be denied,
occurs even in birds kept in cages, and abundantly
supplied with food. We must admit that at least some
affections of the mind are subject to involuntary and
periodical excitement of various intensity. A gentle-
CHAI>. iv.] EXPERIMENT WITH CARRIERS. 131
man with whom I was well acquainted, who had the
organ of Locality largely developed, made his way
with ease from a point in Argyleshire to one in In-
verness-shire with no other guides than a pocket com-
pass and an indifferent map a feat which will be
appreciated by those who have ever had a peep at the
mountains of Glencoe, Glencroe, and the Devil's Stair-
case, which he had to cross.
We give a quotation respecting Carrier Pigeons from
the " Phrenological Journal,"* because it is much to
the purpose, as well as because that work is not likely
to fall in the way of the generality of readers. " Dr,
Gall considers this surprising talent (of birds and ani-
mals returning to their homes) to have some connexion
with the organ of Locality. I do not pretend to offer
any hypothesis in relation to this matter, but shall state
merely a few doubts and suggestions ; and having some
time ago made an experiment, with the view of ascer-
taining whether Carrier Pigeons can instinctively return
to their homes from a distance, or whether, to make
them useful as messengers, it be necessary to teach
them the road, I think it may be interesting to you to
learn the result.
" A pair of very fine Carriers having been sent me by
a friend, I kept them for some time in the house, and,
I think, for about three weeks in the Pigeon-house, in
order to give them full time to forget tneir former
place of residence. When permitted to fly abroad,
they returned to their new habitation, where they soon
had young ; and when these were able to provide for
themselves, and the female was a second time busied in
* Vol. viii. p. 71.
132 EXPERIMENT. [CHAP. iv.
the work of incubation, it was considered the best time
to make the experiment, as the male would then have
the strongest inducement to return to his mate. Ac-
cordingly he was sent, along with his two young ones,
to a friend's near Kelso. That place was well adapted
by its situation for the object in view ; for, as the road
lies over the high ridge of the Lammermoor Hills, it
was necessary for the bird to fly to a great distance in
the proper direction, before he could see any part of
the country of which he was likely to have acquired a
knowledge, while taking pleasure excursions through
the air in clear weather from his own home a pas-
time much indulged in, when he was first allowed to
fly from the Pigeon-house, and which in all probability
was prompted by a strong desire to know the appear-
ance of the land. To avoid all danger from sports-
men, the bird was let off from my friend's house on
the Sunday morning ; and after rising to a considerable
height, he took his course in a fair direction towards
home. He was not seen for two days, but, being unable
to find his way home, he returned to the place where
he had last seen his young, and which he had only
time to observe as he towered in the air before he
took his direct line of flight. On the top of this house
he lived for some weeks, and until a Pigeon-house was
made in the roof, and his young allowed to go out
after being confined a proper time to the house.
This, I think, when joined with other observations on
the subject, clearly proves that the Carrier is guided
in his journey solely by memory, and a knowledge of
the country he has to traverse. These birds, when
employed to carry intelligence from one part to another,
are trained by being taken, first, say five miles from
CHAP.IV.J CARRIERS IN TURKEY. 133
home, then ten, and so on till the whole journey is
completed by short stages ; and even should the bird
know the road, it cannot travel in foggy weather.
" Among these animals, as among men, some are more
easily taught than others, and the fanciers distinguish
the best birds by the height and fulness of the mem-
brane above the nostrils; and the method they prac-
tise to set off an indifferent bird is to raise this mem-
brane, and puff up the part by stuffing pieces of cork
under it."
I have tried similar experiments with similar results.
Inexperienced birds return home from short distances
very easily, if the ground over which they have to fly
lies all in one plain or in one valley ; but if any high
ground intervenes between the place where they are
thrown off and their home, they are very apt to lose
their way. When thus bewildered, they are liable to get
shot during their endeavours to find the right course,
and in many parts of England Sunday does not afford
them the exemption from unauthorized gunners which it
ought to do. In short, even if the phrenological doc-
trine be true, that the Pigeon finds its way by means of
the organ of locality in its brain, still that organ re-
quires to be exercised, in order to be of service on any
unusual emergency. The Treatise takes the same
view of the performances of Carriers.
" In Turkey they call them Bagatins, or Couriers ;
and the Turks and Persians make a common practice of
breeding this sort of Pigeons in their seraglios, where
there is one whose business it is to feed and train these
birds for the use afterwards designed, which is done in
this manner : when a young one flies very hard at
home and is come to its full strength, they carry it in
134 SIR JOHN ROSS'S CARRIERS. [CHAP. ir.
a basket, or otherwise, about half a mile from home,
and there they turn it out ; after this they carry it a
mile, then two, four, eight, ten, twenty, &c., till at
length they will return from the furthest parts of the
kingdom. This practice is of admirable use ; for every
bashaw has generally a basket full of these Pigeons
sent him from the grand seraglio ; and in ease of any
insurrection, or other emergent occasion, he braces a
letter under the wings (?) of a Pigeon, whereby its flight
is not in the least incommoded, and immediately turns
it loose ; but for fear of their being shot, or struck by a
hawk, they generally dispatch five or six ; so that by
this means dispatches are sent in a more safe and
speedy method than could possibly be otherwise con-
trived. N.B. // a Pigeon be not practised when
young, the best of them will fly but very indifferently,
and may very possibly be lost." *
The N.B. explains everything ; and an excellent
commentary on the principles of Pigeon-flying has
been called forth by the cruel hoax that has gone the
round of the papers respecting the Pigeons supposed
to have arrived in Scotland from Sir John Ross in the
Arctic Regions. It appears that Miss Dunlop, of An-
nan Hill, presented Sir John, on his leaving Ayr on his
chivalrous expedition, with two pairs of Carrier Pigeons,
an old pair and a young one. It was arranged that he
should dispatch the young birds when he had fixed him-
self in winter quarters, and the old ones when he fell
in with his missing friend Sir John Franklin, in search
of whom he was about to expose himself to Arctic dan-
gers. The gift was kindly meant, but very foolish : the
* Page 76.
CHAP, iv.] EXPLANATION. 135
lady had much better have presented the voyager and
his crew with an enormous and well-seasoned Pigeon-
pie to eat, and a barrel of good Scotch ale to drink, on
first coming in sight of the ice; for hope deferred
maketh the heart sick, both with friends at home, and
with sailors abroad. On Sunday, the 13th of November,
1850, two strange Pigeons were observed flying about
the dovecote at Annan Hill, which being under repair
at the time was unfortunately shut. Suspicion was
excited, and on next Thursday they were traced to the
seat of a neighbouring gentleman, and one was secured.
The fact of their being captured elsewhere, proves
that they were only a pair of stray Pigeons, in search
of a home they knew not where, and not Miss Dunlop's
Pigeons come back again.
" Its feathers were ruffled and somewhat torn, showing,
very probably, that the dispatch attached to it had worn
off in the long and weary flight of somewhere about
2000 miles. Unfortunately, therefore, there is no
written intelligence from the explorers. The other
bird has not been caught. We remember no similar
feat being performed by a Pigeon," &c., &c.
In the " Manchester Guardian," Mr. J. Galloway
throws discredit on the whole affair, in the following
very sensible remarks : " Those who know anything of
the habits of Pigeons, or the careful training requisite
to enable them to accomplish long flights, will not easily
be led astray by the clumsy invention of some ignorant
wag, desirous of practising on the credulity of the pub-
lic. Two Pigeons were said to have been seen at a
considerable distance from their cot, because it was
shut up. This would be contrary to their habits ; they
136 NECESSARY TRAINING. [CHAP. iv.
would remain at their old habitation until nearly fa-
mished with hunger. Again : one of them had the fea-
thers ruffled or disordered under the wing, as if a let-
ter had been fastened there. Now an express flyer of
Pigeons would just as soon think of tying a letter to a
bird's tail, as under its wing. The practice is to roll
some fine tissue paper neatly round the leg, secured
with a thread of silk ; and thus the bird can travel,
without the paper causing resistance or impediment to
its flight. Then, more marvellous still, the creature
must have flown 2000 miles ! a considerable distance
of which must have been over snowy or frozen regions.
In modern times, no such distance as 2000 miles has
been accomplished by any trained Carrier Pigeon. The
merchants and manufacturers of Belgium have done
more to test the capabilities of Pigeons than any other
people. Their annual Pigeon-races produce an excite-
ment almost equal to our horse-races. In 1844 one of the
greatest races took place, from St. Sebastian, in Spain,
to Vervier. The distance would be about 600 miles.
Two hundred trained Pigeons, of the best breed in the
world, were sent to St. Sebastian, and only 70 returned.
In another race to Bordeaux, 86 pigeons were sent, and
20 returned. A strange and mistaken notion prevails
that it is only necessary to send a Carrier Pigeon away
from home and that its instinct will invariably lead it
back. Let any one try the experiment, and send the
best bred Carriers at once to Birmingham, and I ven-
ture to assert that not one will return to Manchester
without previous training viz. taking them short dis-
tances at a time and then increasing by degrees. It has
been asserted that Pigeons are guided on their return
CHAP. iv.J ANTWERP CARRIERS. 137
home from long distances by instinct. Instinct is said
to be unerring ; not so the Pigeon's flight. If instinct
be the guide, why not fly through foggy weather with
equal speed and facility as in clear sunshine ? This, it
is notorious, they cannot accomplish. When the ground
is covered with snow, Pigeons seem to miss their points
of guidance, and are lost. This would seem to favour
the opinion that they travel by sight, and are less in-
debted to instinct than is generally imagined. Carrier
Pigeons do not fly at night ; they settle down if they
cannot reach their home by the dusk of evening, and
renew their flight at daylight next morning. The ve-
locity of a Pigeon's flight seems to be greatly overrated ;
and no doubt your readers will be surprised to learn
that a locomotive railway engine can beat a Carrier
Pigeon in a distance of 200 miles."
The flight of the Carrier-Pigeon is clearly not con-
ducted by the same principle which guides the Stork,
the Quail, and the Woodcock, over wide seas, by night.
That may be an excitement of the organ of locality ;
this is not. I have had birds, that had been taken from
home six or seven miles, come back at last at the end
of two or three days ; i.e., they could not find their way
immediately. In the same time in which they accom-
plished these six or seven miles, migratory birds would
have passed over four or five hundred at least. The
Pigeons alluded to by Mr. Galloway are the famous
Antwerp Carriers. But Antwerp Carriers have been
cruelly vituperated by De Beranger, because they are
now mostly employed in matters of business rather
than of gallantry. His complaint is not to be won-
dered at; for when sensuality once lays hold of a man,
it often becomes his sole idea. No apology is offered
138 DE BEBANGEB. [CHAP, iv
for the translation of his verses ; it seems to the trans-
lator to be quite as good as the original.
LES PIGEONS DE LA BOURSE.
PIGEONS, vous que la Muse antique
Attelait au char des Amours,
Ovi volez-vous 1 ? Las, en Belgique
Des rentes vous portez le cours !
Ainsi, de tout faisant ressource,
Nobles tares, sots parvenus,
Transforment en courtiers de bourse
Les doux messagers de Venus.
De tendresse et de poesie,
Quoi ! 1'horame en vain fut allaite.
L'or allume une frenesie
Qui fletrit jusqu'a la beaute !
Pour nous punir, oiseaux fideles,
Fuyez nos cupides vautours ;
Aux cieux remportez sur vos ailes
La poesie et les amours.
THE STOCK (EXCHANGE) DOVES.
YE Pigeons, whom the ancient Muse
Once harnessed to the car of Love,
Where haste ye ? Shame ! Oh bear ye news
To Antwerp how the markets move 1
Thus ill-famed nobles, idiots vain,
In hope to shun their threaten'd fate,
In stock-jobbing employ the train
That erst on Venus used to wait.
On sentiment and poetry
Was infant Man thus vainly fed 1
Shall gold maintain a tyranny
That strikes the povv'r of beauty dead 1
In just revenge, ye faithful race,
Far from these greedy vultures fly,
And heav'nwards bear through distant space
All sweet amours and poetry.
CHAP, iv.] ENGLISH CARRIERS. 139
De Beranger was the poet, or perhaps the prophet of
Socialism, and it would have been well for himself, as for
others, if all his Chansons had been as harmless as
this one. It will be no great loss to the rising genera-
tion, if the Pigeons do carry utterly away a great part
of M. de B.'s poesie and amours ; but they will cer-
tainly remove them riot to the heavens, but to some
lower destination. As Carlysle said of Diderot, who-
ever has read De Beranger ought to wash thrice in
running water under a good hydropathic douche for
instance after the perusal, and be clean, if he can, by
those means.
The English Carrier is mostly black in colour, and
has the fleshy excrescences around the eyes, and at the
base of the bill, much more developed than the Ant-
werp birds. It is above the ordinary size of Pigeons,
and its form is a happy combination of strength with
gracefulness. Its beak is long and straight, in contrast
with that of Turbits and Tumblers ; its head is long
and oval ; its neck thin and taper. The Antwerp Car-
rier is still more slim in its proportions, with great length
of wing. Its colour also is more various. Well-bred
birds of both varieties are often kept during their
whole lives in dealers' cages, and then little observation
of their movements can be made ; but when indulged
with liberty they are impetuous and active, even more
so than the Rock Dove, which would be the next best
bird to employ as a letter-carrier. Such incarcerated
birds can sometimes be bought with a warranty of their
having never been flown, but even then great caution
must be exercised in letting them out for the first time.
They are apt, in their joy at emancipation, to dart off in
a straight line, as if by some instinctive impulse, even
140 OEJENTAL OEIGIN. [CHAP. iv.
though they have no known home to go to ; and so
lose themselves beyond the power of retracing their
way. Their acquaintanceship with the other Pigeons
of the same loft offers the best chance of regaining
them in such cases.
The result of all the learning that one can collect
respecting the Carrier Pigeons, clearly indicates their
oriental origin. " The Dutch," says the Treatise, " call
this Pigeon Bagadat, probably from a corruption of the
name of the city Bagdat, which was formerly old
Babylon, which Nimrod built ; because they judge this
Pigeon in its way from Bazora to be brought through
that city." The name of Nimrod recalls the legend
that Semiramis herself is said to have been changed
into a Dove ; which sounds as incongruous a metamor-
phosis as if we were told that Catherine of Russia had
been changed into a Dove ; for neither of those ladies
could be said to be Doves before the change. Mr.
Layard tells us, that, according to a tradition resembling
the Orphic legends, Aphrodite herself was born of an
egg, which fell out of heaven into the Euphrates, and
was incubated by two Pigeons. Appended to this are
the Doves of Venus and the oracular birds of Dodona.
And we are further informed that in the earliest sculp-
tures of Nimrod, the king is only seen in adoration
before one symbol of the deity the figure, with the
wings and tail of a bird inclosed in a circle, resembling
the Ormuzd of the Persian monuments. The resem-
blance of a modification of this to the winged globe of
Egypt is pointed out by Mr. Layard; and our own dove-
like representation of the Holy Spirit may be an em-
blem borrowed from these abstrusely-ancient symbols.
And the superstitious regard which the modern Rus-
CHAP. IV.] LACE AND FRIZZLED PIGEONS. 141
sians still entertain for the family of Pigeons, may be
attributed to the influence of traditions whose source is
far earlier than the Christian era.
THE LACE and the FRIZZLED PIGEONS are both great
rarities : the latter I have never seen ; the former only
in the collection of her Majesty the Queen, at Wind-
sor. The Treatise speaks of the Lace Pigeon as " ori-
ginally bred in Holland, where I am informed there are
great numbers of them ; though not one that I know of
is to be seen in England at present. It is in size ra-
ther less than a common Runt, and like it in shape and
make ; though I once saw a Shaker of this kind ; their
colour is white, and they are valued on account of their
scarcity and the peculiarity of their feathers ; the fibres,
or web, of which appear disunited from each other
throughout their entire plumage, and not the least con-
nected, as is common with all other Pigeons, where they
form a smooth close feather." The birds most nearly
approaching to these in plumage are the Silky Fowls.
The Frizzled Pigeon is called by the Treatise, The
Frilled-lack. " What is chiefly remarkable in them,"
it says, " is the turn of their feathers, which appear as
if every one distinctly had been raised at the extremity
with a small round pointed instrument, in such a man-
ner as to form a small cavity in each of them. Aldro-
vandi figures a" Columba crispis penn is," without giving
a description of it ; but proving, however, that among
Pigeons, as among Fowls, there have existed, for some
hundred years at least, Frizzled or, as they are called
by some, Friesland races of birds.
Beyond these there appear to me to be no other va-
rieties of solely domestic Pigeons which demand notice ;
but a few supplemental particulars may be given before
142 SUPPLEMENTAL PARTICULARS. [CHAP. iv.
closing the chapter. " The eggs of the Columbidae are
all, as has been stated, much alike, and always pure
white. Those of the Ring Dove are, however, more
blunt and rounding in shape than the eggs of the do-
mestic birds, and do not taper so much. The young
also of the different species vary very little at first,
The old birds frequently, from some cause, seem to neg-
lect one of their offspring, not giving it an equal quan-
tity of food with the other one ; nor does this neglected
chick reach the size of its companion (which far out-
strips it in growth) until it can feed itself. [Sometimes
one of the two squabs is actually starved to death by the
undue favouritism of the parents towards the other.] I
have never known the eggs produce two hens, though I
have frequently had instances of the young birds prov-
ing both to be cocks ; and this may be discovered by the
incessant bickerings they keep up, at the time when
they ought to be forming a quiet matrimonial attach-
ment. Some of the larger Pigeons, as the Runts and
Powters, often have fierce engagements, dealing each
other severe Swan-like blows with the wing, for an hour
together. Hamlet used a metaphor which was only par-
tially correct when he said,
' But I am Pigeon-livered, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter.'
Shakspeare elsewhere acknowledges that even Pigeons
may occasionally be choleric.
' The smallest worm will turn being trodden on ;
And Doves will peck in safeguard of their brood.'
Henry IV., Act 2, Scene 2nd (3rd Part).
" He also, in ' As you like it' (Act 4, Scene 1), remem-
bers the harshness with which the male bird drives the
CHAP. iv.J QUARRELS AND MATCHES. 143
truant female to her nest ' I will be more jealous of
thee than a Barbary Cock-pigeon over his hen.' Which
is saying a good deal, for Pigeons can buffet smartly.
Indeed, I well remember, when a child, being terribly
scared one day by a Powting Pigeon. I had gone up into
a hay-loft when the old cock bird was sitting on his eggs
at the corner of a truss of hay, just the height of my head.
The place was nearly dark, and on passing close by him,
he saluted me with a couple of sound boxes on the ear,
accompanied by what I then thought a deep groan !
"In their wing to wing engagements, the younger
cocks generally succeed in mastering the elder ones.
I have noticed, that when a hen Pigeon loses her mate
by death or other accident, she generally goes off, and
is lost to her owner, unless a husband be quickly sup-
plied ; but if the cock is the survivor, he will soon pro-
vide himself with a mate from some quarter, though not
always perhaps to the taste of his master. The conju-
gal love and fidelity of these birds has always been made
a great deal of ; but there is no bird that will form a
new attachment in so short a space of time. Wishing
one day to pair a cock Pigeon more suitably, I took
away the hen in the afternoon, and shut up the cock
with his new companion. By the middle of next
day they had paired, and were become excessively
agreeable to each other. They were then let out, and
by the afternoon of the day after had commenced build-
ing. [In such cases, however, they are very apt to go
back to their first love, unless he or she is utterly made
away with.] It seems to be a rule among Pigeons (if
food is plentiful and the weather not too severe), that as
soon as ever the web of the young quill feathers appears
on the squabs, the parents again commence building.
144 MODE OF MATING. [CHAP. iv.
They still continue their care of the former ones after
the second young are hatched, but seem often much re-
lieved by their sudden disappearance into the depths of
a pie." H. H.
But true love does not always run on thus smoothly :
with Pigeons, if the cock is not a bit of a tyrant, the hen
is apt to be an indomitable vixen. " Notwithstand-
ing they are very constant," says the Treatise, "when
paired to each other, seldom parting, except when either
of them grows sick or very old, yet 't is difficult to make
them pair to one's mind.
" Therefore, to oblige them to this, there should be
two coops erected, called by the fanciers matching places,
close together, with a lath partition between them, that
they may see each other ; and should be so contrived,
that they may both eat and drink out of the same ves-
sels, feeding them often with hemp-seed, which makes
them salacious ; and when you observe the hen to sweep
her tail to the cock, as he plays in the other pen, which
is termed shewing, you may put her in to him, and they
will soon be matched.
" But if, for want of this convenience, you are obliged,
at first, to put them both into one coop, always put the
cock in first for a few days, that he may be the master of
the place, especially if the hen le a virago; otherwise
they will fight so much as perhaps may settle in them
an absolute aversion for ever after. But the cock, being
master, will beat the hen, if refractory, into compli-
ance."*
Females in general will put up with any treatment,
rather than with indifference and neglect. A woman
* Treatise, p. 13.
CHAP. iv.J FURTHER CHARACTERISTICS. 145
was one day discoursing with me respecting the virtues
of her husband : " 'E 's a werry good 'usband, Sir, a
werry good 'usband indeed. To be sure, he do beat me
now and then ; but you know, Sir, men must have a
little reckeration ! "
Pigeons are thirsty creatures ; they like the neigh-
bourhood of water, and seem heartily to enjoy the act of
drinking. This is performed by plunging the head in,
nearly up to the eyes, and taking a full draught at once,
instead of sipping like cocks and hens. In incubation,
they will not sit, like hens, much beyond their proper
time ; it is after the young have appeared that the as-
siduity of the parents is most manifested. Shakspere
beautifully describes the character that was
"as patient as a female Dove
When that her golden couplets are disclosed."
" The attachment of Pigeons to the place where they
have been bred is well known, and the pertinacity with
which they will return to their former abode, even after
the greatest care and pains have been bestowed on them, is
often most extraordinary. In one case I knew a hen to
fly back eight times to her old habitation, although at the
distance of some miles ; and this bird could be easily
identified, some one having drawn a slight line of scar-
let paint round each eye, contrasting with her white head
and neck. Pigeon dealers, some of whom are the great-
est imaginable, will take advantage of this at-
tachment to home ; and in one case I ascertained a bird
to have been sold three times over, to as many different
persons !
" Every year, exactly at the same time, viz. the be-
ginning of July, the whole of our Pigeon stock, and also
that of our neighbour, work most indefatigably at two
146 FOOD. [CHAP. ir.
or three spots in our old pastures and park. What they
get there I have never been able to ascertain, as there
seem to be no available seeds of any kind to be had in
these places. It is only for about a fortnight that the
Pigeons frequent them.
" Although our domestic Pigeons usually make use
of only a moderate quantity of small sticks or straws in
constructing their nests, yet there are occasionally a few
curious exceptions. Last year I had a pair that took a
fancy to build between some hurdles placed upright
as a fence. Not being able to make a firm foundation,
they first collected an immense mass of straw and other
material, to fill up the space between them : after which
they made the nest in the usual style." H. II.
The usual food of domestic Pigeons is gray peas, but
they will thrive also on wheat, barley, and the smaller
pulse and grain. Tares are mostly too dear with us to
feed them with. They are fond of the seeds of many
wild plants, and no doubt render good service in pre-
venting the increase of weeds in those fields which they
frequent. A great treat to them is to throw out the
rubbish, after a threshing of wheat or barley is dressed,
on some lawn, or in some orchard, where it can do no
harm. They will search days together amongst this for
dross corn, poppy-seeds, &c., and get many a meal from
the minute tit-bits that would be utterly lost to cocks
and hens. Nor, as they do not scratch, are they inju-
rious in gardens, unless their little foot-prints be thought
an eye-sore. They will not disturb anything which the
gardener has properly deposited in the ground, and what
they do pick up is what otherwise would be wasted.
Hemp-seed, so often recommended, is apt to bring on
skin disease.
CHAP, iv.] COMPARISON OF BREEDS. 147
The reader may here be disposed to ask, which is the
most advisable sort of Pigeon to keep ; to which we re-
ply that tastes differ ; please yourself without consulting
others. If handsome, court-yard, table-birds are de-
sired, we should much be disposed to recommend the
larger breeds. But Runts, for some reason which is
not very clear, are held in but little esteem in England.
Fanciers disregard them because they are neither ele-
gant in shape, beautiful in feather, nor pleasing in flight.
Their size ought to recommend them for economical
purposes, unless our climate, so unlike that of their
native birth-place, the shores of the Mediterranean, is
unfavourable to their profitable increase. But their
great size makes them remarkable ornaments to the
aviary, and their history, as far as we can guess at it,
ought to attract the attention of the naturalist.
" The Leghorn Runt," says the Treatise on Domestic
Pigeons, " is a stately large Pigeon, some of them seven
inches, or better; in legs, close feathered; and firm in
flesh, extremely broad-chested, and very short in the
back ; he carries his tail, when he walks, somewhat
turned up, like a Duck's ; but when he plays, he tucks it
down ; his neck is longer than any other Pigeon's, which
he carries bending, like a Goose or a Swan. [Some of
these particulars show an approach to the Fan tails.] He
is Goose-headed, and his eye lies hollow in his head,
with a thin skin round it much like the Dutch Turn-
biers, but broader ; his beak is very short for so large a
bird, with a small wattle (cere?) on it, and the upper chap
a little bending over the under. Mr. Moore says they are
a very tender bird, but I must beg leave to dissent from
that opinion of them, having kept them several winters
in a little shed or room, one side of which was entirely
L 2
148 BUNTS AND TEUMPETEES. [CHAP. iv.
open, and exposed to the easterly winds, with no other
fence but a net, which kept them confined. Care should
be taken of their young ones, for they rear but few in
the season, if left to bring them up themselves ; there-
fore it would be most proper to shift their eggs under a
Dragoon, or some other good nurse, remembering to
give them a young one to feed off their soft meat ; if
this method be pursued, they will breed very well.
" I have had a hen of the Leghorn breed that weighed
two pounds two ounces avoirdupois weight; and have
killed of their young ones which, when on the spit,
were as large as middling spring fowls. It should be
observed that these, and all other Runts, increase in
bulk, till they are three or four years old. As to their
feathers, they are various, but the best that T have seen
were either white, black, or red-mottled. Leghorn
Runts are more valued than any other sort of Runts,
though there is a vast difference in them ; some of them
being very bad ones, though brought from Leghorn."
There does not appear to be any great distinction be-
tween the Leghorn, Spanish, and Roman Runts. Some
of the latter are so big and heavy that they can hardly
fly, which circumstance, if not the result of domestica-
tion, would account for their disappearance in a wild
state.
The Runt was well known to Aldrovandi. He gives
a woodcut of it, rude, but characteristic, and with the
tail famously tucked up. The Trumpeter belongs to
that family of extra-sized Pigeons, the Runts, which
are so little valued in this country, although speci-
mens, when to be met with, are rarely cheap. It is
a bird which many would call ugly, but is of striking
appearance, from being so much larger than the Pigeons
CHAP, iv.] COMPARISON OF BREEDS. 149
usually seen, as well as from its thickly-feathered feet
and legs, and the military cut of its head. I quite be-
lieve that it received its title of Trumpeter rather on
account of the helmet-like crest at the back of the head,
and the tuft of feathers at the base of the beak, which
have very much the air of well-curled mustachios, than
because its coo is specially sonorous or brazen. May
not the word Trumpeter be a corruption of the Italian
Tronfo, or Runt ? Temminck includes the Trumpeter
in his brief account of the Pigeon Romain, or Runt, the
Columba hispanica of Latham. He says, " Some of these
are found rough-footed, with very long feathers on their
toes, which seem to incommode the bird in its move-
ments ; others are tufted, the only difference being in
the feathers of the occiput, which are turned and set
up."
These have great claims on our favour from their
classical associations : Turbits, Nuns, and Tumblers are
both pretty and profitable ; but the Pigeon of greatest
interest, a pure flock of which is almost an aristocrati-
cal appendage to a mansion, is the bird which stands at
the head of the following chapter.
Blue Pock Pigeon (Columba lima).
CHAPTER V.
PIGEONS WHICH ARE BOTH DOMESTIC AND WILD.
The Blue Rock Dove. Varro's account. Distinguished from Dovehouse
Pigeons. Disposition. Experiment. Gregariousness. Crossing with Carriers.
Less kept than formerly. Maritime haunts. Colonel Napier. Rock Pigeons
in Sutherland. Differ in habits from Fancy Pigeons. Characteristic plumage.
Productiveness. Quality of flesh. Dovehouse Pigeon. Indian Rock Pigeon.
Mr. Blyth's account. Columba affinis. Question of distinctness. Pigeon
matches. Apology. Numbers shot. Pigeon-shooting in France. Tempera-
ture of the bird. Value as nurses. The Collared Turtle. Native haunts.
Disposition. How far domestic. Escapades. Food. Pairing. Nesting and
incubation. Education of the young. Severe discipline. Watchfulness.
Voices. Interesting pets. Plumage and varieties. Hybrids. Heralds of Peace.
The Irish Dove.
WHEN there is no good standard translation of an
author whose testimony is of importance on any dis-
CHAP, v.] VARRO 'S ACCOUNT. 151
puted point, it is better to quote the passage in its
original words than to incur any suspicion of having
given a weak or warped rendering, after the example of
Chaunteclere's explanation to the faire Damoiselle Perte-
lote, as related by Chaucer:
" For al so siker as In principle
Mulier est hominis cotoftuio.
(Madame, the sentence of this Latine is,
Woman is mannes joye and mannes blis.) "
We therefore quote here a few sentences from Varro,
because two thousand years ago he recorded some pecu-
liarities in the races of Domestic Pigeons (and other
passages of similar import are to be found in other
ancient authors) which appear to us to be opposed to,
if not irreconcil cable with, the theories of some mo-
dern naturalists.
" Si unquam (HfMrti^W^o<pf7 constituisses, has tuas
esse putares, quamvis ferae essent. Duo enirn genera
earum in KEptrTepoTgoQsiu esse solent : Unum agreste, ut
alii dicunt, saxatile, quod habetur in turribus, ac colu-
minibus villae, a quo appellatse columba, quae propter
timorem naturalem summa loca in tectis captant ; quo
fit ut agrestes maxime sequantur turres, in quas ex agro
evolant suapte sponte, ac remeant. Alterum genus illud
columbarum est clementius, quod cibo domestico con-
tentum intra limina januae solet pasci; hoc genus
maxime est colore albo ; illud alterum agreste sine albo,
vario. Ex his duabus stirpibus fit miscellum tertium
genus fructus causa."*
This passage may be fairly translated thus : " If ever
you should establish a Dovery, you would consider the
birds your own, although they were wild. For two
* Varro, iii. 7.
152 DISTINCTIONS. [CHAP. v.
sorts of Pigeons are usually kept in a Dovery ; the one
belonging to rural districts, and, as others call it, a
Rock Pigeon, which is kept in towers, and among the
beams and rafters (columinibus) of a farm-house, and
which is on that account named columba, since from na-
tural timidity it seeks the highest parts of roofs ;
whence it happens that the rustic Pigeons especially
seek for towers, to which they may at their own plea-
sure fly from the fields, and return thither. The second
kind of Pigeons is more quiet; and, contented with the
food given it at home, it accustoms itself to feed within
the limits of the gate. This kind is of a white colour
principally, but the country sort is without white or va-
riegated colours. From these two original stocks a
third mixed or mongrel kind is bred for the sake of the
produce."
The complete agreement of the above description
with the Pigeons kept at the present day, ought to ope-
rate as a check against the too hasty adoption of the
belief that all our Tame and Fancy Pigeons are derived
and descended from the Columba lima or Blue Rock ; or
at least, which is all we ask, it may serve as a reason-
able excuse for those who think they see sufficient grounds
for entertaining a doubt respecting the accuracy of the
generally-received opinion. One source of error is a
careless use of terms ; and we frequently find that per-
sons, when speaking of Dovehouse Pigeons, only mean
a mixed rabble of birds produced by allowing all sorts
of mongrels to breed together as they will, Varro's
"miscellum tertium genus," in short; but these ought
no more to be called Dovehouse Pigeons, than a pack
of promiscuously-bred village curs ought to be called a
pack of hounds : they are Tame Pigeons, that is all.
CHAP.V.J DISPOSITION. 153
But whenever we use the term " Dovehouse Pigeon" in
these pages, we wish to be understood to indicate not the
Blue Rock Pigeon, the Columba lima, but the CoJumba
affinis, to be next described. Both species tenant the
Dovecotes belonging to old English farms and Manor-
houses, in a little more than half-tame state. Both
birds occupy the rocks, ruins, and caves of Europe, in a
condition which has often been called feral, rather than
wild ; and both have at this moment an instinctive love
and aptitude for the same unmodifiable semi-domestic
life, in which we find them indulging for all preceding
ages of time, till historic records cease to aid our search.
The very early notices in ancient authors of the exist-
ence in their days of a gentler, tamer, more stay-at-
home race of Domestic Pigeons, is equally remarkable.
Most people imagine that if Blue Rock and real
Dovehouse Pigeons, such as we have specified, are
reared in confinement, and petted and indulged in oc-
casional flights and excursions, like Nuns, or Tumblers,
or Powters, they will henceforward become as confiding
in their manners, and as trustworthy as them in respect
to the extent of their wanderings. The circumstance
which first taught me the contrary, and led to a just ap-
preciation of the distinction laid down by Varro, was
this : I had purchased a pair of Nuns, supposing them
to be male and female ; they proved a couple of hens,
laying conjointly four eggs, and commencing incubation
in the regular family style, exactly as in a former work
I have stated that two female Swans will do, if they can-
not find a mate of the opposite sex. To incubate four
probably unfertilized eggs was a waste of vital warmth ;
so we removed these, and substituted a couple of Blue
Rock Pigeon's eggs, which were kindly supplied to me
134 EXPERIMENT. [CHAP. v.
by a neighbour who has a pure and choice stock. Two
birds were reared, and they remained confined in company
with the other Pigeons in the loft. During this time
they were certainly shyer and wilder than other
squeakers of the same age, and avoided, as much as
they could, the society of the rest of their companions.
Our whole stock of Pigeons then a miscellaneous lot
about four and twenty in number had never been flown,
but were kept constantly in confinement. When the
Blue Rocks were about two months old, it was hoped
that the other birds had become sufficiently attached to
their home to be allowed to take a little outdoor exer-
cise, and it was never suspected that any caution need
be exercised with young birds hatched upon the spot.
So one evening the prison door was thrown open : circle
after circle was traced in the air ; great was the clap-
ping of wings, and proud were the struttings upon the
roof-ridge. But our confidence was not abused, though
some of them were old birds, and had been brought
from a former home. They all re-entered their loft,
except one or two that could not find their way in on
this first indulgence with liberty, and which were taught
the mode of entrance on the occasion of a subsequent
airing ; all, except the strongest Blue Rock, the other
not being yet able to perform long and continued flights.
Instead of entering the house at reasonable supper-
time, the runaway amused itself with illustrating Vir-
gil's beautiful line
" Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas."
" It cuts its liquid way, nor moves its rapid wings."
It honoured us for a short time by spending the night
on the roof of the house ; where it passed the day, or
CHAP, v.] GBEGARIOUSNESS. 155
how it fed, we knew not, At last it took its departure
for good and all, and we subsequently learned that it had
joined the parent colony, consisting of Blue Rocks only,
about a quarter of a mile distant, from which it had
been brought in the egg. I have since induced a few of
these birds to stay with me, but only by placing their
eggs under other Pigeons to hatch in my own loft.
All attempts to get young Blue Rocks to settle with the
rest of my flock have failed. They have always left us,
as soon as they had sufficient strength of wing to do so.
My neighbour's Blue Rocks often pass over our house,
but they never alight to make the acquaintance of the
Pigeons here : the most they do is to sink gracefully a
little in their course, without altering its direction, and
at once continue their journey to some distant field ; for
the Blue Rock Dove is not always " contented with the
food given it at home," but will, if so minded, stray far
and wide in search of provender. Powters and Fan-
tails may be satisfied to lead an idle life, and to subsist
on what is offered to them without exertion ; but the
Blue Rock prefers to earn for itself its daily bread, and
likes the meal gained by independent toil, better than
the feast held out as a temptation to sink into a condi-
tion of indolent servility.
Blue Rock Pigeons are fond of living in large socie-
ties. He who has most of these birds will be sure to
continue to have most, from desertion, as well as in-
crease. They decidedly prefer associating with their
own counterparts and congeners, to mingling on easy
and equal terms with tame Pigeons of quiet habits.
Persons who keep a pure stock are averse to the intru-
sion of any of the fancy kinds : this may be merely
intended as a precaution to maintain the purity of blood;
156 LESS COMMONLY BRED. [CHAP. v.
but the rule may be a traditional one, suggested by the
fear lest the presence of these unwelcome strangers
should drive the wilder birds to seek other haunts, where
they may be undisturbed by the sight of new faces.
" The New and Complete Pigeon-Fancier," by Daniel
Girton, Esq., without date, tells us, p. 45, " The Dove-
cote, or common Blue Pigeon, being both prolific and
hardy, is most worthy the attention of country people,
as it is generally remarked that the small Pigeons rear
the greatest number of young ones ; but when the breed
of Pigeons proves too small, it will be proper to inter-
mix with the Dovecote a few of the common tame
sort ; in the procuring of which, care must be taken not
to select them of glaring colours, for the rest will not
easily associate with them.
Carriers seem to be kept as Dovehouse Pigeons in
the East, and the Blue Rocks would in England
answer as letter-carriers better than many of the
fancy kinds : the range throughout which they tra-
verse is so exceedingly extensive, that they would find
their way from any moderate distance without difficulty.
When crossed with Carriers, the result is a larger,
longer-shaped bird, of considerable power. The Blue
Rock is not even mentioned in the excellent " Treatise
on Domestic Pigeons, 1 ' attributed to Dr. Moore, from
which subsequent pamphlets published as guides to
Pigeon-Fanciers have taken so much without acknow-
ledgment.
It is not very common now in Norfolk to meet with
an old Dovecote stocked with the real Columba lima,
its place being mostly occupied by a few pairs of mon-
grels. The species, though not rare, is far from being
so frequent as it used to be : and it looks as if the more
CHAP. v.J MAKITIME HAUNTS. 157
general tillage of the land, and the increase of popu-
lation in many parts of the kingdom, had driven the
birds away to take refuge in a quieter home, find wilder
districts to traverse in their foraging excursions, and
leave the old nesting-places to be occupied by a more
tame-spirited race. So that an ancient Dovecote, well
filled with a thriving colony of Blue Rock Pigeons, is
really an aristocratical affair ; and it ought to be valued
and maintained in the same manner as the old oaks
and elms, or the rookeries and heronries belonging to
an estate. An inspection of the provincial game and
poultry -shops will show that a large proportion of the
young Pigeons now brought to table are not Blue Rocks,
but Dovehouse Pigeons ; besides Powters, and Tum-
blers, and perhaps foul-feathered or cross-bred birds of
other tame kinds : many of the Tumblers are sold dead
for sixpence or ninepence each, which, when adult,
would fetch in London very fair prices from amateurs.
And Tumblers of the ordinary kind not the much-
valued specimens of hereditary deformity, with spheri-
cal heads and no beak are now found more profitable
in many situations to breed young birds for the market
than the capricious unmanageable Blue Rock Dove.
Maritime localities seem to be the favourite haunts
of this bird, whether wild or tame ; and as Venus is
fabled to have arisen from the sea, so her emblematic
and attendant Doves are delighted to frequent its vi-
cinity. I have seen them at Great Yarmouth fly down
to the beach, to drink of the small pools of salt water
left there by the tide, though plenty of fresh water was
to be had within, for them, an easy distance. Rocky
islets, and caverns in sea-washed cliffs, are known to be
of all habitations the most attractive to them. The
158 MARITIME HAUNTS. [CHAP. v.
coasts and innumerable islands of the Mediterranean
are still famous, as they have been ever since the his-
toric memory of man, for the plenty and excellence of
the Bock Pigeons which have located themselves in va-
rious situations there. Colonel Napier, in his amusing
and spirited "Wild Sports of Europe, "thus describes his
meeting with them at Marfa, a decayed palace or villa
situated at the western extremity of Malta:
" On learning that our professed vocation was to
wage war on the beasts of the earth, the fowls of the
air, and fishes of the sea, the old Pensioner who was
in charge of the place, and was known by the name of
Sans Facon, expressed his regret that it was too early
in the season for the Tunny fishery, which he described
as being well worth seeing, and which has been cele-
brated in history even from the times of the Phoenicians.
He, however, proposed to accompany us on a shooting
excursion, and promised to indicate the usual abodes of
the Blue Pigeon, which in great numbers frequents all
the precipitous cliffs forming the boundary of this rocky
coast. We accordingly sailed out, and proceeding in a
southerly direction towards the cliffs, went over ground
such as in all my wanderings I had never before wit-
nessed. * * * * * * *
" Leaving this scene of desolation this wide bed of
lava and volcanic deposit we gradually ascended, as the
abrupt and rocky shore now assumed a still bolder ap-
pearance, and rose to stately cliffs, at whose foot broke
the foaming surge with a dull and sullen sound, subdued
and deadened to our ears by the fearful height we had
attained .above the angry and boiling billows. This
was the resort of our feathered foes (?), who, started
from their nest by the stones hurled over the perpendi-
CHAP. v.J HOCK PJGEONS OF SUTHERLAND. 159
cular sides of the precipice by old Sans Fa9on, afforded
us capital shots ; but as all our victims found a watery
grave, we were soon convinced that to secure the killed
and wounded a boat would be necessary, in which to
coast along under the cliffs ; and it was now too late to
think of such an accessory."*
Another acute sporting naturalist gives a companion
picture, sketched on British ground.
"Blue Kock Pigeons live in all the caves on the coast
of Sutherland, and are to be seen flitting to and fro from
morning to night.
"Although the wind had now fallen, the swell was tre-
mendous, dashing the spray half way up the rocks. It
was a curious sight to see the Rock Pigeons flying ra-
pidly into the caves, sometimes dashing like lightning
through the very spray of the breakers, scarcely topping
the crests of the waves, which roared and raged through
the narrow caverns where these beautiful birds breed.
The Bock Pigeons were very numerous here, and con-
stantly flying between their wild but secure breeding-
places and the small fields about Durness. I shot a
few of them, and found their crops full of green food,
such as clover, the leaves of the oat, &c. [Fancy
Pigeons rarely if ever practise the habit of eating
green food.] A number of small shells were also in the
crop of every bird. The Kock Pigeon is a very beauti-
fully-shaped little bird, rather smaller and shorter than
the common house Pigeon [i. e. the domestic Rock
Dove], of which it is plainly the original stock. They
seem very restless, seldom remaining long in one field,
but constantly rising and flitting away to some other
* Vol. ii. pp. 64-6.
160 PECULIAB HABITS. [CHAP. v.
feeding-ground, with an uncertain kind of flight ; but
when alarmed, or going straight home, they fly with
very great rapidity. [The domesticated birds have ex-
actly the same habits.] They are easily tamed when
caught young. The eggs seem very difficult to get at ;
nothing but a ladder will enable a person to reach them,
and it is almost impossible either to procure such a lad-
der, or if procured, to carry it to the cavens where they
breed."*
Great confusion has arisen, and erroneous theories
have been founded, by attributing to the Fancy Pigeons
the habits of the Blue Rocks, and vice versa, and so
proving the question by arguing from imaginary pre-
mises. Thus Temminck, to prove the original identity
of the above-mentioned birds, says " Our Dovehouse
Pigeons, voluntary captives, (are they captive at all ?)
nevertheless sometimes abandon the commodious esta-
blishments which we offer them, and desert our Dove-
cotes; they appear to throw themselves into their an-
cient state of nature, and select the crannies of old
towers, or hollow places in trees (?), in which they make
their nest and rear their young ; and these latter, whe-
ther by instinct or need, often return to install them-
selves afresh in the very buildings from which their
parents had fled." The next sentence explains the
whole matter, now that we have a clue. " Moreover,
these deserter Pigeons, which are also called Rock
Doves, do not differ in any manner from the Biset of
the Dovehouse, nor even from the wild Biset. "f
Now, the fancy Pigeons, the truly tame Pigeons, do
not reassume wild habits : when they lose their way, or
* St. John's Tour in Sutherland, vol. i. p. 285.
t Hist, des Pig. et Gall., vol. i. p. 126.
CHAP. v.J PLUMAGE AND WEIGHT. 161
escape from a new and therefore a distasteful home, they
do not betake themselves to the rocks or to the ruins,
but enter some trap or loft, or join some other flock of
tame Pigeons : the Pigeons which do assume that state
of independence are always either Blue Rocks, or Co-
lumber affines, not Powters, Fantails, &c. Whereas the
Blue Rocks do not voluntarily take up their home in a
trap, but, as my experiment proved, will escape from a
home that is too much interfered with, even when
hatched by that quiet bird the Nun. How many Blue
Rocks has a Pigeon-fancier ever trapped? Buffon,
though his theory of the diversities of species amongst
Pigeons is far bolder than Temminck's, does not make
this confusion in the habits of the real Dovehouse and
the Fancy Pigeons.
A main characteristic in the plumage of the Columba
lima is the absence of spots, which are so remarkable a
feature in that of the C. affinis. The bill is dark slate-
colour, with a whitish cere at the base : the head also
is slate-colour, continued down the neck and belly, with
iridescent hues of green and purple. The back and wings
are paler slate-colour, or a sort of French gray. The quill-
feathers are darker towards the tips. Across the wings
are two very dark bands ; the rump is whitish ; the tail
is of the same colour as the head, each feather being
darker at the portion near the end, so as to form a dark
semicircular band when the tail is outspread in flight.
The feet and toes are coral-red ; the claws black. The
irides are bright orange, shaded to yellow towards the
pupil, which is black. The joint weight of three birds
now brought in for inspection is 2 Ibs. 9 oz. The only
variety of the Columba lima which I have ever seen, or
heard of on any authority, are light blue specimens,
M
'^ VALUE OF FLESH. [CHAP, v,
with the bars on the wings and tail very distinct ; such
birds are extremely beautiful, and it may be suspected
whether many of these are not merely individuals that
have quite arrived at their adult plumage.
In sheltered situations, with plentiful food, they will
breed nearly all the year round, except during moult-
ing time. Blue Rocks were with me the first to recom-
mence laying this autumn (1850). A pair had two eggs
on the 1 9th of November. The next pair to breed were
a Blue Rock hen and a cock Tumbler that had mated
together. The flesh of the young birds is excellent, and
by some connoisseurs is esteemed superior to that of
any other species ; but it must be made into pies, being
seldom fat enough to roast. For this purpose we must
have recourse to the large lazy Runts.
But " Pigeons," saith Willughby, " are far harder to
concoct than Chickens, and yield a melancholy juyce.
They say that the eating of Dove's flesh is of force
against the plague ; insomuch that they who make it
their constant or ordinary food are seldom seized by
pestilential diseases ; others commend it against the
palsie and trembling ; others write that it is of great
use and advantage to them that are dim-sighted. The
flesh of young Pigeons is restorative, and useful to re-
cruit the strength of such as are getting up, or newly
recovered from some great sickness : to us it seems to
be most savoury, and if we may stand to the verdict of
our palate, comparable to the most esteemed."
The distinction between the Blue Rock and the Dove-
house Pigeons has long been known to dealers, less so
to fanciers, and scarcely acknowledged by naturalists.
The latter bird is much the more common inhabitant of
Dovecotes, and when it betakes itself to a feral state,
CHAP. V.j
DOVEHOUSE PIGEON.
163
Dovehouse Pigeon (Columba affinis of Blyth).
exhibits less dislike to the neighbourhood of man. A
few pairs build their nests among the cornices and capi-
tals of the public buildings even in London ; and the
church steeple of Morningthorpe in Norfolk was lately
tenanted by some of these birds, whose nesting-places
had been pulled down*.
Mr. E. Blyth f gives an account of the Rock Pigeon
of India, which he believes to be distinct from that of
Europe, and of some domestic Pigeons of the same
* A still stranger settlement was this : " The other day, ex-
amining a wooden railway-bridge across a drain, I found several
Pigeons building underneath, in spite of the thundering of the
trains which were constantly passing within a few inches of their
heads." W. W. C.
f Annals of Natural History, vol. xix. p. 101.
164 INDIAN KOCK PIGEON. [CHAP. v.
Continent ; and if anything would prove that the Fancy
Pigeons are not lusus natures from our Rock Pigeon, it
would be his supposition that " sports," as nearly as
possible coinciding with ours, are also derived from the
independent Indian original. He writes as follows :
" Columba intermedia, Strickland, Ann. and Mag.
N. Hist., 1844, p. 39. Indian Rock Pigeon. These
birds rarely, if ever, perch upon trees, except under
peculiar circumstances, as when a Dovecote of Domestic
Pigeons is placed near a tree with large and convenient
shaped boughs, in which case the Pigeons will commonly
resort to the latter to sit and roost, but never to form
their nests. In their wild state it is probable that they
never perch at all, retiring to roost and nestle in caverns
and small hollows of rocks or sea-cliffs, in the absence
of which they select buildings that offer suitable re-
cesses, breeding in the capitals of pillars and whatever
other convenient nooks they find. Hence, when unmo-
lested, these house Pigeons soon become familiarised
with man, and require little encouragement to merge
into the domestic condition.
" The common wild Blue Pigeon of India is most
closely allied to the European C. livia, but it is rather
a deeper slaty-gray, with invariably a deep ash-coloured
rump ; whereas C. livia has as constantly a pure white
rump : there appears to be no other distinction between
them, unless it be that the play of colours on the neck
is finer in the Indian bird. The same difference in the
colour of the rump is observable in the Domestic
Pigeons of the two countries, whenever these tend to
assume the normal colouring ; for the tame Indian
Pigeons are as clearly derived from the wild C. interme-
dia as those of Europe are from C. livia."
CHAP, v.j WHETHER DISTINCT. 165
The fact of such derivation is here assumed, without
questioning the truth of the doctrine. But it does
seem to us a most curious result, and contrary to the
course of chances, that so anomalous a monstrosity as
the Fantail (if it be monstrosity), should be equally
generated, with such complete similarity as to be a du-
plicate specimen, from two distinct and aboriginal spe-
cies, one existing in India, the other in Europe. It
appears just as improbable as that two wild species
of Brassica, one native of Asia, the other of Europe,
should each throw off, as seedlings, an identical variety
of brocoli.
Mr. Blyth goes on to describe the Indian Rock
Pigeon : " Colour slaty-gray, darker on the head,
breast, upper and lower tail-coverts, and tail, which last
has a blackish terminal band not well defined ; nuchal
feathers divergent at their tips, and brightly glossed with
changeable green and reddish-purple ; two black bars
on the wing ; the primaries tinged with brownish, and
the outermost tail feather having its external web gra-
dually more albescent to the base. Irides brownish-
orange, the lids bluish-white ; bill black, with a white
mealiness at the tumid base of its upper mandible ; and
legs reddish-pink. Length 13 by 23 inches; of wing
8f inches."
What follows is especially deserving of attention
from the speculative naturalist : " In some specimens,
particularly among the semi-domestic, slight dusky
streaks occur on the shafts of the lesser wing-coverts,
which streaks, in the latter, are often much more deve-
loped, spreading across the feathers and spotting the
whole wing; such birds much resembling (except in
the rump not being white) a race of wild Pigeons that
166 DISCRIMINATIONS. [CHAP. v.
are abundantly brought at times to the London mar-
ketsall of them shot birds; but the latter have not, in
addition, the two black bands on the wing well-defined, as
seems to be regularly the case with this variety of Columba
intermedia. Moreover, in the English bird, the spotting
of the lesser wing-coverts does not occur on the shafts of
the feathers, but partly margins each web, excepting
near the edge of the wing, where the feathers are un-
spotted. I suspect that the wild Rock Pigeons of
the south of England are mostly of the kind alluded to,
which may be designated C. affinis ; while those of North
Britain, and it would seem of Europe generally, are true
C. livia."
We quite agree with this discriminating separation
of the blotched Pigeon from the softly-shaded and de-
cidedly-barred colouring of the genuine Blue Rock
Dove. Some time since this distinction was pointed
out to us, and its permanence insisted upon, by an ex-
perienced Norwich Pigeon-dealer, named Alexander,
who is no longer on earth, and who died in the posses-
sion of much unrecorded knowledge on the difficult
subject of Fancy Pigeons. The markings on the wing
of the Columba affinis somewhat resemble those of the
Passenger Pigeon, but no one will surely assert that
there is any derivation in this case. Many Pigeon-
dealers distinguish the affinis from the Blue RockPigeon,
calling it the " Dovehouse," vulgo "Duffer;" but both
are equally occupants of Dovecotes, and both are equally
ready to assume the wild or feral state, though the for-
mer is more commonly found so, at least in the southern
half of England. There is reason to believe that in
domestication they would breed with each other : but
the claims of C. affinis to be regarded as a species de-
CHAP, v.] SPECULATIONS. 167
serve to be fairly considered, although Mr. Yarrell has
not admitted it into his arrangement of British birds.
It did not enter into that gentleman's plan to include
domesticated varieties ; and he doubtless regarded this
as a mere offspring of altered conditions from a state of
nature, and a case of " breaking," as it is called, in co-
louring.
But what is it that we give to, or provide for, our
Tame and Dovehouse Pigeons, that should give rise to
such wonderful physical changes ? Tbe Fancy kinds,
after we haw received them in that character, are indeed
confined, over-fed, and kept warm, without, however, any
remarkable novelties being ever struck out, that any one
can undertake to demonstrate. But the others have
much their usual food and exercise and dwellings : they
are not more snug in the Pigeon-loft than they would
be in a hole in a rock, or in a ruin : they cannot fill
their crops fuller in the court-yard than they would on
the barley stubble, the pea-field, or the new-sown wheat:
and to us the great wonder is that naturalists have not
shrunk from admitting effects without causes quite so
readily as they have done.
Mr. Blyth proceeds : " Here, again, we have three
closely-allied species (namely, the intermedia, the livia,
and the affinis), analogous to the three yellow-footed
Hurrials, or arboreal fruit-eating Doves ; and if they
are to be regarded as mere varieties of the same, what
limits can be assigned to the further variation of wild
species ? Col. leuconota is but a step more removed,
and I doubt not would equally merge and blend with the
others in a state of domesticity. Equally allied are
Treron sphenura and Tr. cantillans ; Tr. apicauda and
Tr. oxyura ; and if we grant also some variation of size,
168 PIGEON-MATCHES. [CHAP. v.
we have Tr. bicincta and Tr. vernans ; Tr. Malabarica
and Tr. chloroptera; Turtur Chinensis and T. Suratensis;
T. meena and T. auritus, &c., &c., which might be re-
garded as local varieties of the same ; and we might
thus go on reducing the number of species ad infinitum,
with no useful definite result, but to the utter confusion
of all discriminative classification. However closely
races may resemble, if they present absolute and con-
stant differences, whether of size, proportions, or colour-
ing, and if they manifest no tendency to grade from one
to the other, except in cases of obvious intermixture,
we are justified in considering them as distinct and sepa-
rate ; and more especially if each, or either, has a wide
range of geographic distribution, without exhibiting any
climatal or local variation."
If this bold and judicious dictum be applicable to
any family of birds, it assuredly is to the Columbidae ;
which, else, might be made to represent almost an un-
broken sliding-scale, from one extreme member of it to
the other. So we will now take advantage of the im-
pression made upon the reader, and leave him to think
over the matter quietly by himself.
The bird now under notice is the species most
usually employed in the trials of skill called " Pigeon-
matches." Blue Rocks will do, but are not so easily
to be had : the low-priced mongrels of Fancy Pigeons
are objected to, as often affording by their colour an un-
fairly easy mark, and apt to be less bold and dashing in
their escape from the trap. The Dovehouse Pigeon, or
" Duffer," is the victim which has the most frequently
to run the gauntlet for its life.
Pigeon-matches have been much carped at, and even
openly condemned, by unthinking persons, who do not
CHAP, v.] APOLOGY. 169
intend to be hypocrites, but who, to escape the charge of
inconsistency, ought to abstain altogether from Pigeon-
pie at least. It is so easy to talk humanely, when not
the slightest point of self-denial is involved thereby;
but if Pigeons are to be killed and eaten, it is surely a
greater act of generosity, to say to the victims, "There,
go ! flee for your lives ; save yourselves if you can, for
the present ! " than to wring so many dozen necks, and
toss the fluttering bodies on the ground. Many, of
course, are shot ; but some escape ; the maimed and
wounded rarely suffer long, as the camp-followers of
such meetings keep a sharp look-out, and bag every bird
which is touched without falling within the proper dis-
tance. And when these trials of skill are made the
subject of unfavourable remark, it is forgotten that we
live in a land of butchers, and poulterers, and people
licensed to deal in game ; and that in this crowded
population, and in these heaving troublesome times,
no one knows whose turn it will next be to have to
search for a home in lands where people must often
either be their own poulterers, keepers, and butchers
even, or go unsupplied. The lady whose husband or
brother is out in the bush, gun in hand, searching after
fresh meat, which she and her children may not have
tasted for days, or perhaps weeks, and which he is
anxiously hunting for, as necessary to the health, it may
be the life, of one of his ailing companions in the
wilderness, will then call to mind, with wonder and
contempt, the sneers which in former days she may
have heard thrown out respecting the sinfulness of
shooting. The remembrance that her friend and pro-
tector once made a successful hit at a Pigeon-match,
will not then make her less confide in or respect him
1 70 NUMBERS SHOT. [CHAP. v.
But there is betting at Pigeon-matches ! so there
may be on any occasion ; and betting on trials of skill is
surely less culpable than on matters of chance. Heavy
bets have been made on which of two drops of rain
on a window-pane would first run down to the bottom ;
but the ultra-precise folks ought not, therefore, to blame
the rain for falling. They are at liberty to censure the
bettors as much as they please; but they should not
grumble at the circumstance either that rain falls, or
that Pigeons are shot with guns. Had I the happiness
to be blessed with a son, it would be an early care to
have him taught the skilful, and, I hope, judicious use
of fire-arms. The sterling English good sense of that
worthy pillar of the Church, Thomas Fuller, B.D.,
Prebendarie of Sarum, declared that, " above all, shoot-
ing is a noble recreation, and an half-liberal art. A rich
man told a poor man that he walked to get a stomach
for his meat : And I, said the poor man, walk to get
meat for my stomach. Now shooting would have filled
both their turns ; it provides food when men are hungry,
and helps digestion when they are full."
And the chance of the poor Duffers getting away is
really greater than may be imagined. Every one who
handles a gun is not necessarily a dead shot. In
" Bell's Life in London" for June 3, 1849, one record
out of many of such doings may be found ; and an ex-
tract is given, just to show that for a Pigeon to be thrust
into the fatal trap, is by no means an inevitable sentence
of death
" On Friday week Mr. R. Rollings and Mr. W.
Green (both of Barnsley) shot a match at Hyde Park,
Sheffield, for 50 a side, at '20 birds each, 21 yards
rise, If oz. of shot, Hyde Park boundary ; Mr. Rollings
CHAP, v.] MATCHES IN FRANCE. 171
won, killing 12 out of 20, Mr. Green only scoring 7 out
of 17. Mr. James Fox, corn-factor, and a gentleman
from Barnsley, shot for 2 at 5 birds each, 21 yards
rise, l|oz. of shot, the usual boundary ; they tied, kill-
ing 2 each." If this were the rule, the Pigeons would
certainly prefer falling into the hands of the gunner
rather than of the poulterer ; but we read further on
that a sweepstakes was also shot for by seven gentle-
man, at 3 birds each, distance according to calibre ;
Messrs. Porter and Willcox killed all their birds, and
divided. It must also be confessed that the birds which
escape, on returning to their homes, may perhaps be
again re-caught and sold, to be shot at just once more.
It would be no more than fair if every owner of a Dove-
cote were to give every 'scaped Pigeon a twelvemonth's
grace afterwards at least.
The sport is also disapproved of by the high authority
of "Nimrod Abroad;" but he does not make out his
case against it so well as some of the friends of hu-
manity might wish. " Pigeon-shooting," he says, " is
carried on upon a large scale in the Tivoli Gardens, in
Paris. It is one of those modern innovations on legiti-
mate sporting which I could never bring myself to ap-
prove of; and were I to require an argument against
it, on the score of wanton cruelty, I should find it in the
fact of the almost incredible number of a hundred and
ninety thousand Pigeons having been let out from the
traps in these gardens alone, since the year 1831."
But Mr. Apperley's book was published in 1842, or
11 years afterwards. The division of 190,000 by 11
gives 17,272 per annum, not 1500 per month, nor
400 per week ; i. e. not a hundred a day to supply a lux-
urious metropolis, especially fond of pates, entrees, and
172 LIVE TEMPERATURE. [CHAP. v.
the little piquant dishes for which the smaller birds are
in such demand ; so that the poulterer, to furnish the re-
quisite supply, will have to be much more wanton in his
destructiveness, if not in his cruelty, than the Pigeon
shooters.
" This exhibition was founded by an Englishman of
the name of Bryon, who is the publisher of the French
' Racing Calendar,' and I received from him the fol-
lowing curious facts : * At its commencement, sixteen
poor peasants were employed to bring the birds from
Normandy and Picardy, travelling on foot with their
dossers (hottes)<m their backs. They are now enabled,
by the liberal reward of their labours, to convey them,
to the amount of 2000 per week, in well-appointed car-
riages, drawn by horses of their own.' [It is likely, we
have seen, that many of the Pigeons that travel thus to
Paris in state, in carriages, with their own horses, re-
turn exulting on their wings, to their native Dove-
cotes.]
" To this extent may some good be said to arise out
of evil. And one more benefit has sprung out of this
mania for Pigeon-shooting ; it has created a great im-
provement in gun-making, and has been the cause of
one of the first artists in that line in London transfer-
ring his business to Paris, where I have reason to be-
lieve he has met with much encouragement ; and no
doubt Paris gun-makers have taken a leaf out of his
book."*
The high temperature of the living Pigeon ought to
be noticed, before we quite quit these birds : when
handled, especially in a partially-fledged state, they
* Vol. i. pp. 203, 4.
CHAP, v.] VALUE AS NURSES. 173
feel quite at fever-heat. The blood, fresh-drawn from
the living bird, was a most virtuous remedy with the
old practitioners : and Willughby informs us that " A
live Pigeon cut asunder along the back-bone, and clapt
hot upon the head, mitigates fierce humours and dis-
cusses melancholy sadness. Hence it is a most proper
medicine in the phrensie, headache, melancholy, and
gout. Some add also in the Apoplexy. Our physi-
cians use to apply Pigeons thus dissected to the soals
of the feet, in acute diseases, in any great defect of
spirits or decay of strength, to support and refresh the
patient, that he may be able to grapple with and master
the disease. For the vital spirits of the Pigeon still
remaining in the hot flesh and blood, do through the
pores of the skin insinuate themselves into the blood of
the sick person now dis-spirited and ready to stagnate,
and induing it with new life and vigour, enable it to
perform its solemn and necessary circuits."*
The modern substitute for a live Pigeon cut asunder
would be perhaps a hot foot-bath, or even a mustard
plaister, or a simple poultice.
Several pairs of these birds are usually kept by
breeders, to act as nurses to those more valuable
Pigeons which are notoriously bad feeders of their
young. The mode is, to substitute a couple of the
eggs desired to be hatched, for those of any Dovehouse
pair that happen to have laid within a few days of the
same time. But it is worth knowing, that squabs of
about a fortnight old, which chance to be neglected by
their parents at that early period of their existence, as
now and then will be the case in the best-regulated
* Page 183.
174 THE COLLARED TURTLE. [CHAP. v.
Pigeon-lofts, may often be reared by mouth. The
human nurse takes a small quantity of peas or wheat,
and water, into his or her mouth, then, taking the
squab in hand, inserts its bill into the mouth so pro-
visioned ; and, after a trial or two, the young bird will
take its food in this manner as readily as if it were fed
by its feathered parent, and thus progress till it is able
to peck for itself from the ground.
THE COLLARED TURTLE*.
(Columba risoria of Linnaeus, Turtur rlsorius of authors.)
The charming little creatures which we now approach
are admitted into the class of Pigeons that are found both
in a wild and a domestic state rather by courtesy than by
right. Still, the entree shall be granted to them, although
Mr. Jenyns has omitted them in his " Manual of British
Vertebrata," in which domesticated, naturalized and ex-
tirpated species are included. In their wild condition
they are met with in Southern Europe, Northern and
Western Africa, and in Western Asia ; in their tame state
they are dispersed all over the civilized globe, where the
winter temperature does not forbid their introduction.
As domestics, they can hardly be said to have yet re-
ceived a sufficient training. Their intellect has just
* A confusion exists, in the minds of many people, between the
Common Turtle, Colunriba Turtur, which is frequent in a wild state
in England during the summer months, and the Collared Turtle, or
Turtle Dove in popular English, or Turtur Indicus, as given by Al-
drovandi, according to custom cum latyro altero, which in England is
only known in captivity. As the European Ring-Pigeon has a simi-
lar ornament on the neck with our species, a further distinction has
been founded on its cry of triumph, which strongly resembles a
laugh, and from which it has been called the Turtur risorius, or
Laughing Turtle.
CHAP, v.] HOW FAR DOMESTIC. 175
attained to that child-like stage of development, that
they love everything about them intensely, and are
pleased with everything they see ; hut if they were once
lost in the labyrinth of a lane, or in the mazes of a grove,
they would wander up and down, like the babes in the
wood, picking a seed here and a berry there, searching
in vain all the while for their wished-for cage or chamber,
till they were drowned in the first thunder storm, or
perished by the first frosty night. And then the Robin
Red-breast, or the sighing wind, would cover them with
leaves, and complete their sylvan funeral.
If we could but advance this incomplete mental growth
only just a little, and add to it the intelligence and do-
mesticity of the fowl, and the local memory of the
Carrier, we should then have a bird which, in spite of
the tenderness of its constitution, would occupy a very
important place in our rural economy. One objection
to the popularity of the new live stock might be, that
Englishmen are nearly as obstinate as Jews in matters
of eating. Many good things do we despise and reject,
only because we have not the courage to taste them.
Pigeon-pie is orthodox, but one filled with Turtle Doves
would be repugnant to a sentimental stomach. Turtle
Doves are, nevertheless, excellent eating. We do not
object to innocent lamb, nor to gentle veal, nor to
dear little chickens, nor to baby-like sucking-pig : why
such prolific and easily-reared delicacies as Collared
Turtles should be tabooed is scarcely explicable. Per-
haps they may henceforth come in fashion as a side-
dish. A moderate-sized aviary would produce them in
considerable numbers at no great cost.
But if we want to proceed further, the grand scheme of
nature is unalterable by us. We cannot educate and
176 PBISONEBS AT LARGE. [CHAP. v.
improve the Collared Turtle to be a Dovehouse Dove
at least a two-thousand years' trial has proved unavail-
ing. These unyielding limits assigned by the Creator
must be acknowledged to have an existence as a rigid
law, The correct interpretation of such psychological
facts regarding the inferior animals, and their proper
inferences, are what it is so desirable, now-a-days, to in-
sist on.
The Collared Turtle, we know, has been intrusted
sometimes with a sort of half-liberty the run of a
large mansion, or the permission to pop in and out a
greenhouse; but which is in reality much about the
same degree of licence as would be granted to the five-
year-old heir of a noble family : he is just allowed to
exercise himself under strict observance. He is not
permitted to go abroad on his parole, because people are
assured that the parole would not, and could not, with
his present thoughtlessness, be kept. And so the Col-
lared Turtle is allowed to play at domesticity, but is, all
the while, only a jealously- watched captive. The Raso-
rial peculiarity of eminent domesticability, as assumed
by Mr. Swainson, fails to be apparent in the family of
Pigeons, as well as in the true Rasores themselves.
Among the many scores, or hundreds, of species com-
prised therein, how many of them are truly domestic-
able ? My own birds have often got loose in summer
time ; and they seemed to think it excellent fun to do
so. And then they would go cooing about with short
flights from tree to tree, sometimes keeping close at
home, sometimes getting out of bounds and losing
themselves. The coo answers the purpose of a call-
note when the pair are invisible to each other among
the branches. It has escaped from Aristotle, in his
CHAP.V.J ESCAPADES. 177
account of Pigeons, that blinded Turtles were frequently
kept as decoy-birds. But our runaways were at last
heartily glad to be caught and brought home ; and like
truant schoolboys on the approach of night-fall, would
rather encounter a scolding, or even a whipping, than
face the horrors of a supperless night, without a bed to
lie on !
These outbreaks sometimes lead them into scrapes
which they little anticipate. One spring morning,
eleven years ago this season, an old parishioner of
mine, a carter by trade, on his usual journey to and
from Norwich, was surprised by a pair of Collared Tur-
tles hovering about his head and shoulders, as he was
riding leisurely on his tumbril, and showing themselves
desirous of alighting thereon. Doubtless they were
tired with some, to them, long flight from comfortable
quarters. He secured one, the male (as he might the
other had he chosen), and brought it home. It has been
kept ever since in a small cage, and seems perfectly
happy and healthy, having no domestic troubles to vex
it. I would have brought the people a mate for their
bird, but they were contented with the single one ; and
as the old couple are both turned of eighty, their little
captive may probably survive them.
A lady residing near Cork had, in 1849, a bird of
equal age with this. A communication with which she
has favoured me will show exactly with what amount of
truth the term " domestic" is applied to the Collared
Turtle.
"My opportunities of observing the attachment of
these birds to place, have been very limited ; for, owing
to the damp and cold of our climate, I have never ven-
tured them out in the open air, except during the day ;
N
178 ATTACHMENTS. [CHAP. v.
and then the plan adopted to secure them from flying
away was, to keep the female either in my hand or shut
up in a large cage, thus surely preventing the male from
straying out of sight ; for the Collared Turtle is a most
loving and devoted husband. However, one bird, an
old bachelor who had no wife, once flew out through an
open window; but I succeeded in bringing him back
from an open garden, by calling him repeatedly, until
he recognised my voice. The little creature seemed
frightened, and was greatly delighted to find himself
again perched cooing on my shoulder. One of our
Doves, a great pet, will, when it chooses, find its room
quickly enough, though it may have to travel from the
furthest part of the house to arrive at it." S. A. D.
Mr. Richard Dowden (Rd.) of Rathlee, the father of
the preceding informant, observes " The mythological
use of Doves, as an emblem of affection, is common
among us ; but to make them also representatives of
friendship would be a mistaken notion ; for these birds,
though tame, are not affectionate to those who keep
them. Still it is no error in their history to make
them ' Venus' birds ;' for their attachment to each other
is strong, and the uneasiness of one, when separated
from the other, remarkable, not in the one taken away
only, but in that left behind ; and when one of ours was
caught and held, the other constantly braved the danger
and perched close to its mate. I once saw a pair in
Glengal Wood, County Tipperary, sitting faithfully side
by side on a tree, but they must have escaped from an
aviary, and in all probability would not outlive the
wetness, even if they could the coldness, of an Irish
winter. For though common in the south of Europe
and in Asia Minor, they are, in those countries, only
CHAP, v.] FOOD AND HABITS. 179
birds of passage. They appear at times in Portugal,
and are shot there for food.
" These birds may be easily kept. They will live
well on wheat, barley, bread in crumbs, or even boiled
potatoes. They ought to have a flat vessel of water to
wash in, as well as to drink, sufficient earth with gravel
to rub themselves in, and from which they can select
stones for swallowing into their gizzards, for the tritu-
ration of their food. They should also have a piece of
rock-salt, which all the group are very fond of, and it
seems to be a wholesome stimulant to their system.
Cages are too small for their healthy, handsome, and
vivacious existence. They like to fly at times from
perch to perch in a room, which should be well lit, not
exposed to cold, and, above all things, frequently cleaned
out. They enjoy sunshine much, and in it exhibit very
elegant attitudes, and good contrivances to receive as
much of its light and warmth as possible.
" The Collared Turtle is strictly monogamous, and it
is from their constancy and tender affection for one an-
other (for their attentions deserve the name) that the
characteristic has been proverbial. Observation shows
that with respect to these birds the rhymes * Love and
Dove,' * Wooing and Cooing/ have reason in them.
The male is somewhat larger than the female, and the
colours a little lighter, but the distinction is so slight
as to require a practised eye to notice it. The male is also
a bolder bird, so pugnacious as to fight even with inani-
mate objects ; although the female, when sitting on her
eggs, or when nurturing her young, is courageous, and
even passionate. The distinction between the grain-
eating and the strictly rapacious birds is in this circum-
stance very remarkable : the females of the last divi^
180 NESTING AND EEAEING. [CHAP. v.
sion being the boldest, the strongest, and the most
beautiful. Most of the Columbida3 are strong flyers ;
but frequently when allusion is made to this power, it
is not our bird which is called ' the Dove.' Shak-
speare, our constant resource in the poetry of natural
history, makes Juliet say,
' Love's heralds should be thoughts :
Therefore do nimble-pinioned Doves draw Love'
meaning the Carrier Pigeon ; which is also beautifully
alluded to in Moore's sacred melody of ' The Dove let
loose in Eastern skies.'
" The Laughing Dove builds a rather careless plan
of a nest. In conformity with Mr. Rennie's description
in the ' Architecture of Birds,' it is a platform-builder :
both male and female assist in the work. The birds
sit alternately and assiduously. The cooing of the
bird which is not sitting is incessant, and the attention
paid to the one on the eggs most exemplary and cre-
ditable to their family character. After the chick is
hatched, a white secretion is supplied, from the crop
of both male and female, to the young; its bill is
then quite soft, and is thrust down the throat of the
parent birds for nutriment; which action, like most
functions of necessity, is a pleasure to the giver as well
as to the receiver. This lactiferous secretion has led to
the existence of the once problematical notion respect-
ing ' Pigeons' milk.' As the bird grows and begins to
peck, the parents put him on his own resources ; the se-
cretion grows less ; the young bird sheds the outside
skinny covering of his soft or sucking bill ; it gradually
hardens so that he can peck gravel and corn ; and his
parents turn him adrift to form other friendships for
himself, as they then have done with him."
CHAP, v.] EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG. 181
Miss Dowden adds (and T can confirm her observa-
tions), " I have often watched with interest what may
be called the education of the young birds. When they
are about a month old, the female considers it high time
for them to learn to support themselves. She therefore
refuses to feed them more than twice a day. But the
youngsters, not liking the trouble of picking up the hard
grains of wheat, &c., become clamorous, and chase
whichever parent happens to come in their way, stoutly
demanding food all the while. The mother acts up
firmly to her principles ; so, finding her unyielding,
they then attack their unfortunate father. He cannot
resist their cries and flapping of wings, and good-
naturedly opens his mouth for the reception of the soft
spoon-shaped bills. But he is made to suffer for his
weakness; the lady soon drives away the petitioners,
and then beats her lord right well, laughing heartily all
the while, for attempting to interfere with her system
of instruction."
This discipline is often so severe, and commenced so
early, that the young ones must be removed and brought
up by mouth, if it is intended to rear them at all. The
Collared Turtle will also exercise its combativeness on
any strange bird of moderate size that ventures to in-
trude within its aviary.
" It is amusing," Miss Dowden continues, "to see the
little things trying to coo, going through all the move-
ments, but only uttering a whistling sound. The laugh
is easily accomplished, for at a very early period of their
lives the birds are able to make this exulting sound. I
am not sure that Papa noticed to you the great watch-
fulness of the Dove. Each time during the night that
the clock strikes, my birds announce the fact by cooing
182 WATCHFULNESS AND VOICES. [CHAP. v.
loudly. Any noise is observed by them, and never
passed over in silence." With us, the sound of a piano
in an adjoining room, or the tramp of footsteps in a
passage close by, excites the never-forgotten coo. Of
all sleepers the Collared Turtle is one of the lightest ;
and the beautiful allusions in the Holy Scriptures to
" mourning like a Dove," have a most apt reference
to the wakefulness of sorrow.
The voice consists principally of a coo, very loud for
the size of the bird, and a recovering suspiration, which
has an audible sound. There is also a slight note of
alarm, like a low grunt, which is likewise used by them
as an indication of recognition when pleased. The
note of triumph, the laugh, appears to be emitted on
the same occasions that the common Cock crows, such
as in warlike exhibitions, or after having flown down
from a height, at the appearance of sunlight perhaps,
or such-like exhilarating events. A young friend of
ours interpreted the coo to mean " Pope o' Rome, Oh !
Pope o' Rome, Oh!" but this translation of the Tur-
tle's notes, it ought to be mentioned, was made before
recent events had occurred to render such an invocation
highly objectionable. The prettiest performance is
when the birds coo a duet: it is then very like the
tenor at an opera singing the refrain of an air, which is
immediately repeated an octave higher by the responsive
prima donna.
Another observant friend furnishes the following
account : " A pair of Turtle Doves I kept tame for
some time were exceedingly amusing and interesting
little birds. At first they were confined in a large
wicker cage, but afterwards were gradually allowed their
entire freedom, which they never abused. They do not
CHAP.V.] CHAEACTEEISTICS. 183
seem to be affected by the cold in winter, if common
care be taken not to expose them on severe nights, and
they breed amazingly seven or eight times in the year,
if permitted to hatch ; but if the eggs are taken away
(and I was generally obliged to do this), nearly twice as
often. These Doves build a slight nest of sticks, the
hen being the architect, and the cock bringing material.
She lays two white eggs.
" Young birds do not have the black ring round the
neck distinctly marked till they have moulted. They
are fed on canary seed (hemp seed is apt to give them
skin disease), bread, and bits of biscuit, which last they
are very fond of, and would come into the room to per-
secute me till the box was opened for them. They were
coaxing little creatures, and would come and sit by me
when reading, sometimes on my shoulder, merely for the
sake of company. The cock puts himself into the most
ridiculous attitudes when pleased. Like most pets,
they came to an unlucky end, the hen being choked by
trying to get out of a window not opened sufficiently to
admit her body to pass through." H. H.
Their feet are formed for walking and perching ; they
feed on the ground accordingly, but most usually roost
upon a perch. Their colour is a light fawn of different
depths of shade, the back the deepest, with a nearly
black half-collar on the hind neck, inserted within a
very narrow white circlet, which throws up the dark
collar brilliantly. The irides are crimson, the pupil
black, the bill black, the feet lake red. Mr. Blyth
states *, that " Besides the common cream-coloured
* Annals of Natural History, vol. xix. p. 182.
184 HYBRIDIZING AND INCUBATION. [CHAP. v.
domestic race, a small albino variety is frequently
bred in cages, in different parts of India, with wings
measuring 5^ to 6 inches; but its form of tail and
other proportions are as in T. -risorius and T. vinaceus.
This bird is often interbred with the cream-coloured
race, producing offspring of intermediate size and shade
of colouring." I have seen birds of this kind, under
the name of White Persian Doves, and believe them to
be specifically distinct, and of considerable ornithological
interest. The black collar is entirely obliterated : in
the White Turkey, it should be remembered, the breast-
tuft remains black. The circumstance of interbreeding
is not, just now, of much force either way.
At the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens, in 1848,
were two strange hybrids between the Passenger Pigeon
of North America and the Collared Turtle of North
Africa. In outline and proportion they most resembled
the former parent, in size they not much exceeded the
latter progenitor. They certainly were handsome crea-
tures, without any look of being artificial or unnatural.
But they were both males : and the object then was to
obtain a female or two from the same cross, and so found
a new species, Quod erit demonstrandum. It is odd
that, in such interminglings of what the Creator sent
forth pure and sincere, the result, if any, should almost
always be males ; the female chicks, we may suppose,
having too feeble a hold on life to come into actual
existence or prolonged vitality, and the males being
mostly useless for further increase of their kind.
A wide distinction between the Pigeons and the
Turtles is indicated by the time of incubation of our
present bird being only fifteen days from the laying of
CHAP. v.J EMBLEMS OF PEACE. 185
the first egg. The eggs, too, are laid on consecutive
days. It is desirable that the comparison should
be extended to other ColumbidaB that have bred in
this country ; and though few of them will submit to
the examination, their eggs might be transferred to
more manageable Pigeons or Turtles. The growth of
the chick of the Collared Turtle is even more rapid
at first than in Pigeons; afterwards it proceeds at a
slower pace. The little thing is hatched blind, and
weak, and covered with fawn-coloured down. On the
fourth day its eyes are partially open, and feather
stumps begin to appear on the wings. Both the parents
will sometimes be on the nest, and strive which can
administer food the fastest. In five days more it is
pretty well covered with feathers, and begins to squeak.
The Doves and the Pigeons have been associated with
earliest history as the companions of our race, and have
borne the emblematic character of peace ever since.
The first was
" The surer messenger,
A Dove, sent forth, once and again, to spy
Green tree, or ground, whereon his foot may light.
The second time returning, in his bill
An olive leaf he brings, pacific sign."
The most modern remarkable instance is to be read
in the newspapers for August, 1849, when, on the occa-
sion of the Queen's visit to Dublin, as the procession
passed under an arch at Eccles Street, a Dove was
lowered from a window into the Royal carriage, which
her Majesty took gently in her hand, and placed beside
her, amid loud cheers from the vast multitude assembled
at this point. It was an Irish mistake to offer a Dove
186 THE IRISH DOVE. [CHAP. v.
to such a visitor. A spinster Turtle might have pleased
Elizabeth ; a loving pair ought to have been presented
to Victoria. But, in any way, it is acceptable as a peace
offering, if the token be but sincere. One only hopes
that the Dublin Dove may not prove the offspring of
that faithless breed which is hatched in the celebrated
Groves of Blarney.
CHAPTER Vt.
PIGEONS NOT CAPABLE OF TRUE DOMESTICATION.
The Stockdove. Natural instincts. The Ring Dove. Mischief done by. The
Turtle Dove. Peculiarities. Australian Pigeons. Whether domesticable.
The Wonga-Wonga. Claims to notice. Mr. Gould's opinion. Bronze-winged
Pigeons. Native habits. Water guides. Temminck's account. Plumage.
Interest of Australian Pigeons. Have bred in confinement. Captain Sturt's
accounts. Abstinence from water. Aid in extremities. Ventriloquist Pigeon.
Geopelia tranquillae. Harlequin Bronze-wing. First discovery. Food and
habits. Their doings at Knowsley. Graceful Ground Dove. Minute birds
and beasts of Australia. Mr. Gould's account. Crested Australian Pigeons.
Their breeding at Knowsley. Habits in captivity. The Passenger Pigeon.
Disposition. Escaped birds. The Long-tailed Senegal Dove. Their song.
Synonyms. Aviary management.
HEEE we have a wide field, from which only a few
gleanings can be gathered in illustration of our main
subject, which the reader will perceive to be " Birds in
their relation to human society." The precedence in
these notices shall be given to the Pigeons of our own
Island.
The STOCK DOVE (C. (Enas) makes a very elegant and
pleasing aviary bird. Its plumage is rich, bluish gray
being the prevalent hue ; and the changing colours of
the neck are more gemlike than those of common
Pigeons. Taken from the nest when young, it is easily
reared, and becomes as familiar and apparently as much
attached to home as the other sorts usually kept. But
as the birds get older, a pining for the woods comes over
them ; they make excursions to the neighbouring groves,
returning less and less frequently to the place where
they have been nurtured and are still supplied with
food by man, till at last they are utterly fascinated by
188 THE BING-DOVE. [CHAP. vi.
the delights of sylvan freedom, and become followers of
Eobin Hood and other forest-haunting outlaws : not that
they love man less, but that they love the woods more.
If, therefore, they are to be retained in captivity, an
aviary must ever be their prison ; unless it be preferred
that they should go at large in a still more sorrowful
condition, with a clipped wing or a shortened pinion*.
The RING DOVE (C. Palumbus) is a much larger
bird, of perhaps still more beautiful plumage, which is
too well known to be particularized here. It is, how-
ever, less docile, and more difficult to rear. The best
way to procure them for the aviary is to get from the
nest three-quarter grown squabs, and feed them, by
mouth, with peas and water. They are too large to be
easily brought up by domestic Pigeons as foster-parents.
" I have been consoling myself," writes a friend, "for
bad success with chickens, by rearing Wild Ducks and
Wood Pigeons. The former do well at present, and
are amusing little creatures, not very wild either ; the
latter I have in two instances hatched under my pigeons,
and for one week they have tended them well; but,
after that, finding out, I suppose, the trick put upon
them, they have deserted their foster-children. The
result of this experiment is not yet conclusive, and may,
after all, be a mere accident. If I can get eggs easily,
I shall probably try again, taking care to put them under
a different pair from either of the others. The Eing
Dove is a very great ornament to our dark fir woods and
cedars, and will frequently build in some beeches close
to where the domestic birds are housed ; of which, how-
ever, they never take the slightest notice." H. H.
* " A neighbour here kept a Stockdove and a Blue Rock toge-
ther in vain for a long time." D. L., Keswick, Cumberland.
CHAP, vi.] THE TURTLE DOVE. 189
Ring Doves are irregularly migratory, sometimes
appearing in large flocks, the numbers composing which
seem incredible when estimated. They commit great
havoc on the new-sown grain and the buds of the young
clover plant ; they also eat great quantities of mast and
the seeds of noxious weeds. Rewards have been offered
in Scotland for their destruction, with the view of
keeping them down; but this is of little use unless at
the same time a tall net, over which they could not fly,
could be stretched somewhere, as a colossal fence, be-
tween Norway and our eastern coast. The best means
of reducing their numbers is to publish their excellence
for the table at the times when they do not feed upon
turnips. Then they punish the farmer indeed, pecking
holes in the bulbs for the frost and wet to work upon.
The young birds would be acceptable in London in the
height of the fashionable season; but then no game-
keeper will allow a gun to be fired in his preserves,
lest more valuable prey should be driven into the next
parish.
The TURTLE DOVE (C. Turtur) is a very pretty, very
untrustworthy little creature, less known than the pre-
ceding. When reared from the nest, it becomes tame
enough to be even an interesting cage bird ; but a pair
thus educated, and seemingly contented, in a green-
house, slipped out cunningly, and were never heard of
again. Perhaps, by the time their flight was discovered,
they had got half way to Africa ; for the very best part
only of the year will suit them with us. They adopt
the family habits of drinking deeply at a draught, and
tickling each other's heads. The coo might be mistaken
for the croaking of a frog or toad. When heard close
at hand, it has a sort of burring, bubbling sound, and
190 AUSTRALIAN DOVES. [CHAP. vi.
consists of two syllables or measures, the second being
reduplicated, and the whole accented like the words,
" Ah ! Mamma ! " The Turtle Dove is much the
smallest of our native Columbidse. The plumage may
be generally described as ashy brown : the spot on the
side of the neck, and the white tips to the tail feathers,
are the most ornamental points of it. In the spots on
the neck trifling variations occur, which may safely be
referred to age. In Shropshire, this bird is believed to
be found nowhere else except about the Wrekin, and
hence is claimed by them as the Wrekin Dove ; but the
species has a most extensive geographical range. Such
exclusive possession of the Turtle Dove is no more a
fact than that the Wrekin is Mount Ida, or that the
Shropshire gentry dwell on the top of it to represent
the gods and goddesses.
Curiosity and hope next lead us to glance at Aus-
tralia, to ascertain whether any of the numerous
members of the Pigeon family found on that vast
island be, by possibility, attachable to our own family
circle. Five species only of Pigeons (for the Passenger
is hardly admissible, and affinis not yet acknowledged)
are found in Europe* ; the Ring Dove, the Stock Dove,
the Rock Dove, the Common Turtle, and the Collared
Turtle ; the latter being merely an occasional visitant.
One of these has been domesticated, and another tamed
and all but domesticated, from time immemorial. It
will look like an unusual exception to the doctrine of
chances, if, among the small number of five, out of the
* The Turtur Senegalensis, however, is recognised as a European
species, and has been found abundantly in Greece. (Ann. Nat. Hist,
vol. 18, p. 13).
CHAP, vi.] WHETHER DOMESTICABLE. 191
long entire list of Columbidae, we should happen to
possess in this island the sole species of the family
which is capable of domestication. Twenty-one species
are already described by Mr. Gould in Australia alone,
and it is not too much to say that not one of them has
yet had a trial fora few (of their) successive generations.
The nearer any creatures are to attaining the faculty
of domesticability, without actually arriving at the re-
quired docility of disposition, the more disappointing
and provoking are they to the baffled experimenter.
New species, and from new countries, afford matter for
speculative trial, which becomes the more hopeful as the
subject of it approaches nearer to races which have
already submitted to our sway. The Collared Turtle,
with a little more love of home, and a little more per-
sonal affection, would be as securely our dependent
vassal as the Fantail and the Tumbler. How exciting
if there be any likelihood of success with the Australian
Pigeons ! It will surely be acknowledged that these
newly-discovered creatures deserve to be fairly tested,
species by species, (to see what is in them, not what we
can make of them,) to secure the chance that, amidst
the multitude of blanks for the poultry-yard, some grand
prize, like the Turkey from America, may unexpectedly
turn up.
It will be remarkable, indeed, if, after every patient
endeavour, among all the Pigeons, the C. lima, and its
reputed descendants are the only truly domesticable
species. It will be an apt comment on the great things
man is to do, the domestic races he is even to create!
It will be a broad hint, as good nearly as the admonition
of an ever-present Prophet, could we but understand it
192 THE WONGA-WONGA. [CHAP. vi.
as such, that there does exist a Power who formed his
own rules of action without consulting us ; who was in
the act of creating, ordering, and providing, while we,
as yet, were utterly nought ; and whose influence will
continue to govern the Universe long after our amazing
powers have ceased to act upon it.
If we cannot mould the lower animals, is it more
likely that we should be able to modify the inborn
instincts of our fellow-creatures, by using ever so much
perseverance and assiduity, after a fair experiment has
been made that they do run counter to our views ? Or
is it wiser that we should be content with things as
we find them, and take others as they are, ruling our
own hearts with diligence, as far as assistance shall be
given us to exercise self-government, under the belief
that all our strongest forces are but feeble ; and that the
forces in antagonism to them are either energized or
permitted by the One Great Fountain of Might ?
None of the Australian Pigeons have as yet been
actually domesticated, and we will begin with that
which best promises to be domesticable ; and, for this
object, Mr. Gould has liberally allowed us to transcribe
from his " Birds of Australia " a book accessible to but
few some interesting passages relating to the WONGA-
WONGA PIGEON, the Leucosarcia picata of his nomen-
clature (ASUXOS, white, and a-a,^, flesh), the Columba
picata of Dr. Latham : picata being Latin for " be-
smeared with pitch," in allusion to the black-patched
plumage of the bird. " The Pigeon," he observes,
" forming the subject of the present memoir must
always be an object of more than ordinary interest,
since, independently of its attractive plumage, it is a
CHAP, vi.] MR. GOULD'S OPINION. 193
great delicacy for the table ; its large size and the
whiteness of its flesh rendering it in this respect second
to no other member of its family, the one at all approxi-
mate to it being the Geophaps scripta. It is to be re-
gretted that a bird possessing so many qualifications as
the present species should not be generally dispersed
over the country; but such is not the case. To look for
it on the plains, or in any of the open hilly parts, would
be useless ; no other districts than the brushes which
stretch along the line of coast of New South Wales, or
those clothing the sides of the hills, are favoured with
its presence : its distribution, therefore, over Australia
depends mainly upon whether the surface of the country
be or be not clothed with that rich character of vegeta-
tion common to the south-eastern portion of the conti-
nent. As the length of its tarsi would lead one to
expect, the Wonga-wonga spends most of its time on
the ground, where it feeds upon the seeds and stones
of the fallen fruits of the towering trees under whose
shade it dwells, seldom exposing itself to the rays of
the sun, or seeking the open parts of the forest. While
traversing these arborean solitudes, one is frequently
startled by the sudden rising of the Wonga-wonga, the
noise of whose wings is quite equal to, and not very
different from, that made by a Pheasant. Its flight is
not of long duration, this power being merely employed
to remove it to a sufficient distance to avoid detection
by again descending to the ground, or mounting to the
branch of a neighbouring tree. Of the nidification of
this valuable bird I could gain no precise information.
It is a species that bears confinement well, and, with an
ordinary degree of attention, may doubtless be rendered
domesticated and useful. The sexes present no external
194 BRONZE-WINGED PIGEONS [CHAP. vi.
difference in the markings of their plumage, but the
female is somewhat inferior to the male in size."*
The sentence in italics is the one which has caused
the introduction of the whole passage here. The
Wonga-wonga, there is every reason to believe, has
been in this country alive : any one who may chance to
possess it should be told what hopes are entertained of
its capabilities ; but, at present, no account of its being
naturalized or domesticated has reached me.
THE BRONZE -WINGED PIGEONS. The Golumbida, or
entire family of Pigeons, containing a great number of
known, and probably not a few still undescribed species,
have been divided into several genera by modern natu-
ralists. One of these, Columba, includes our common
Dovehouse and Domestic Pigeons ; another, Peristera of
Swairison, Phaps of Gould, takes in the subjects at
present under consideration. The Bronze-wings follow
next to the Leucosarcia in interest; which, however,
arises from totally different considerations. No hope of
domestication can be admitted here, even if it were
allowable for others. According to Mr. Gould's opinion,
with which he has kindly favoured me, " Of all the
Australian Pigeons, the Bronze-wings are the species
most likely to become naturalized in this country. Not
that I think this can ever be accomplished ; the
climate being so different, and the habits of the birds
totally unadapted for a country so highly cultivated as
England. They love to dwell on the most sterile plains,
where they feed almost exclusively on grass-seeds *, and
* See vol. v. pi. 63.
t The food of the genus Phaps is thus described in Dr. Leichhardt's
Expedition to Port Essington : " The Bronze-winged Pigeon lived
here on the red fruit of Rhagodia, and the black berries of a species
CHAP. VI.]
GUIDES TO WATEE. 195
whence, on the approach of evening, they wing their
way, with arrow-like swiftness, to the water-holes many
miles distant, for a supply of that element so essential
to life ; besides which, they are nearly all strictly
migratory birds. Still, any attempt to introduce them
would be most praiseworthy ; but I fear that their habits
would not become sufficiently modified to render it
successful."
The same high authority, in his valuable " Introduc-
tion to the Birds of Australia," (which he has printed
for the use of his scientific friends, and which is parti-
cularly acceptable to those who have no opportunity of
access to the costly folio edition,) speaking of the Bronze-
wings generally, states that the members of this genus
" not only form an excellent viand for the settlers, but
one of the greatest boons bestowed upon the explorer,
since they not only furnish him with a supply of nutri-
tious food, but direct him by their straight and arrow-
like evening flight, to the situations where he may find
water that element without which man cannot exist."
He has styled the genus Phaps (Oa^, palumbus, avis),
adopting the designation first given by Mr. Selby,
and mentions three species, chalcoptera, elegans, and
histrionica.
Africa has her Honey-guide, and Australia may boast
her Water-witch. The Bronze-wing is the friendly
of Jasmine ; and seems also to pick occasionally the seed vessel of a
Ruellia, which is very frequent on all the flats of Comet Creek."
p. 88. " Shot some Bronze-winged Pigeons ; in the crop of one I
found a small Helix with a long spire a form I do not remember
ever having seen before in the colony." p. 99. " Large flocks of
Peristera (Phaps) histrionica, the Harlequin Pigeon, were lying on
the patches of burnt grass on the plains ; they feed on the brown
seeds of a grass which annoyed us very much by getting into our
stockings, trowsers, and blankets." p. 297.
196 TEMMINCK'S ACCOUNT. [CHAP. vi.
indicator of waters in the wilderness. Let us listen to
the story of one who thus found aid in his extremity :
"As the sun declined, we got into open forest ground,
and travelled forwards in momentary expectation, from
appearances, of coming in sight of water ; but we were
obliged to pull up at sunset on the outskirts of a larger
plain without having our expectation realized. The day
had been extremely warm, and our animals were as
thirsty as ourselves. Hope never forsakes the human
breast ; and thence it was that, after we had secured the
horses, we began to wander round our lonely bivouac.
It was almost dark, when one of my men came to in-
form me that he had found a small puddle of water, to
which he had been led by a Pigeon*. It was, indeed,
small enough, probably the remains of a passing shower;
it was, however, sufficient for our necessities, and I
thanked Providence for its bounty to us."f
Temminck's description of the Bronze-wing is most
inviting. It is one of the most beautiful Pigeons
known to him. ." Brilliant specks, of a radiant lustre,
are sprinkled on the wings of this bird, whose plumage,
generally of a uniform colour on the rest of the body,
aids still more to relieve the dazzling richness of these
spots, which shine like so many rubies, sapphires, and
opal stones.
" Captain Philip, in his voyage to New South Wales,
and Surgeon-General White, in his voyage to Port Jack-
son, make mention of this Pigeon: Labillardiere, who
also killed it in New Holland, had already found it at
Diemen's Cape : the naturalists who accompanied
* In the maps, the name of "Pigeon Ponds," given to welcome
pools of water, still marks the mode of their first discovery,
f Sturt's Expedition into South Australia.
CHAP, vt.] INTEREST OF THE BIRD. 197
Captain Baudin brought borne two individuals killed at
the Canal d'Entrecasteaux. The species appears in
general very abundant in all parts of the Pacific Ocean ;
they are found at Norfolk Island, in different parts of
New Holland, and are especially very common in the
environs of Sidney Cove and the Bale Botanique."
Here, then, is a bird, which flits before the eyes of
our fellow-subjects and blood-relations at the antipodes;
which must have engaged the attention, and doubtless
often diverted the sad remorseful thoughts, of the
convict; which excited the curiosity, and satisfied the
cravings after fresh meat, of such men as Sir Joseph
Banks and Captain Cook. When we see it caged in our
presence, and trimming its glittering epaulettes in the
sun, we cannot look upon it with indifference without
some wish that it could be made to dwell, unrestrained,
in our Dovecotes, and afford matter of instruction to our
children, by the innumerable associations and lessons
connected with its history.
Temminck continues, " The Lumachelle (whence
comes this name ? ) Pigeons delight in sandy and arid
places : they love to remain on the ground or on low
branches ; at the Bale Botanique they are only seen
from the end of September till February (the spring
there). They always appear in pairs; they usually
make their nests in the holes of trees at a slight dis-
tance from the ground, often on the ground itself, and
lay two white eggs ; their principal food is a small fruit
resembling a cherry : the kernels of this fruit are
always found in their gizzard. It is easy to make sure
of their place of retreat, for their very sonorous cooing,
at a certain distance, resembles the lowing of cows.
The natives of New Holland designate the Lumachelle
198 PLUMAGE. i CHAP. vi.
by the name of Goad-Gang ; the English call it Ground-
Pigeon, which signifies Pigeon de terre. (Perhaps this
may be a confusion of species.)
" The adult male is fifteen inches and a half from
the point of the bill to the extremity of the tail ; the
forehead is pure white, and is softly shaded into light
rose colour ; this becomes more violaceous in approach-
ing the occiput, and forms, in passing over the eyes, a
sort of horse-shoe. The orifices of the ears are covered
with small white feathers. The prevailing colour on
the upper parts is an ashy brown ; each feather is mar-
gined with earthy yellow. The greater wing coverts
have towards their extremity a spot of radiant bright-
ness. The glancing reflections of the ruby and the
opal shine only in emulation of these feathers, which,
by their re-union, when the wing is in a state of rest,
form two transverse bands over this part ; these feathers
are tipped with a lovely pearly white. The small and
middle coverts have also these same brilliant spots, more
or less irregularly distributed; they are tipped with
yellowish grey. On the secondary quills of the wings
are large circles (miroirs) of purplish green . The tail
is composed of eighteen ash- coloured feathers, with a
black stripe towards their extremity ; the two middle
feathers are the colour of the body ; the under part of
the tail is also ashy grey, but all the feathers are tra-
versed by a brown bar. The lower parts of the body
are grey, with vinous tints on the breast. The inner
part of the wings is rusty rufous ; the bill is blackish,
but its base is reddish ; the feet are red.
" The female has no white on her forehead ; all the
head is ashy grey : this colour prevails over the other
parts of the bird, but the tints are in general less clear
CHAP. VI. j
KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR HTSTORY. 199
than in the male; the edges of all the feathers are
yellowish white ; their radiance does not approach that
of the ruby, but the reflections are rather of a metallic
green. The circles (miroirs) on the secondary feathers
are also smaller and duller.
" The young Lumachelles have their plumage of a
blackish ash colour, and all the feathers are margined
with umber brown. The forehead and throat are
whitish, and the circles are of a sombre hue, with
slightly-greenish reflections."
In these birds, the rich metallic lights which adorn
the necks of our Pigeons seem transferred to the wings.
The Australian Pigeons are specially interesting, in-
asmuch as their history, from the first acquaintance of
civilized man with them, is likely to remain ever acces-
sible to future naturalists, and so will hereafter furnish
a record of what modifications, if any, captivity and
domestication are able to effect in their outward appear-
ance and inward disposition. They have not yet all
been brought alive to this country ; but every fresh
ship-arrival may obviate that cause of ignorance here,
respecting their capabilities. It is in England, proba-
bly, that their domesticability, and readiness to breed
in confinement, will be really tested, as has been the
case with the Black Swan and the Cereopsis ; for the
colonists are too glad to depend upon the domestic
creatures of the Old World, and have too much heavy
work such as searching for mines into the bowels of
the earth, and tracing the vast extent of horrible burn-
ing deserts to bestow, as yet, much pains on the wild
indigenous creatures of the land. That is a task which
requires more leisure, ease, and wealth, than ought to
be possessed by the subduers of a virgin wilderness.
200 HAVE BRED IN CONFINEMENT. FCHAP.VI.
It is unnecessary to remark how much Australia owes
to the Old World on the score of live stock. Captain
Sturt even suggests, with great reasonableness, that
the camel may yet be found available for exploring the
deserts of the interior, and deciding the question of
the inland sea. [We may wonder, half seriously, why
some bold adventurer has not risked a balloon-ascent
for the sake of a good bird's-eye view into the untrodden
solitudes.] For the main sources of their agricultural
wealth cattle and sheep, the Australians are indebted
to Europeans : we should like, if such be in the order
of things, to get something back from them in re-
turn. The Black Swan seems likely to become na-
turalized, if not as a useful, at least as a very
pleasing, denizen of British park scenery. The
indigenous truly gallinaceous birds are strangely scanty
in number ; and others, very nearly allied to them, are
of such peculiar habits (not incubating their own eggs,
but burying them in large mounds to be hatched), that
it is not easy to suppose how they could be managed in
domestication. We therefore turn to the ColumbidaB
with some degree of hope and interest ; convinced,
however, that the rank as domesticable creatures which
they shall be found to fall into, after three or four gene-
rations bred under the superintendence of man, will be
ultimately the place they are destined by Providence to
occupy in the scale of creation.
Some of this family, as the Crested Marsh Pigeon,
and the common Bronze-wing, have already bred in
confinement ; the lovely little Geopelia cuneata, when
imported more numerously or bred here, so as to be
lower in price, is sure to become a general favourite.
These may be fairly expected to arrive at least at the
CHAP, vi.] COMPULSORY MIGRATIONS. 201
position of the Collared Turtle ; it remains to be proved
whether the Wonga-wonga, Mr. Gould's special protegee,
will turn out as manageable as he anticipates.
The migratory habits of the Australian Pigeons are
an apparent bar to their domestication ; but, in truth,
they have no choice, except to migrate. In the interior
deserts, nearly all the birds are compelled to change
their ground, as the terrific summer advances ; and no
great wonder ! The wonder would be if they did not
migrate. Captain Sturt who, during his all but suc-
cessful attempt to reach the central point of the con-
tinent, found himself locked up, by despair of procuring
water, in the desolate and heated region into which he
had penetrated, as effectually as if he had wintered at the
Pole after a time was deserted by the feathered tribes.
Pigeons, Bitterns, Cockatoos, and other birds, all passed
away simultaneously in a single day; and well they
might. Captain Sturt naturally envied the Cockatoos
their power of wing, to explore a way for his party to
escape from the horrors amidst which they were pent.
Stones that had lain in the sun were with difficulty held
in the hand : the men could not always keep their feet
within the glowing stirrups : if a match fell to the
ground it ignited, and the earth was thoroughly heated
to the depth of three or four feet ; writing was a labo-
rious task, for the lead had dropped out of their
pencils, and the ink dried so rapidly in their pens that
there was no time to linger over choice of phrase : their
hair ceased to grow, and their nails were as brittle as
glass : the atmosphere on some occasions was so rarified,
that they felt a difficulty in breathing, and a burning
sensation on the crown of the head, as if a hot iron
had been there : they were obliged to bury their wax
202 ABSTINENCE FROM WATER. [CHAP.VI.
candles to keep them from melting away : they planted
seeds in the bed of the creek, but the sun burnt them
to cinders the moment they appeared above the ground:
at three o'clock one afternoon the mercury in a thermo-
meter fixed behind a tree about five feet from the ground,
was standing at 132; on removing it into the sun it
rose to 157! [and yet we complain, if we fall in with
the cool temperature of 80 :] a thermometer, graduated
only to 127, was placed in the fork of a tree, sheltered
alike from the wind and the sun, the mercury being
then up to 125; an hour afterwards its further expan-
sion had burst the bulb of the instrument. In the
midst of this fiery furnace, the intense and oppressive
heat of which Captain Sturt cannot find language to
describe, a few native savages contrive to exist by shift-
ing about from creek to mud-pool ; and here also the
Crested Pigeon delights to dwell. " In riding amongst
some rocky ground, we shot a new and beautiful little
Pigeon, with a long crest (Geophaps plumifera). The
habits of this bird were very singular, for it never
perched on the trees, but on the highest and most
exposed rocks, in what must have been an intense heat ;
its flight was short, like that of a Quail, and it ran in
the same manner through the grass when feeding in the
evening."
We shall notice the faculty which certain Australian
Kingfishers possess of living without water to drink ; a
similar power of abstinence is to a degree enjoyed
(shall we say ?) by other inhabitants of the same ter-
rible wastes, for which the words arid, desert, inhospit-
able, are far too feeble epithets. The Talpero, Hapa-
tolis Mitchelii, an animal with many of the habits of
our rabbit, but not much larger than a mouse, must live
CHAP, vi.] AUSTRALIAN DROUGHTS. 303
for many months together without water, feeding on the
tender shoots of plants; and the Bronze-wing and
Harlequin Pigeon, Phaps chalcoptera and histrionica,
just take an evening sip of the muddy pool they have
flown so far to taste, and are off again to their parching
haunts, after having only just wetted their bill. Captain
Sturt remarks, " It is astonishing, indeed, that so small
a quantity as a bare mouthful, should be sufficient to
quench their thirst in the burning deserts they
inhabit."
It is quite impossible for fireside travellers to more
than guess at the joy of expected rescue to life from a
horrible death, which the movements of an Australian
Pigeon can inspire. Captain Sturt 's narrative of such an
event is the more touching that it is unaffected. "None
of the horses would eat, with the exception of Traveller.
The others collected round me as I sat under a tree,
with their heads over mine, and my own horse pulled
my hat off my head to engage my attention. Poor
brute ! I would have given much at that moment to
have relieved him, but I could not. We were all of us
in the same distress, and if we had not ultimately found
water, must all have perished together. Finding that
they would not eat, we saddled and proceeded onwards.
At the head of the valley Traveller fell dead, and I
feared every moment that we should lose the colt. We
made straight for the spot where we expected to relieve
both ourselves and our horses, but the water was gone.
Mr. Sturt poked his fingers into the mud and mois-
tened his lips with the water that filled the holes he
had made, but that was all. In this situation, and with
the apparent certain prospect of losing my own and
Mr. Browne's horse, and the colt which was still alive
204 AID IN EXTREMITIES. [CHAP. vi.
when the men left him, not more than a mile in the
rear, we continued our search for water, but it would
have been to no purpose. Suddenly a Pigeon topped
the sand-hill it being the first bird we had seen a
solitary bird ; passing us like lightning, it pitched for
a moment, and for a moment only, on the plain, about
a quarter of a mile from us, and then flew away. It
could only have wetted its bill, but Mr. Sturt had marked
the spot, and there was water ! Perhaps I ought to dwell
for a moment on this singular occurrence, but I leave
it to make its own impression on the reader's feelings.
I was enabled to send back to the colt, and we managed
to save him ; and as there was a sufficiency of water
for our consumption, I determined to give the men a
day of rest, and to try if I could find a passage across
the desert a little to the eastward of the north."*
The power of ventriloquism is a faculty that one
would hardly expect to find amongst Pigeons. Some of
these birds, however, do possess it. Whether it is ex-
ercised generally, or on occasions only, does not appear.
Those who have kept the common Bronze- wing say
that it can throw its voice to a distance, making it sound
as if it came from some bird a long way off, though the
creature itself is in a cage at one's elbow. In Wilkin-
son's "Manual for Emigrants,"! a South Australian
night is thus described : " It was nearly full-moon,
and the sky unclouded, every object being seen with
distinctness almost to as great a distance as in the
daytime. No sound broke the stillness except the dis-
tant lowing of cattle, and the unearthly sound made
by the Bronze-wing Pigeons."
* Expedition into Central Australia, vol. ii. p. 51.
t Ch. ii. p. 330.
CHAP, vi.] VENTRILOQUIST PIGEONS. 205
Another species, Geopelia tranquilla, one of the tiny
Ground-Doves, exercised its talents in puzzling Captain
Sturt during his exploring expeditions. He says, " This
bird frequents the banks of the Darling and the Murray,
but is not so common as the Geopelia cuneata. I first
heard it on the marshes of the Macquarie, but could
not see it. The fact is that it has the power of throw-
ing its voice to a distance, and I mistook it for some
time for the note of a large bird on the plains, and sent
a man more than once with a gun to shoot it, without
success. At last, as Mr. Hume and I were one day sitting
under a tree on the Bogan Creek, between the Mac-
quarie and the Darling, we heard the note, and I sent
my man Frazer to try once more if he could discover
what bird it was, when, on looking up into the tree
under which we were sitting, we saw one of these little
Doves, and ascertained from the movement of its
throat that the sound proceeded from it, although it
still fell on our ears as if it had been some large bird
upon the plain. I have therefore taken upon me to
call it ' Ventriloquist.' "
THE HARLEQUIN BRONZE-WING, Phaps (Peristera of
Gould) histrionica, is an extremely beautiful bird, which
has lately bred in this country under most paradoxical
circumstances, if we were to estimate its degree of hardi-
ness from the climate of its native regions. It is an
instance, very similar to the Guinea-fowl, that practical
zoology is as much an empirical science as practical
chemistry ; and that we can form no safe a priori con-
clusions respecting the constitutional powers of any
untried living creature. Everything must be tested,
both singly and in combination, or by inter-breeding.
What zoology will still want, after her list of forms is
206 HARLEQUIN BRONZE-WING. [CHAP. V i.
complete, is experiment upon experiment with each
available species.
The Harlequin Bronze- wing derives its name proba-
bly as much from the black mask with which its face is
covered, as from the gay colours with which other parts
of its person are decorated. Its first discovery is thus
recorded :
" On breaking through a low scrub, we crossed a
ridge of sand, on which numerous pine-trees were grow-
ing. The day was excessively hot, and the horses in
the team suffered much. I therefore desired Morgan
to halt, and, with Mr. Browne, rode forward in the hope
of finding water, for he had shot a new and beautiful
Pigeon, [Peristera histrionica,] on the bill of which
some moist clay was adhering ; wherefore we concluded
that he had just been drinking at some shallow, but
still unexhausted, puddle of water near us : we were,
however, unsuccessful in our search, but crossed pine
ridge after pine ridge.
"As we crossed the plains near Flood's Creek we
flushed numerous Pigeons ; a pair, indeed, from under
almost every bush of rhagodia that we passed. This
bird was similar to one Mr. Browne had shot in the
pine forest, and this (Dec. 9th) was clearly the breed-
ing season ; there were no young birds, and in most of
the nests only one egg. We should not, however, have
encumbered ourselves with any of the young at that
time, but looked to a later period for the chance of
being able to take some of that beautiful description of
Pigeon home with us. The old birds rose like Grouse,
and would afford splendid shooting if found in such
a situation at any other period than that of incubation ;
at other times however, as I shall have to inform the
CHAP. vi.J SUDDEN MIGRATIONS. 207
reader, they congregate in vast flocks, and are migra-
tory.
" When Mr. Browne and I were in this neighbour-
hood before, [near the Depot, where they were detained
six months by the drought,] he had some tolerable sport,
shooting the new Pigeon, the flesh of which was most
delicious. At that time they were feeding upon the seed
of the rice-grass, and were scattered about ; but we now
(Feb. 8th) found them, as well as many other birds,
congregated in vast numbers, preparing to migrate to
the north-east, apparently their direct line of migra-
tion ; they were comparatively wild, so that our only
chance of procuring any was when they came to water."*
Another discoverer describes the bird. " The pond
here was so much frequented by Pigeons, and a new
sort, of elegant form and plumage, was so numerous
that five were killed at two shots. The head was jet-
black, the neck milk-white, the wings fawn-colour,
having the lower feathers of purple. I had no means
of preserving a specimen, but I took a drawing of one,
by which I find it has been named Geophaps (now
Peristera) histrionica."f
Mr. Gould found the Harlequins under circumstances
which proved that they must have made a sudden flight
taking their equally sudden departure from the
glowing hot-bed of the central regions ; on which he
remarks, " The great length of wing which this bird
possesses, admirably adapts it for inhabiting such a
country as the far interior is generally imagined to be,
since by this means it may readily pass with great ease,
and in a short time, over a vast extent of country ; this
* Captain Sturt.
t Sir T. Mitchell's Expedition into Tropical Australia, p. 323.
208 HAVE BRED AT KNOWSLEY. [CHAP. vi.
great power of flight is also a highly necessary qualifica-
tion to enable it to traverse the great distances it is
probably often necessitated to do in search of water.
" On dissecting the specimens obtained, I found their
crops half-filled with small hard seeds, which they pro-
cured from the open plains, but of what kinds I was
unable to determine."*
The reader is now particularly requested to compare
in his imagination the burning wastes of which the bird
is native, with an account of its doings, of its own free
choice, in England. For the details I am indebted to
the kindness of the Earl of Derby, and it will be most
respectful to his Lordship to give them in his own
words.
Sept. 20, 1850. "I have already told you of the
success we have had in breeding the Australian Doves,
and that a pair of the Harlequin Bronze- wing had made
a nest on the ground in the open Pheasantry, merely under
the wired part, and close to the low front wall ; in con-
sequence of which Thompson took the precaution, by
way of some protection against rain or other storms, to
place a board as a sort of pent-house, or lean-to, from
the wall over her, while she was yet sitting. Yet this
never disturbed her ; but since her couple of young
have been hatched, she occasionally amuses herself by
changing their place for some reason or other, which
she manages by inducing them to flutter along the
ground after her to the distance of a foot or two, by
which means she has of course now removed them from
under the shelter of the board, and into the open air,
and in consequence I fear they may have sustained
* Birds of Australia.
CHAP, vi.] SPECKLED GROUND-DOVE. 209
some damage from the rain of last night, which for a
time was rather heavy, but as yet I have heard of none
such happening. Of this species I have four adults,
and this is the second nest made, if I may call it such,
for the eggs were laid on the bare grass. Of the first
pair of young one died early, and the other is, I should
say, full grown, but has not as yet the markings about
the head that the old ones have. The second pair,
which I saw yesterday, were about half-fledged, but
seem to have very little down."
Probably if the squabs had been coddled up in heat,
they might not have thriven so well. Still their being
reared at all is an extraordinary fact. The temperature
of their birth-place at Knowsley would be at least 60
or 70 lower than that in Australia. Who can guess at
any creature's powers of endurance, their own included,
till they try them ? But hardihood is not the universal
rule with Pigeons that have been brought up to the
bakings of the great Australian oven. One elegant
little Dove, our next subject, found by the same
explorers in the same heated deserts, can hardly be got
through a British winter in a snug cage in a warm room.
Let all intending purchasers of such keep their cash in
their purses till the spring importation has arrived.
SPECKLED DOVE, or GRACEFUL GROUND-DOVE, Geo-
pelia cuneata. "All that we read or imagine of the
softness and innocence of the Dove is realized in this
beautiful and delicate little bird. It is very small, and
has a general purple plumage approaching to lilac. It
has a bright red skin round the eyes, the iris being also
red, and its wings are speckled over with delicate white
spots. This sweet bird is common on the Murray and
the Darling, and was met with in various parts of the
p
210 MINUTE ANIMAL FOEMS. [CHAP. vi.
interior, but I do not think that it migrates to the
north-west. Two remained with us at the Depot in
lat. 39 40', long. 142, during a great part of the win-
ter, and on one occasion roosted on my tent ropes near
a fire. The note of this Dove is exceedingly plaintive,
and is softer, but much resembles the coo of the Turtle-
Dove."*
Australia is a land of minute forms of animated nature,
and this is one of the most charming. To behold is to
admire ; to possess is to cherish with the interest called
forth by fragile beauty. It is probably quite the smallest
existing Pigeon. The same continent also is inhabited
by that beautiful little Quail the Synoicus Chinensis,
which is not larger than a young Guinea-fowl that has
just broken the shell. What minute, insect-like
things its young ones must be ! The little Grass Par-
roquets, not bigger than Larks, are well known : and
among quadrupeds, there is the Flying Opossum Mouse,
Acrobates pygmcea, less than a mouse in size, and with
a tail like an Emeu's feather (in fineness, not in double-
ness) a pet calculated to rouse the jealousy of all the
American Flying Squirrels, or European Dormice, that
were ever fondled in a lady's apron.
Mr. Gould's graphic account both makes us desire
the bird, and indicates the diet and position most
suitable for it in our aviaries. " Its natural food being
the seeds of grasses and leguminous plants, it is observed
more frequently on the ground than among trees. I
sometimes met with it in small flocks, but more often
in pairs or singly. It runs over the ground with a short
bobbing motion of the tail, and while feeding is so re-
* Captain Sturt.
CHAP, vi.] CRESTED PIGEONS. 211
markably tame as almost to admit of its being taken by
the hand ; and if forced to take wing, it merely flies to
the nearest trees, and there remains motionless among
the branches until it again descends to the ground. I
not unfrequently observed it close to the open doors of
the huts of the stock-keepers of the interior, who, from
its being so constantly before them, regard it with little
interest.
" The nest is a frail but beautiful structure, formed of
the stalks of a few flowering grasses, crossed and inter-
woven after the manner of the other Pigeons. It utters
a rather singular note, which at times very much resem-
bles the distant crowing of a cock. The eggs are white,
and two in number, -f J of an inch long by T 7 ^ broad.
The sexes, although bearing a general resemblance to
each other, may be readily distinguished by the smaller
size of the female, by the browner hue of her wing-
feathers, and by the spotting of her upper surface not
being so numerous or so regular as in the male."
There are two known crested Pigeons in Australia,
belonging to different genera : first, the GEOPHAPS
PLUMIFERA*, one of the very small doves, which we are
not aware has been brought alive to this country ; the
other, OCYPHAPS LOPHOTES, or CRESTED MARSH PIGEON,
has bred both at Knowsley and in the Zoological Society's
Gardens. Captain Sturt says, "The locality of this
beautiful Pigeon is always near water. It is a bird of
* These pretty little Pigeons had been first observed by Brown in
the course of our yesterday's stage, who shot two of them, but they
were too much mutilated to make good specimens. We frequently
saw them afterwards, but never more than two, four, or six together,
running with great rapidity and with elevated crest over the ground,
and preferring the shady rocks along the sandy bed of the river."
Leichhardt's Expedition to Port Essington, p. 284.
p 2
212 THEIK BKEEDING AT KNOWSLEY. [CHAP. vi.
the depressed interior [parts of the interior of Australia
are below the level of the sea, reminding us of the Dead
Sea, another sterile hollow on the earth's surface] , never
ascending to higher land, where there are extensive
marshes covered with the Polygonium geranium. In
river valleys, on the flats of which the same bramble
grows, the Ocyphaps lophotes is sure to be found ; but
there is no part of the interior over which I have tra-
velled where it is not, and it is very evident that its
range is right across the continent from north to south.
The general colour of this bird is a light purple or slate
colour, and its form and plumage are both much more
delicate than that of the Bronze-wing ; but it is by no
means so fine a bird, its flesh being neither tender nor
well-flavoured. It builds in low shrubs in exposed
situations, and lays two eggs on so few twigs that it is
only surprising how they remain together."
There are several points connected with the breeding
of the Marsh Pigeon in England, for the knowledge of
which I beg to express my thanks to the Earl of Derby,
that well deserve the attention of naturalists.
In the first place, there are several birds, natives of
the southern hemisphere, whose descendants, as well as
themselves, show their constitutions to be excited by the
seasonal periods of their original home, though they
themselves have for years been inhabitants of the
northern half of the world. One of these, as will be
seen, is the Emeu ; another is the Ocyphaps lophotes.
Feb. 12. "I have a few of the Crested Pigeon (of the
Marshes) of Australia, a pair of which last season made
three nests, and laid ^herein, but only once reared a
young one. A short time since, going into the place
where they were, and looking up, I saw something
CHAP, vi.] A SINGLE YOUNG ONE EEAEED. 213
which appeared like their nest in the top of a tree, and
called Thompson's attention to it. He said he had been
there in that place the day before I came, and had not
then seen anything of the sort ; and to-day he has just
told me he thinks, but cannot be sure, the female has
begun to lay, but he does not like to climb to look, for
fear of disturbing them. This is another proof of
Australian birds retaining their native habits as to time,
and I think a stronger one than the Black Swans', as
they seem to breed at all periods."
Their bad success the previous season might, I
thought, have arisen from their being themselves
scarcely adult birds. I have found that, both in Fancy
Pigeons and in Collared Turtles, the first pair or two of
eggs are generally clear. Domestic Pigeons are more
prolific breeders as they advance in years. The cock
bird especially becomes more useful and assiduous as a
nurse. But his Lordship does not admit this plea.
Feb. 19, 1850. "I am rather led to doubt the solu-
tion you suggest, for our birds having laid three times
last year and only rearing a single young one (viz., that
they were themselves young birds), from the circum-
stance that another pair in the Regent's Park also nested
thrice, and, I believe, did not rear more, if so many ;
and it is hardly likely that all the birds obtained that
season should be young, and none adult. Their breeding
thrice, or rather nesting thrice with us, we can partly
account for, as in one instance the nest was disturbed."
This had been previously explained. Nov. 9, 1849.
"As to the Australian Doves of which you speak in
your letter, I perfectly agree in the opinion that several
of them may be ultimately made useful to a certain
degree of domesticity. You speak of the Ocyphaps
214 ONLY ONE EGG LAID. [CHAP. vi.
lophotes, which you think yon saw here breeding, and in
which your recollection is quite correct. But ours is not
the only, or perhaps the most successful, instance of the
fact. In the Zoological Society's Gardens at the Regent's
Park a pair have, as I am told by Mr. Mitchell, bred
this last season three different times, and, as I think,
they have reared young. In my own Menagerie, where
I have two pairs of these birds, both have made nests
and laid, but only one pair has reared a young one,
which is doing very well, and at present is quite equal
in size to the parents, though for some time it continued
very small. They soon after their arrival formed a nest
among the boughs of a fir-tree at one end of the inclo-
sure ; but as the female had one of the wings a little
injured, so as not to permit her flying quite well, the
work did not succeed, and was abandoned. As she re-
covered, the task was again commenced in the same
tree ; but, as the wired inclosure in which they were,
together with some small Antelopes, was required to be
subdivided, although the workmen were carefully kept
away from that end, the nest was again deserted after
one, if not two, eggs had been laid, and we thought it
was the gambolling of the Antelopes that disturbed the
birds. A third attempt succeeded. Two eggs were
laid, and one was hatched as I have told you, and has
never from the first looked back. The other pair did
not hatch."
A second remarkable fact is the habit which some
captive Pigeons fall into of laying only one egg, instead
of their usual number, two.
" This season (Feb. 19, 1850) only one egg has been
laid by the Ocyphaps, and that some days since ; so that
it remains to be seen whether that is or is not their
CHAP, vi.] THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 2J5
proper number. The usual number for this tribe of
birds to lay is held generally to be two, but in some
species it is said to be limited to one egg only. My
man Thompson asserts that he has never known our
Passenger Pigeons to have more than one young one in
a nest, and I think he has told me that they only lay a
single egg. This is in confinement ; while Audubon
positively speaks of two squabs in the same nest. This
seems an odd, and I think unusual, effect of domestica-
tion." It is a very natural effect of restraint and im-
prisonment, of want of sufficient exercise, of incomplete
change of diet. Though, if these flighty strangers can
make themselves comfortable anywhere in Great Britain,
they ought to do so at Knowsley.
A few words on two more aviary Pigeons, each the
representative of a vast continent, and this chapter
must be concluded. The first is the famous PASSENGER
bird of North America.
It appears, from the latest accounts, that the enor-
mous flocks in which these birds make their irregular
change of locality are gradually diminishing in vastness ;
and we know, that as men increase wild creatures decrease.
The descriptions of Audubon would hereafter be liable
to doubt, were they not supported by such strong contem-
porary evidence. And it becomes interesting to ascer-
tain whether the bird will, in the first place, breed in
captivity ; and, secondly, whether it can be prevailed on
to assume domestic habits. For, though the flesh
may nauseate when thrown into the market by tons
weight at a time, it may be acceptable if offered in
braces and leashes. The first point has been decided
some years ago. Audubon tells us, " My noble friend
the Earl of Derby has raised a great number of these
216 TRULY A BRITISH SPECIES. [CHAP. vi.
birds, and has distributed them freely. It is not, there-
fore, very surprising that some which have escaped from
confinement have been shot ; but that this species should
naturally have a claim to be admitted into the British
Fauna appears to me very doubtful."* As to its
domesticability, some hope might seem to be enter-
tained from the following, which I have from Mr. T.
S. Woodcock, of St. Mary's Gate, Manchester : "I
have seen cart-loads of the Passenger Pigeon brought
to New York, as they visit the vicinity in their mi-
grations. This is the only wild species that I have
known attempted to be kept tame, and the instance
was my own. A straggling flock having passed over
New York, one of the birds (perhaps being fatigued)
flew so low as to strike a chimney, and fell to the ground,
and before it had time to recover itself it was in my pos-
session. I kept it in a cote in the garden, with other
Pigeons, and it became tolerably tame, and, I thought,
had mated ; but, the door being left open, out it flew,
and, though it remained in the garden several days, I
could not recover it, and its affection for its mate would
not reconcile it to voluntary imprisonment." This was
really behaving in a much more promising manner than
either our Ring Dove or Common Turtle would have
have done. They would have been off instantly, sans
ceremonie, without lingering two or three days out of
politeness to their hospitable entertainer. For it will
be remembered that the mating was only a compulsory
union, a complete Hobson's choice of fellowship. My
own scaped specimen did not tantalize us so long. For
in February, 1849, I had the honour to receive some of
* Ornith. Biog., vol. v. p. 552.
CHAP. vi.J SCAPED BIRD.
his Lordship's spare stock of these birds. Three pairs
arrived here in strong health and beautiful plumage.
Audubon's remark is quite correct, that their feathers
are separated from the skin with the least touch ; and
the principals and assistants at Knowsley must be clever
fellows to secure the birds in the spacious Pheasantry of
which they have the unlimited range, and send them
forth with so little damage. In removing the birds from
the basket in which they arrived, one, a hen, slipped
from my grasp. She dashed off, and went through the
window of the room like a cricket ball, making the glass
rattle on the gravel outside. Instantly the whole house-
hold, not very numerous, ran out of doors, and were
gazing at the clouds with stare of various vacancy. I
soon discovered, what we might have guessed, that the
bird had fallen stunned on the ground ; so she might
have been retaken ; but the interval was too long. On
approaching her, she mounted to the top of a spruce fir,
sat there gazing around for five or six minutes (I would
not allow her to be shot for a specimen), and then darted
off like a bullet from a gun whither, would be agreeable
news. At this moment she is probably wandering un-
shot somewhere between Cringleford Hall and the moon.
If any sportsman in these realms is "unfortunate enough
to bring down a female Passenger Pigeon, I beg to in-
form him that she is no addition to the British Fauna,
but my lawful property !
An odd male, left in solitude by this elopement, was
placed in a cage by himself, with the intention of giving
him some common hen Pigeon as a companion ; but he
sulked and died in a few days, before his new associate
was introduced to him. A pair of the others were kept
for many months in a cage in my living-room. Though
218 LONG-TAILED SENEGAL DOVE. [CHAP. vi.
they gradually lost a little of their wildness, they ac-
quired nothing of tameness, much less of domestic
attachment. They were of opposite sexes, yet they
quarrelled incessantly. They always reminded me of
those miserable unions in which it is easier to lead the
horse to water than to make him drink. The male was
the smaller and weaker bird, and he was perpetually
hen pecked, till he was worried into, not his grave, but
the bird-stuffer's glass-case.
Another pair were transferred to a friend, who wrote
thus of them : " The Passengers are well, and exqui-
sitely beautiful ; but beyond this, and the curious G rebe-
like fashion of resting on their perch, (how they enjoy
a sloping one !) there is really nothing to note. They
are the most strangely uninteresting birds I ever came
across, never uttering a note, or being seen to eat, except
the hen one day, and which she seemed heartily ashamed
of being caught doing. They sit up as if they had a
wire drawn through them, and I fear their tempers are
not good and trusty." H. H.
Audubon well describes the curious motion of the
neck in these birds when they are walking along the
ground, and pictures the effect of their wheeling flight
when in flocks, the mass now appearing all blue, and
then all sunny red. This is caused by the simultaneous
exposure to view of the bosoms of the birds, which in
the males are of a bright vinous cherry-colour.
THE LONG-TAILED SENEGAL DOVE is equally propa-
gable in an aviary, unmanageable in a cage, and unsus-
ceptible of domestication. A pair liberally sent from
Knowsley at the same time with the Passengers, still
survive ; but though of opposite sexes, they long kept
up such fierce engagements, that they were obliged to be
CHAP, vi.] THEIR SONG. 219
indulged with a separate maintenance. Notwithstanding
their native tropical habitat, they seem perfectly hardy
here. Lord Derby informs me, " I have on former oc-
casions turned out a few of the Pigeon tribe, which I
did not find it convenient to keep in what is called the
Old Pheasantry, but I am somewhat discouraged in this
proceeding ; as, though they have staid in the planta-
tions around where they were released, and have bred
and even reared their young in some instances, they
have gradually disappeared. What we turned out here
were the Passenger Pigeons of America, and the Long-
tailed Senegal Pigeons."
The Senegals might very likely be naturalized in
England, if poaching naturalists would allow them. % In
the woods about Knowsley they have been heard, utter-
ing their curious song, which sounds very like the com-
mencement of a negro melody, and may even have
given a rythmical hint to the musical Blacks,
ft
/
w\ "
and so on. Two crochets to one bar, and four quavers to
the next, in regular succession, all on one note. The
learned say that the Doves are nearly allied to the
Cuckoos. At any rate the song of many of them
admits of quite as precise a notation*.
Our bird is not the Turtur Senegalemis, or Neck-
laced Turtle Dove, of Blyth, but probably the Columba
mnacea of Gmelin. There is great confusion in the
* " The coo of T. risorius somewhat resembles the sound cuckoo,
pronounced slowly and with a pause between the syllables, the
second being much prolonged and at first rolled." Blyth. See M.
Sundevall, in An. Nat. Hist.
220 AVIAEY TREATMENT. [CHAP. vi.
Latin nomenclature, though little in the English, if
the epithet " Long- tailed " be but borne in mind.
The valuable "Catalogue of the Knowsley Collection,"
now in the course of publication for the Earl of Derby,
by Mr. Louis Eraser, will doubtless ease our minds of
many of these difficulties.
All the Pigeons here mentioned are suitable for the
aviary only, except the Geopelia cuneata, a pair of which,
if the gardener were but good-natured, would thrive
best in the dry stove. There seems, however, no rea-
son why a hot-house should not be devoted to the
convenience of birds, instead of plants, in a large esta-
blishment. For the welfare of foreign Pigeons in an
aviary, live turf, calcareous earth, gravel, shell-sand or
calcined oyster shells, salt, fresh water, and shallow
bathing-places, are desirable. Our ordinary grain and
pulse may suffice for their diet, but it should not be for-
gotten that many of them are vegetable and fruit-eaters ;
it is wise, therefore, to offer to any little known species
that may come to hand, cabbage, swede-turnips, hips,
haws, snow-berries, &c., in their season. A shelf
screened off in an obscure corner near the roof will
sometimes tempt them to breed : a wooden bowl, stuck
among the branches of a tree, will give the hint that
eggs may be laid there. If I do not err, I saw one of
Lord Derby's Australian Doves sitting on a wooden
bowl. A few sticks and straws laid about are great
inducements to amorous birds to begin furnishing their
apartment. Finally, whoever has the taste to amuse
his leisure with this kind of relaxation, will also have
the tact to know that Nature is the best aviary-guide.
So adieu to the Doves ! But we must have one
Dove more ! " PEEISTEBA JAMAICENSIS. Go in pairs,
CHAP, vi.] PEEISTERA JAMAICENSIS. 221
feed on the ground, build a coarse nest with two or three
cross sticks, easily domesticated, excellent for the table."
Witness Sir W. Jardine.* If one were sure that the
words were used in their strict meaning only, I would
soon organise a conspiracy to rob the cleanly and cho-
lerine island of Jamaica of a few pairs of her easily
domesticable Ground Doves.
* An. Nat. Hist., vol. xx. p. 374.
THE AVIARY.H
Chick of Curassorv.
CHAPTER I.
THE CRACIDjE-CURASSOWS.
Want of precise information. Expected results from the Zoological Society.
Its great advantages. Disappointments. Causes thereof. Erroneous Assump-
tions. The limited power of Man. Domesticability of Cracidae. Former
attempts. Natural disposition of the bird. Imported long ago. Ill success
at the Zoological Gardens. The Cracidse at Knowsley. Arboreal habits. Of
tender constitution. Curassows at home. Tame, not domesticated. Not
common in S. America. M. Ameshoff's/es^m d' Heliogabale. Eggs.
" THE Correso is a larger Fowl than the Quam ; the
Cock is black, the Hen is of a dark brown. The Cock
has a Crown of black Feathers on his head, and appears
UNCEBTAINTIES. [CHAP. i.
very stately. These live also on Berries, and are very
good to eat ; but their bones are said to be poisonous ;
therefore we do either burn or bury them, or throw them
into the water, for fear our Dogs should eat them." *
We do not now believe the bones of the " Correso"
to be poisonous, nor take much precaution to keep them
out of the way of such dogs as have the chance of eating
them ; but with really important and even with veritable
particulars concerning this bird and the species allied to
it, we are very little better acquainted than was the
voyager whom we have just quoted. The information
at present obtainable in books, or elsewhere, respecting
the mere rarity or abundance of curassows in their na-
tive country, the degree to which they have been, not
tamed, but truly and actually domesticated there, and
the amount of success likely to be attained in increas-
ing them as a serviceable stock of poultry in England,
is of a most conflicting character. For instance, no-
thing that can be called even moderate success has
hitherto attended the efforts made to propagate them in
Great Britain ; while in Holland, we are told, one gen-
tleman used occasionally to produce them on his dinner-
table. Their flesh is reputed so exquisite a viand, and
their manners and appearance are known to be so gen-
tle and engaging, that, although some persons might
object to the loudness and harshness of their voice, they
ought certainly to be added to our list of profitable live
stock, if such an alliance with them can possibly be
effected ; if it cannot, the actual impossibility of their
naturalisation here ought to be proved and publicly an-
nounced after being fairly tested, and the causes of it
ascertained, in order to prevent well-meaning experi-
* Darapier's Voyages.
CHAP, i.] EXPECTED RESULTS. 225
mentalists from incurring further expense in useless
efforts, and to stop the continued lamentations in agri-
cultural and natural history books that they are not yet
generally reared in our farm-yards ; which lamentations
are to be found in almost every ornithological work
which mentions the tribe. The investigation of the
difficulty, moreover, whether it shall finally be pro-
nounced to be superable or insuperable, may perhaps
establish some principles to guide us in speculating on
the probable results of future similar experiments. At
the present date, their high price, varying from 61. to
12/. the pair, shows that they are anything but vulgar
birds, and that a hindrance to their rapid increase on
the old continent has hitherto existed in some yet un-
discovered cause.
When the Zoological Society of London was esta-
blished, nearly 30 years ago, it was intended by its
projectors to bear the same relation to Zoology as a
science, by the introduction of living birds and animals,
that the Horticultural does to Botany; and sanguine
hopes were naturally and reasonably entertained of its
being the means of making numerous and valuable
additions to our stock of domesticated creatures. Our
preserves were to be made the retreat of unknown game
birds; Bustards, Guans, Curassows, and a throng of
foreign Ducks and Geese, were to give variety to the
poultry yard and luxurious plenty to the larder; Al-
pacas, Guanacos, and Vicunas were to come in as useful
auxiliaries to the sheep farm, and an addition to our
flocks and herds; and even one or two new beasts of
burden, beautiful as the Zebra, docile as the Horse,
agile as the Antelope, and perhaps of half- elephant
power in strength, were hoped to be procurable. At
Q
226 THE ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [CHAP. i.
the outset, Sir Stamford Raffles directed his attention
more particularly to the scientific department; while Sir
Humphrey Davy was to look principally to its practical
and immediate utility to the country gentleman and the
farmer ; and although the Society was too soon deprived
by an early death of the great services of both those
gentlemen, they have left most able successors. Scien-
tific Zoology has really advanced with rapid strides ; but,
in spite of every effort, the practical results and available
importations have unfortunately been exceedingly few.
It should also be remembered, that the Society has
had unprecedented means at command ; that it is com-
posed of noblemen and gentlemen of rank, wealth, edu-
cation, and ability ; that similar experiments on the do-
mestication of untried creatures have been concurrently
carried on in other establishments witness the princely
menageries of the Earl of Derby and of Sir Robert Heron ;
that it makes no secret of its proceedings and their re-
sults, but with a courtesy and liberality which deserve
the fullest acknowledgment, gladly affords every aid to
the naturalist who is in true and earnest search after
information.
But, notwithstanding all this, it is an undeniable re-
proach to Ornithology, and, it must be confessed, to
Zoology in general, that those sciences, in the literature
to which they have as yet given rise, have proved of
little service as far as regards any suggestions respect-
ing what we are likely to expect and obtain from com-
paratively untried birds and animals. Compare them
with Botany and Horticulture, and it might be pro-
nounced, in a hasty judgment, that they ought to retire
abashed. From Botany and Horticulture we have in
recent times derived wholesome and substantial vegeta-
CHAP. I.] DISAPPOINTMENTS. 227
bles ; plentiful, grateful, and luxurious fruits ; forms of
delicate and fragile beauty to decorate the mansions of
the wealthy patrons of the science ; continual additions
to our woods, our shrubberies, our hothouses, our cottage
gardens : nay, by the sanative force of herbs, even dis-
ease has been arrested, the irritation of incipient in-
sanity allayed, fever mitigated in short, life prolonged
and made more comfortable during its prolongation.
What, meanwhile, have Ornithology and Zoology effected
to increase our useful store, for the last three hundred
years ? We do not say, nothing ; but we dare not say,
much more than nothing.
After a very few years', perhaps months' observation,
horticulturists will undertake to pronounce whether a
new plant be suited or unsuited to exposure in this
climate, and what is the best mode of turning it to the
greatest use or ornament, under either condition ; and
if it cannot be turned to any use, but can be kept for
its showy appearance merely, will soon tell us that it is
useless, except as a specimen, why it is so, and how it
may best be retained in health and beauty. But Orni-
thology and Zoology have imparted little practical know-
ledge respecting those creatures about which the poul-
try-maid, the shepherd, and the herdsman, could not
already give us information. Even Agriculture, which
requires so heavy a ballast of capital to carry her along
steadily on her way even Agriculture has introduced
Turnips, Swedes, Mangold-wurtzel, and other additional
crops, within the memory of our fathers and grand-
fathers ; but Ornithology does not to this day publicly
decide, in print at least, whether birds, like those now
under consideration, promising truly or falsely to be as
valuable as Turkeys and Guinea-fowls, and which have
Q 2
228 CAUSES OF DISAPPOINTMENTS. [CHAP. i.
been kept captive in Europe at least 250 years, are, or
are not, easily and profitably propagable in British farm-
yards.
The above-mentioned short-comings, and the reason
why we cannot yet refer to Zoology for a decided answer
as to what creatures, still in a state of nature, may be
reckoned upon as hereafter reclaimable for the use and
service of Man, can be accounted for in two ways.
First. In studying any class of natural phenomena,
the mode is, to collect together all the facts, specimens,
and reasonings, bearing in any manner upon the subject,
which come within the inquirer's reach in fact, to
make an intellectual and a material museum of things
pertaining to that department; and then, by careful
and persevering inspection and comparison, to discover
what they mean, to observe in what theoretical direction
they tend, to what conclusions they point and lead the
way; and thus, sometimes by patient reasoning and
working the problem out, occasionally and rarely by a
sudden comprehension of the hidden riddle, to arrive,
if not at the very truth itself, at least at a close ap-
proximation to it. Now, the science of Zoology is at
the present epoch in the exact position of a student ac-
cumulating observations, collecting specimens, and com-
paring theories of natural phenomena; she is as yet
but a humble learner and investigator of a most varied
and intricate field of knowledge ; she is rather in a con-
dition to receive hints and to be thankful for contribu-
tions of information, than either to dogmatise boldly,
or to lead the way into unknown regions by means of
the possession of any unvarying compass of well-ascer-
tained principles for her guidance. " The time has not
yet arrived," Mr. Gould truly remarks, in his magnificent
CHAP. I.J FALSE HOPES- 229
and admirable " Birds of Australia," " when a philoso-
phic view of the Ornithology of the world (much less of
its entire Zoology) can be achieved ; hundreds of species
and many forms yet remaining to be discovered, with-
out a knowledge of which any general arrangement
must necessarily be most imperfect. [If this be true
of the mere bodily organs of the creatures that are to
be studied, with what increased force is it applicable to
their habits, disposition, and capabilities!] I am not
speaking in disparagement of the attempts at classi-
fication that have hitherto been made, all and each of
which has its own individual merits. We are in truth
merely the pioneers preceding the great master mind,
which will doubtlessly arise at some future period, en-
dowed with the capacity requisite for the classification
of the immense mass of materials we at present pos-
sess, and with which future researches will make us
acquainted." *
A second cause why the practical results of Zoology
appear to be so far from commensurate even to the
degree of perfection already attained by its system of
classification, is, that erroneous principles such at
least we humbly believe them to be have often been
assumed ; and that it has been taken for granted that
the attainment of certain ends are within the scope of
human control and direction (such as changing the in-
nate disposition and natural constitution of animals),
which lie in reality utterly beyond and above our influ-
ence. We repeatedly make the attempt to arrive at
useful results by following up this deceptive anticipation,
and, as a matter of course, we repeatedly fail. What
success has attended the establishment of the Camel on
* Notice to the Introduction.
230 WRONG ASSUMPTIONS. [CHAP. i.
the plains of Tuscany? Has it been as thrifty and
useful as in its native desert, or has the race barely heen
propagated arid kept going on as a curiosity and a show ?
Similar questions might be asked respecting numerous
other creatures. We would be extremely cautious in de-
pending too much on any analogy derived from plants, but,
we may ask, which tender herb from South America have
we succeeded in rendering hardy, capable of enduring
our damps and frosts ? Can we as yet even say that we
have completely and thoroughly acclimated the Potato?
It is also apt to be assumed, without the least sup-
porting proof given, that Man is the originator, or, as
some writers rather profanely word it, the creator, of
numerous domesticated races, whose companionship is
almost necessary to his comfort, sometimes even to his
existence ; and it is argued from these, to say the least,
questionable premises, that as we have done so much
for ourselves already, we can continue to go on and do
more ; as we have made the Dog, the Sheep, the Pigeon,
and the Fowl what they are, we can of course proceed
in our work of reclaiming and creating (alas ! what
blind and presumptuous worms we are !) new races to
any extent ; we are not only destined to conquer the
world which lies before us, but we are to raise up a
new set of animals suitable for future purposes !
We do not wish to exaggerate this point unfairly, but
we do wish to exhibit it in the full force with which it
is made to bear upon that very important subject the
history of the creatures we now retain, and are likely
to reclaim to a domestic state. The same key-note is
taken up, with scarcely an instance of wavering, by a
whole series of writers on natural history ; and the strain
is continued with an increasing swell, and re-echoed from
CHAP. i.J LIMITED POWERS OF MAN. 231
men of deservedly great name and reputation, down to
the ranks of the humblest and most parrot-like of their
plagiarists. We are constantly meeting with such
phrases as the following " The triumphs of human art
and reason over the natural instincts of the inferior
animals;" " The reduction, not only of their physical
force, hut of their mental powers, to human authority ;"
" It was easy to domesticate the heavy and inactive
birds, [in what country do farmers' wives bring fat young
Bustards to market ?] but those that possessed rapidity
of flight required more time and care to subjugate;"
&c. &c. &c. It is needless to multiply examples ; they
will occur to every reader: almost the sole dissentient
we remember who hesitates to drift quite so rapidly down
this popular current is Colonel Hamilton Smith, in the
views he has so temperately and judiciously set forth
in his two excellent volumes on the Dog, in the " Na-
turalist's Library."
We might urge that the power assumed by Man to
rule so completely the destinies of his fellow-creatures
(though spiritually inferior, yet formed of the same ele-
mentary materials and animated by similar mysterious
vital forces) is improbable, from the unlikelihood that
one creature should exert so vast an influence on the
position in creation of other creatures differing so little
(except, as we have remarked, spiritually) from him-
self*; that it is irreligious to boast that we have done
* " "What call'st thou solitude? Is not the earth
With various living creatures, and the air
Replenished, and all these at thy command
To come and play before thee 1 Knowest thou not
Their language and their ways 1 They also know,
And reason not contemptibly. With these
Find pastime, and bear rule ; thy realm is large."
Paradise Lost, book viii., line 369.
232 DOMESTICABILITY OF CRACID.E. [CHAP. i.
and can do so much for ourselves, and are, so far, inde-
pendent of the beneficent and providential forethought
of a higher Power for the gift of the humble companions
and inarticulate ministers on earth which add so much
to our comfort. We should express the convictions of
many, in declaring that the doctrine of the perpetual
progression of organic forms, in opposition to their per-
manency (or, what we believe to be the truth, their
slight variation within certain prescribed and impass-
able limits), if supposed to take place in consequence of
an innate power or law working within them of itself,
contradicts those principles of natural theology and that
belief in an Almighty Benevolent Creator, which are
happily all but universally received. We might most
easily enlarge upon this topic ; but it will be better and
more satisfactory to show that history, as far as we
can trace it that experiments and attempts carefully
and perseveringly made and that observations about
which there can be no doubt, all tend to contradict,
instead of confirming, the theories to which we have
alluded.
We will now see what bearing the Cracida3 and their
domesticability have upon the subject.
The late Mr. Bennett, in his " Gardens of the Zoo-
logical Society Delineated," an elegant and well-known
work, published in 1831, very naturally observes, that,
" Of all the gallinaceous birds in the collection, the
most interesting are those which hold out to us a pros-
pect of supplying our farm-yards with new breeds of
poultry of a superior kind. Such are especially the
Curassows. In many parts of South America these
birds have long been reclaimed ; and it is really sur-
prising, considering the extreme familiarity of their
manners, and the facility with which they appear to pass
CHAP. I.] FOEMEB ATTEMPTS. 233
from a state of nature to the tameness of domestic
fowls, that they have not yet been introduced into the
poultry-yards of Europe. That, with proper treatment,
they would speedily become habituated to the climate,
we have no reason to doubt ; on the contrary, numerous
examples have shown that they thrive well even in its
northern parts ; and M. Temminck informs us that they
have once at least been thoroughly acclimated in Hol-
land, where they were as prolific in their domesticated
state as any of our common poultry. The establish-
ment, however, in which this had been effected was
broken up by the civil commotions which followed in
the train of the French revolution, and all the pains
which had been bestowed upon the education of these
birds were lost to the world by their sudden and com-
plete dispersion. The task, which had at that time
been in some measure accomplished, still remains to be
performed ; and it may not be too much to expect that
the Zoological Society may be successful in perfecting
what was then so well begun, and in naturalising the
Curassows as completely as our ancestors have done the
equally exotic, and, in their wild state, much less familiar,
breeds of the Turkey, the Guinea-fowl, and the Peacock.
Their introduction would certainly be most desirable,
not merely on account of their size and beauty, but also
for the whiteness and excellence of their flesh, which is
said by those who have eaten it to surpass that of the
Guinea-fowl or of the Pheasant in the delicacy of its
flavour."
Mr. Swainson, relying mainly (too much, we think,
with deference) on the circumstance that the Curassows
and Guans are included in the circle of his rasorial
types, also expresses a sanguine hope, accompanied by
234 NATURAL DISPOSITION. [CHAP. i.
a reproach for past neglect, that an important addition
to our poultry stock is about to become firmly esta-
blished in this country. " It is singular that so little
pains have hitherto been taken to domesticate these
American Fowls ; since, by their sociability and gentle-
ness, they evince every disposition to live under the do-
minion of Man. The flesh, as we know from personal
experiment, is particularly delicious."
More lately, the author of the article on Poultry in
" Knight's Farmer's Library," only just completed, an
able writer, and formerly attached to the Zoological
Society, who may be considered to give the most recent
notice respecting the practicability of domesticating
these birds, observes " It may be deemed wrong in us
to enumerate the Curassows among our domestic poul-
try, and indeed our great object here is to draw atten-
tion to them, as most valuable additions to our feathered
stock. They are not only readily susceptible of domes-
tication, but they have been domesticated ; and on this
ground we claim, for certain species at least, a place in
the present work."
The Curassows approach to the size of Turkeys and
Pea-fowl, and congregate in flocks ; the Guans range
with our Pheasants in point of magnitude, though rather
exceeding them, and go in pairs. When caught young
and tamed, they appear to make themselves even more
at home than common fowls, being almost as sly, in-
quisitive, and full of tricks as Monkeys or Parrots. In-
stead of looking out for any secret place of retirement,
they readily make use of whatever accommodation we
prepare for them, preferring, if they can, to penetrate
into our houses, and even our sitting and sleeping
rooms. They live on very friendly terms with other
CHAP. i.J IMPOBTED LONG AGO. 235
poultry, much more so than Guinea-fowl do, neither
fearing their co-mates, nor yet attempting to tyrannise
over them.
Who, then, that has a poultry-yard and its usual ap-
purtenances, can help wishing to introduce therein a
few of these most promising and inviting creatures,
about which so strong aprimd facie case has been made
out ? If we closed our record and description here,
many of our readers might perhaps be inclined at once
to commence the experiment. Before they do so, we
will request their attention to the pleadings on the
other side of the Court.
The birds themselves are no novel importation from
the western world : a few rare species have of late been
brought over-sea for the first time, but those which are
recommended as most likely, not merely to live, but to
increase in a domesticated state, have been introduced to
Europe nearly, perhaps quite, as long as the Turkey,
which has been propagated with such ease and rapidity.
Aldrovandi (A.D. 1637) gives very recognisable descrip-
tions and figures of both the crested and the galeated
Curassows, which were communicated to him by Ferdi-
nand, Grand Duke of Tuscany : he also figures and
describes a bird which is undoubtedly a Guan. This,
however, and two of his Curassows are represented as
tailless, of course from defective specimens. He speaks
of them all as Indian Cocks and Hens.
Edwards * figures the Currassow-Bird and the Cushew-
Bird (Galeated Curassow) from life. " The Cushew-
Bird takes its name from the knob over its bill, which
in shape much resembles an American nut called the
* Gleanings of Nat. Hist., part ii. pi. 295.
236 ILL SUCCESS IN LONDON. [CHAP. i.
Cushew. It is the Pauxi of Nieremberg *. Whether
this last-described bird be specifically the same
with the foregoing, I am at a loss absolutely to de-
termine. I know it is very rare with us in comparison
to the Curassow, which is common in the aviaries of our
nobility who are curious in birds." His plate is dated
1758 ; therefore, to go no further back than this notice,
here is a period of a hundred years for them to have
adapted themselves to a settlement in Great Britain ;
for if they were common in 1758, we may believe that
they had been introduced at least some years before.
But they have not, like Turkeys, as yet been dispersed
over Europe, nor repaid any attempts that have to the
present been made with them in this country. An
amateur, who was anxious to give them a trial, applied
to Mr. Yarrell to know what success had been attained
at the Zoological Gardens ; and that gentleman, with
his usual kindness, returned the following reply :
"There are several species of Curassows in the Gar-
dens, but no successful instance of rearing the young.
On one occasion a female made a nest in the middle of
a thick bush, at about three feet from the ground, laid
her two eggs, and sat upon them steadily, but the eggs
had not, probably, received the influence of the male,
as no chicks were produced. This is the only instance
at the Zoological Gardens of a female incubating.
They drop their eggs about anywhere. Two eggs were
placed under a hen Turkey some seasons since, and two
young ones were hatched out, but they were so wild that
they would not allow the keeper to come near them,
and at length, to avoid him, they ran into the water
* Pages 233-236.
CHAP, i.] THE CRACID.E AT KNOWSLEY. 237
from the island on which they were hatched, and were
both drowned. Sir Robert Heron, of Stubton, near
Stamford, Lincolnshire, has reared some, but not
many."
This was written four or five years ago, but the pro-
pagation of Curassows and Guans remains in statu quo.
In vain have the Society offered prizes to the breeder of
the greatest number of Cracidae : the feathered strangers
will bear the voyage across the Atlantic very well, but,
when arrived, they cannot be persuaded to found a
colony and occupy, by themselves and their descendants,
the very comfortable quarters we are so ready to provide
for them. They resolutely continue to misquote Byron's
lines
" The prison'd Eagle will not pair, nor I
Obey your acclimating phantasy."
Let not the reader suppose that they have not had every
temptation, arid opportunity, and means of increasing
offered to them, if they would but so far condescend to
gratify us. During the summer of 1849, we enjoyed
the great privilege of first visiting the unrivalled me-
nagerie at Knowsley. We found the Curassows and
Guans lodged in a series of lofty and charming aviaries,
open to the air and sunshine, and inclosed only by wire
netting, except at the back, which consists of a range
of houses to which the birds can retire at pleasure, and
which in cold and damp weather are kept at an agree-
able temperature. Their inclosures are planted with
shrubs and flowers ; green turf, varied with clean gravel,
covers the ground; a small, clear stream of water is
ever flowing through each separate little garden ; not
cleanliness merely, but the most pleasing neatness is
preserved; there is no crowding, no opportunity for
238 ARBOBEAL HABITS. [CHAP. i.
bickering and jealousy; and surely, any other set of
domesticable, philo-progenitive birds would be con-
stantly piping, in the exuberance of their content-
ment
" Let us own, if there be an Elysium upon earth,
It is this ! it is this ! "
Well, Lord Derby's Cracidae had done not much more
than those in London, we believe not quite so much as
those at Sir Robert Heron's, which, added altogether,
is not a great deal in the way of encouragement to en-
terprising breeders. One male bird at Knowsley, yield-
ing a little to the fascination of the spot, had prepared
for his mate a bower of love. And where does the
reader think it was placed ? The gallant Curassow had
mounted a tall holly-bush, and thereon made a nest
about the size and shape of a peck basket, interlacing
the twigs, and then lining them with the prickly leaves,
which he had cropped, as a comfortable couch for the
Hen and her nestlings. The whole thing was an insult
to any incubating female, and she treated it with the
neglect that such a structure of chevaux de /rises de-
served.
But even if this family of birds could be tempted to
breed freely with us, under any circumstances, many of
their natural habits would be found extremely inconve-
nient, to say the least. " It should be remembered,"
Mr. Martin truly reminds us, " that they are arboreal
in their habits, and natives of the forest of a hot cli-
mate, and consequently should be accommodated, as far
as possible, in a manner consistent with their habits and
requirements. We have seen Curassows with their toes
lost from the effect of cold and wet." Let your poultry-
maid, country reader, when she next turns her eye upon
CHAP. i.J OF TENDER CONSTITUTION. 239
the rookery at the back of your house, say how she
would like the charge of fowls that nested, laid, and
hatched in that manner ; and when your lady takes
your arm for a stroll through the stove and greenhouse,
you will hear whether she would consent to turn out the
gay things for summer bedding, to make room for the
Curassows and Guans,lest their toes should " damp off"
like the shoots of Heliotropes and Verbenas. These
arrangements and considerations are not at all ro-
mancing or imaginary, nor must they be neglected by
acclimators of the Cracidae. The venerable Dr. Neill,
of Canonmills, near Edinburgh, who has effected more
than most naturalists in inducing a Guan even to lay,
thus informs us of the locality in which the interesting
event has taken place : A Penelope cristata is kept in
a large cage occupying one end of a greenhouse. It is a
female, and generally once a year lays two or three eggs,
very imperfectly covered with shell."
It is thus clear that they are, in this climate, green-
house birds during the winter. Mr. Gould is of opinion
that they might possibly do out of doors all the year round
in Italy ; but as their propagation in confinement has
failed so completely everywhere in Europe (we do not
except the often-quoted instance in Holland), the only
chance of naturalising them lies in allowing them (what
they are not usually trusted with here) complete liberty
during the finer months of the year, and full permission
to follow their native habits. What those habits are,
and how much nearer they resemble those of a rookery
than the hen-house, we are informed by a recent traveller
who had penetrated far into the interior of South Ame-
rica:
" Of Curassows, or Muturis, we never shot but one
240 CUEASSOWS AT HOME. [CHAP. i.
variety, the crested, of which we had found the nest
near Serpa. But other species were common about the
forests, and these, with others still brought from the
upper country, were frequently seen domesticated [read
' tamed ']. They are all familiar birds, and readily allow
themselves to be caressed. At night they often come
into the house to roost, seeming to like the company of
the parrots and other birds. They might easily be
bred(?) when thus domesticated [tamed], but the facility
with which their nests are found renders this no object
at Barm. They feed upon seeds and fruits, and are
considered superior, for the table, to any game of the
country." *
He elsewhere relates :
" As we drew up by the bank for breakfast, a crested
Curassow or Mutun, Crax alector, flew from the top of
a low tree near us, and one of the Indians darted up for
the nest. There were two eggs, and tying them in his
handkerchief, he brought them down in his teeth.
These eggs were much larger than a Turkey's egg, white
and granulated all over. The crested Curassow is a
bird about the size of a small Turkey. The general
plumage is black, the belly only being white, and
upon its head is a crest of curled feathers. This species
'has a yellow bill. It is called the Royal Mutun by the
Brazilians, and in the vicinity of the river Negro is not
uncommon. With several other varieties of its family
it is frequently seen (in unprecise language) domesti-
cated, and is a graceful and singularly familiar bird in
its habits. According to some authors this bird lays
numerous eggs, but each of the three nests which we
* Edwards' Voyage up the Amazon, p. 144.
CHAP. I.] TAME, NOT DOMESTICATED. 241
found during this day contained but two, and the ta^h
assured us that this was the complement. The nest was
in every case about 15 feet above the ground, and was
composed of good-sized sticks, lined with leaves and
small pieces of bark."*
Sonnini says that Curassows, like nearly all the birds
in the same country, have no fixed time for laying, but
prefer the rainy season, which, in Guiana, lasts six or
seven months, to the dry season ; that they usually lay
but once a year, and take very little trouble about the
construction of their nests, making them of a few dry
sticks, rudely interwoven with grass, and with a few
leaves placed at the bottom. We may imagine them
to be very like rooks' nests, only larger. The eggs, he
informs us, are about the same size and shape as those
of Turkeys, but are white, and have a thicker shell.
The number laid varies according to the age of the fe-
males, which never produce fewer than two, nor more
than six. None of these writers appear to have seen
with their own eyes any poultry-yards actually stocked
with and producing Curassows : they find them captive
and familiar, and describe their condition in language
which conveys a false idea. They might as justly
speak of domesticated Parrots and Monkeys in England,
or even of domesticated Falcons and Herons, because
these creatures, when compelled to live in our society,
wisely determine to make a virtue of necessity, and
settle themselves as comfortably as their new circum-
stances will permit.
The plumage of Curassows, and perhaps all Cracidae,
seems to change considerably as the birds advance in
* Edwards' Voyage up the Amazon, p. 122.
R
242 NOT COMMON IN SOUTH AMERICA. [CHAP. i.
years. This may afford a clue to the perplexity which
has harassed some Ornithologists respecting their nu-
merous species, and the varieties " caused by domesti-
cation, "according to their theory. This is a fashionable
and an easy way of solving a difficulty ; but it ought
first to be proved, that the Cracidse are, even in their
native country, really domesticated at all.
Mr. Swainson, instead of finding such plenty of Cu-
rassows, tells us that, through all the tracts of Brazil
and its different provinces which he traversed, solely
with a view of collecting its zoological productions, he
was not fortunate enough to procure a single specimen
of the Crax alector, although he sometimes heard of its
being occasionally seen by the remote planters located
on the verge of the unoccupied tracts. As to this, or
any other species, being kept in the poultry-yards of
the native Brazilians, he never saw a single reclaimed
specimen through a tract of territory which he tra-
versed, extending some hundreds of miles. In Guiana,
he adds, these birds have long become so scarce, that
in a collection of many hundreds made in that country
by Mr. Schomberg, there are not three specimens of
the whole genus.
Mr. Darwin, during his voyage with the Beagle, saw
nothing of Curassows in South America, except a very
few wild ones in the damp islands at the mouth of the
Parana. Similar localities are given by Mr. Swainson,
from personal observation, as their favourite haunts,
namely, thickly- wooded marshes, and the vicinity of
water. It is odd that Holland should be the only
European country in which they are said to have really
thriven.
Temminck, who alone is quoted, often at second-hand,
CHAP, i.j M. ATVIESHOFF'S FEAST. 243
for the record of this success, certainly does observe that
in captivity Curassows are quite as familiar and con-
fiding as Turkeys, Pea-fowl, and Guinea-fowl, and attri-
butes their in fecundity in that state to the want of their
having received special attention and peculiar treat-
ment ; but unfortunately he does not tell us what those
soins particuliers have been, or ought to be. He in-
stances the success attained in M. Ameshoff's me-
nagerie, but gives no details ; and he makes us doubt
whether the success was really so very great, by calling
the dinner at which Curassows were served, ce festin
digne des temps d'Heliogabale, and informing us that on
the same occasion exotic Pheasants, Chinese Mandarin
Teal, and Louisiana Ducks, were produced at table, in
order to display the magnificence of the menagerie. In
short, it was a mere feast of bravado and a vain piece
of ostentation, in which any rich man could now more
easily indulge than M. Ameshoff, without having bred
his dainty fowl in such plentiful abundance. The cir-
cumstance, too, occurred in Temminck's early childhood,
and he speaks from hearsay and distant memory, not
from mature observation.
We have now laid before the reader, fairly, we hope,
some of the pros and cons of the claims of the Curassow
family upon the patronage of the British poulterer or
amateur breeder. We shall next give some details re-
specting one species, with which we have had a personal
trial and experience. It will be for others to sum up
the evidence in the end, and decide what encourage-
ment there is for further attempts ; but we cannot help
entertaining a strong prejudice that the Cracidae are,
like the Parrot tribe, very tameable and docile as indi-
viduals; but that, in consequence of their refusal to
B 2
244 EGGS. [CHAP. i.
breed (except so rarely that the exception confirms the
rule) in confinement, the race never has been and never
can be truly domesticated. For, without taking into
consideration any unsuitability of climate, it is retained
alive in our public and private menageries almost en-
tirely by successive importations from South America ;
and if the stock could not be renewed from that source,
but depended upon its propagation here for a continued
existence, it would soon altogether become extinct and
unseen in Great Britain.
The eggs of the Cracida3 seem to be large in propor-
tion to the size of the bird, and whitish or light cream-
coloured, with a slightly granulated surface. I am in-
debted to the Earl of Derby for the loan of eggs of the
Crax globicera and Yarrellii. The former measures
9| inches round its long circumference, and 8^ inches
round the middle, being a very short oval : the latter
is 7j inches round lengthwise, and 6 round the
middle.
The Chick figured at the head of this chapter is a
Curassow, species not certain.
Eye-browed Guan (Penelope siiperciliaris).
CHAPTER II.
THE CRACID^E-PENELOPES (COMMONLY GUANS).
Difficulty of discriminating the species. State in which the young are hatched.
Easily tamed. Produce few young in a tame state. Mode of distinguishing
species. Organ of voice. Its efficiency. The Cracidae as poultry. Mr. Ben-
nett's and Mr. Martin's hopes. Causes of failure. Have had a fair trial.
Curassow dinner. Cracidse in Holland. Temminck's expectations ; plausible
but unfounded. Determine on an experiment. Unsuitability of South Ameri-
can organisms to Great Britain. Instances. Few exceptions. The reversed
seasons of the north and south hemispheres one cause. Mr. Darwin's account.
Guans at the Surrey Gardens. Their native habits and diet. Our own mishaps.
Troublesome tameness of the birds. Tricks and dangers. Impudence and
capriciousness. Possible profitableness ! Narrative of a coadjutor. His ill-
success. Our own. Habits of the Eye-browed Guan. Amount of success at
Knowsley.
THE genus of birds now under consideration, which
is composed of not a few species, and doubtless of more
*54D DIFFICULTY OF DISCRIMINATION. [CHAP. n.
than are at present recorded and distinguished, is usually
known by the term Guan * ; this, however, is the specific
name of the Penelope cristata in Temminck's admirable
account of the bodily forms of the tribe, and it would
be better and more conducive to precision, to retain
Penelope as the generic term. We should consequently
decide to adopt it as such in the present chapter, did
not the length of the word, as well as the previous
currency of the shorter term, render it somewhat incon-
venient for familiar use. But anything is better than
confusion of ideas. The various species of Penelope have
been the despair and plague of scientific naturalists
and skin-merchants, in consequence of the puzzling
similarities and gradations in their external appear-
ance. Some writers, adopting an idea which they
have inherited from their predecessors, get out of the
difficulty, by saying that these slight varieties in plu-
mage and outward form are only the usual and necessary
consequences of domestication, whereas, although the
birds are most easily tamed, we cannot find any proof
of a score of individuals having been reared in domes-
ticity, either in South America or in Great Britain.
The circumstance that some species at least are hatched
in a less developed state than other gallinaceous chicks,
and remain nestlings as long as ten or twelve dayst, ap-
* " The Quam is as big as an ordinary Hen Turkey, of a blackish
dun colour; its bill like a Turkey's; it flies about among the Woods;
feeds on Berries, and is very good meat." Mr. Dampier's Voyages
to the Bay of Campeachy, An. 1676, Vol. ii., Part 2., p. 66.
f " Ces oiseaux construisent leur nid au milieu des arbres bien
touffus, et le plus pres du tronc qu'ils peuvent, de sorte qu'on a bien
de la peine a les decouvrir. Lorsque les oaufs sont eclos, la mere
nourrit les petits dans le nid, jusqu'a ce qu'ils soient un peu grands,
et que leurs plumes commencent a sortir ; alors, ages seulement de
douze a quinze jours, ils descendent a terre avec leur mere, qui les
CHAP. ii. J EASILY TAMED. 247'
pears to have been quite disregarded, although it would
be an insuperable objection to making use of the as-
sistance of a hen, or any other stepmother, except
another Guan, that we are acquainted with, in hatching
their eggs arid tending and rearing their young when
hatched. The extreme ease with which they are tamed,
and the strong and even troublesome attachments which
they form to Man, are very remarkable, when coupled
with the rarity of their increase in a domesticated state,
reminding us in some degree of the Elephant among
quadrupeds. The vastness of their native woods se-
cures them from anything like extermination at pre-
sent ; but were the human race to make, by any possi-
bility, serious encroachments upon the principal forests
of the Brazils, the whole family of Guans, if dependent
on propagation in captivity for its continuation, would
probably verge rapidly towards its extinction.
Humboldt and Temminck have pointed out a mode
mene comme nos poules menent leurs poussins." Temminck, Art.
Penelope Marail, p. 65.
" The young (Curassows), as we believe, are not in so forward a
state, on their exit from the egg, as the young of the ground-breeding
aallinacece." Martin, Art. Poultry, p. 567.
These statements are not borne out by observations made in
England.
" I can neither confirm nor deny what you state from Temminck
as to the young Curassows remaining in their nest ten or twelve
days. It certainly has not been so with us, but then in our case the
young were not brought out by their own parents, or in a climate
which in any way could be compared to their own. Possibly it was
otherwise in the cases alluded to by Professor Temminck. I can
only say that here I am not aware of any difference from the habits
of other gallinaceous birds, except their disinclination to creep under
their nurse like other chicks. I do not recollect even that the
young seem to look to their nurse's bill for their food as the young
Landrails do at first, and a.s they surely would if it was the natural
custom of the tribe to be so fed." E. of D.
"248 CERTAIN CRITERION/ [CHAP. n.
of distinguishing the species of this genus, similar to
that which has been so successfully applied by our dis-
tinguished countryman Yarrell to the Swans ; namely,
by observing the very remarkable windings of the wind-
pipe in each. A reference to this criterion, when pos-
sible, is found to relieve the bewildered naturalist from
uncertainties into which the little dissimilarity of the
outward appearances betray him.* In the Penelopes,
the windpipe, before entering the cavity of the body
and communicating with the lungs, makes various cir-
cuits on the surface of the muscular part of the breast,
between the skin and the flesh. These circuits are
constantly formed on the same plan in the same species,
as far as opportunities have yet occurred of observing
their comparative anatomy ; and it is very curious, on
skinning a bird, to find the windpipe meandering on
the outside of the flesh, looking almost as if the internal
organs had been protruded or ruptured by accidental
violence. But so far from this being a defect or an in-
firmity, we find that some of the arrangements and
contrivances, by means of ligaments, tissue, &c., to pre-
vent any displacement of the windwipe from its intended
position (for instance, those in the Penelope marail, and
in the Penelope parr akoua], are beautiful examples of
design, and are worthy of quotation in any future work
on Natural Theology. The consequence of this long
and externally- winding trachea is a voice of great variety
* "J'invite les naturalistes, a ne point decider trop legerement
sur 1'apparent identite des especes, qui composent le genre Penelope ;
je m'y suis souvent abuse, avant d'avoir bien saisi les caracteres qui
distinguent ces especes, dont le plumage n'offre que peu ou point de
dissemblance; et chez lesquelles, les caracteres qui tiennent aux
formes enterieures, sont tres-peu apparents." Temminck.
ORGAN OF VOICE.
249
and power. The animal is provided with a natural
French horn, on which it can perform the most extraor-
dinary music, and with a pocket speaking-trumpet, which
will make itself heard at no little distance.
Thus a recent traveller writes "The Paraquay Guan,
PhasianusParraqua, was common, but not domesticated.
It resembled the Mutuns in its habits, but in form had
a larger neck and tail in proportion. A specimen which
we shot exhibited a very curious formation of the wind-
pipe, that organ passing beneath the skin, upon the
outside of the body, to the extremity of the breast-bone,
where it was attached by a ligament. Then, recurving,
Organs of voice of
1. Penelope Guan. 2. Penelope Marail. 3. Penelope Parrakoua.
From Temminck, reduced.
250 GUANS AS POULTEY. [CHAP. n.
it passed back, and entered the body as in other birds.
Probably the loud trumpet note of this bird is owing to
this formation."*
Of the admirable efficiency of the means employed
there can be no question with those who have once
heard their wonderful vocal effects. The object for
which this faculty was conferred upon these creatures by
their Creator, may be supposed to be, that, as these birds
inhabit the densest, darkest, most impervious, and en-
tangled forests of South America, and are dispersed
mostly in separate pairs, a voice of varied expression
and space-penetrating power is necessary to telegraph
their whereabouts to each other, as they are hidden
among the leaves in search of fruits and berries, lest
they should be lost and part company in the sylvan
labyrinth.
Even less is generally known respecting Guans, as
far as their propagation under human sway is con-
cerned than about Curassows. Almost every late book
(on Ornithology especially) which mentions them, re-
commends them as a desirable and easily-managed addi-
tion to our poultry stock, or our head of game ; yet no
author has either seen this project carried into practice,
or has given, or can give, any directions in detail as to
how they are to be successfully managed and reared.
Thus, M. Temminck, whose French we believe we
are translating into English for the first time, re-
marks " The Penelopes, with a disposition not less
gentle and peaceable than the Curassows, have less
frequently been made the subject of experiment. Al-
though their manners are so similar, the Penelopes
* Edwards' Voyage up the Amazon, p. 144.
CHAP. ii.J HOPES OF MESSES. BENNETT AND MARTIN. 251
have not yet received from man the same regular and
continued care. Nevertheless, by judicious treatment
we might easily succeed in transplanting these useful
creatures into Europe; rural economy would find in this
genus of birds, as in the two former (the Pauxi or
Galeated, and the Hocco or Crested Curassow) im-
portant resources and new means of prosperity."* This
proposed additional fund of agricultural profit seems
surely deserving of consideration and worthy of a trial.
Temminck's three volumes were printed in 1815. Mr.
Bennett, in 1830, relying upon this opinion of Tem-
minck's, and not, the reader is requested to bear in
mind, upon any success in acclimating and rearing
Guans that had been anywhere attained, writes, " There
can be little doubt that with proper care and atten-
tion these birds might be added to the stock of our
domesticated fowls;" giving as a motive for endeavour-
ing to make the addition, the tempting incentive that
" they are spoken of as furnishing an excellent dish for
the table."f More recently, Mr. Martin, in 1848 or
1 849, for the numbers in which the work is published
bear no date, states, " The Guans are of more rare oc-
currence in our menageries or vivaria than the Curas-
sows ; we have, however, very frequently observed the
present species the crested Guan and can affirm that
it is in all respects as fitted for naturalisation as either of
the preceding" [just as much, and no more] ; " indeed,
it has been domesticated in Holland, and therefore
might be so in our country, though perhaps less pro-
fitably, as it appears that, though these birds associate
* Histoire Naturelle des Pigeons et de Grallinaces, tome iii. p. 46.
f Zool. Gardens, vol. ii.
252 ACTUAL SUCCESS. [CHAP. n.
in flocks, they pair like the pigeon or the partridge.
Perhaps their introduction as game might be the most
advisable."*
Thus, then, the matter stands at present, according
to, we believe, every yet published authority. Guans
can be and ought to be reared, in every squire's or large
farmer's poultry-yard, we will not say in swarms or
flocks, but certainly in moderate and tolerable abun-
dance. They are not, however, yet visible either at
home or at market ; not in our coverts, nor at the game-
shop. But why not ? There is a fault and a difficulty
somewhere ; either we have been very remiss and indo-
lent in neglecting to make such valuable acquisitions,
or Nature has been very unyielding.
Now the causes which incapacitate a foreign bird for
domestication with us, are, either an invincible wildness
of disposition, which Guans have not ; or an inability to
bear our seasons, which they have to some extent ; or
an utter repugnance to breed in captivity, which they
have eminently. The circumstance of their producing
only a small annual increase of young, if it would but
continue annual, although small, is by no means a com-
plete bar to their dispersion among the country resi-
dences of Great Britain ; for they will be protected and
maintained by the wealthy, and only slain now and then
for the table as a dish of state, exactly as at this day is
the case with Peafowl. Curassows have bred under cir-
cumstances of extraordinary petting and indulgence,
just as Mangoes and Bananas have been ripened on
British ground by skilful gardeners; but Guans can
scarcely be said to have bred at all.
* Knight's Farmer's Library, Art. Poultry, p. 569.
CHAP, ii.] GROUNDS OF EXPECTATION. 253
We do not think it can be asserted that the Cracidse,
the Curassows and Guans, have not had a fair trial of
their usefulness and profitable increase; but the re-
sults, like those of so many other unsuccessful experi-
ments, have not been recorded, and attempts are conse-
quently renewed by successive generations of experi-
mentalists, to meet only with successive failures. It
is not pleasant, and requires just a little determina-
tion, to confess boldly, " I have tried hard to accom-
plish such or such an object, which everybody else, as
well as myself, thought very easy to effect, but I
could not succeed : I have been baffled ; and the thing
requires a cleverer or more wealthy person than myself
to perform." But unsuccessful experiments, faithfully
detailed, may, like the cases given in medical books, be
almost as instructive, and quite as useful, as if the
writer had the gratification of announcing a practical
triumph. It is certain that the publication of the ex-
periments in agriculture which have not been found
to answer, would be the means of saving much need-
less expense, and preventing much disappointment, and
so be conducive to the public good, as a beacon and a
guide to those who are to follow us.
The main point on which writers rely in continuing
to recommend the trial of Curassows and Guans as an
addition to our stock of poultry is the mention of them
by Temminck as having bred in Holland previous to the
first French Revolution. It will, therefore, be to our
purpose to see what reliance is to be placed on that
circumstance, because these birds have not ceased to be
kept in Holland. Though the menageries of that date
were broken up and dispersed, the birds have been
continually imported from their native forests, and are
254 CUEASSOW DINNER. [CHAP. n.
now living in captivity, both on the Continent and in
England, in greater numbers, and under more favour-
able conditions, than ever they were before ; and yet the
much-desired solution of the problem, " To rear Curas-
sows and Guans as poultry," remains just as far from our
discovery as it was 30 or 40 years ago. We may seem
to speak in rather sweeping terms; but all the Cra-
cida3 may fairly be described in general language as far
as regards the difficulty of naturalising them here.
We have Temminck's book "(from which most people's
notions on the subject are borrowed, either at first or
second hand) now before us. We remarked in the
foregoing chapter that M. Ameshoff s famous Curassow
dinner, at which he was present when a child (dans
mon enfance], which has been made so much of, was
nothing but a dinner of display, something like the
dishes of Peacocks' brains and Nightingales' tongues
served up in ancient Rome ; and that it is no more
to be taken as a proof of the ease with which he pro-
pagated the CracidaB, than is the eating of the rare
birds and animals in the Jardin des Plantes by the
insurgents during some of the late Parisian outbreaks,
to be set down in history as an evidence that such birds
and beasts bred so freely at that time in France as to
furnish an item of the popular dietary.
Temminck* says, " I have observed the Curassows
in many menageries in Holland, where they were
scarcely less familiar than the Turkeys, the Peafowl,
and the Guineafowl [which is exactly their true charac-
ter in menageries in England]. I attribute their in-
fecundity in the state of domesticity to the little special
* Vol. ii. p. 457.
CHAP. ii.J CEACID^ IN HOLLAND 255
care (aux pen de soins particuliers) that is given to these
birds ; which, without contradiction, demand the most as-
siduous attention before becoming perfectly acclimated."
Now, whoever has had the gratification of being per-
mitted to view the aviaries at Knowsley, will not allow
that the birds there have any right to complain of the
want of special care, assiduous attention, or any other
conceivable circumstance to encourage and tempt them
to make themselves at home, and settle, and become the
founders of an immigrant family in a new land ; and if
the Guans there located decline to become an addition
to our poultry stock, the fault must be laid to their own
obstinacy and perverseness, and not to the absence of
any circumstance necessary to their comfort, if they were
but inclined to favour us with a few broods. Even at the
Zoological Gardens, in a more confined space, and with
more frequent interruption from visitors, they have quite
sufficient accommodation, and quite adequate attention
from very intelligent keepers, to multiply with rapidity,
if it were but in them to do so. The provoking circum-
stance of the matter is, that they are so extremely tame
and impudent, so apparently happy and contented, that
it seems a thing of course that they should lay and hatch
at the proper season, and makes one inclined to ask them
with some severity, why they do not go on properly, and
conduct themselves like other domestic fowls ; and to
reason with them, and insist upon their good behaviour,
as if they were so many refractory children.
But all we can learn from Temminck to guide us is,
that one or two species of Guans and Curassows have
bred in Holland; so also they have in this country; and
so too have Monkeys, and Parrots, and Giraffes, and
Emeus ; and those who are hopeful may encourage an
256 TEHMINCK'S EXPECTATIONS. [CHAP. n.
anticipation that these creatures will be, therefore, an
addition to our domestic animals. But others, who have
united practice with theory, will believe that the Cracidae
have already had a fair trial, and that further pains and
trouble are likely to be thrown away, and that the adage
still remains true, " Naturam furcd expelles, tamen usque
recurret," " You may expel Nature with a fork, yet she
will still come back again."
Temminck, at the time when his valuable treatise was
published, was justified in expecting a successful result.
The birds imported showed in their menagerie every
reasonable symptom of capability for domestication.
They were as tame as tame could be ; they had even in
a few instances bred; he might naturally exult that "ces
tentative* ont ete couronnee par les plus heureux succes;"
and then, in the midst of this commencement of success,
they were suddenly dispersed or destroyed by political
convulsions. The testing of the creatures was abruptly
interrupted just at the point when a decided result,
either positive or negative, might be expected shortly
to show itself. The very able naturalist was right in
advising that they should be again collected and tried
with care. They have been patiently tried for the last
thirty years, and not a circumstance has been omitted
which could lead to success ; and we now take upon our-
selves to recommend those who may be inclined to con-
tinue the experiment, to discard all hope of useful profit,
whatever they may gain in interest and amusement.
They may find agreeable pets to divert their leisure ;
but they will raise from them no profitable poultry to
repay their expenditure and reward their trouble.
How sanguine Temminck was when he wrote his
treatise, may be seen from the following passages, which
CHAP, ii.] PLAUSIBLE HOPES. Q57
we translate: "The natural disposition of the Hoccos
seems in some sort made for domesticity : it is certain
that by applying more to rearing them than we have
done hitherto, we should succeed by the force of care in
procuring from some species of this genus, perhaps from
all, the same utility, joined to the same enjoyments,
which repay us so amply for the care we have bestowed
in rendering familiar other species of gallinaceous
Birds. The natural disposition of Hoccos, hatched and
reared in domesticity, is more particularly to be com-
pared to the soft and peaceable manners of the Cocks :
they love to find themselves in the neighbourhood of
man, whose society they appear to court
Once acclimated " there is the rub " they are not
delicate as to the kind of their food ; " nor are they
without being acclimated " they eat indifferently
maize, peas, rice, bread," &c., &c. And we therefore
allow that he had plausible reason for hoping that some
advantage might result from attempting the domestica-
tion of this inviting family of birds. "The Marail,"
says Sonnini, "is easily tamed. I have seen one whose
familiarity was troublesome; it was sensible to caresses:
and when its own were responded to, it displayed
marks of the liveliest joy by its movements and its
cries, which resembled those of a Hen calling her
chickens around her." Again, " a pair of these birds
(Penelope Siffleur, or Whistling Guan), sent from the
colonies of Dutch Guiana, lived a long time in a me-
nagerie near Utrecht. M. Backer" (any relation of the
Messrs. Baker, of Chelsea?) "also kept some in his
beautiful menagerie near the Hague. They are familiar
birds, not unquiet, and live in harmony with the other
occupants of the poultry-court."
258 UNDERTAKE AN EXPERIMENT. [CHAP. 11.
After reading and hearing all these flattering accounts,
it is very natural that many amateurs, ourselves in-
cluded, should have been sorely tempted and sadly
puzzled about the Penelopes not their specific distinc-
tions those are usually left to the learned to unravel,
and Temminck has laboured with great effect at that
task but about the alleged possibility of their being
actually added to our stock of useful poultry. We have
seen that almost every late ornithological writer, Tem-
minck, Swainson, Bennett, Martin, &c., talk as if we
had little more to do than to procure them, and set
them a-going in our farm yards, to make them produce,
almost as freely as Hens, an abundance of first-rate
fowls for the table. But, as it appears, no one has yet
succeeded in doing this with Guans, any more than with
Curassows ; nor can we find, in any books of South
American travels, positive evidence that they are reared
in captivity in their native country, although they are
very frequently kept tame there as pets. In the winter,
therefore, of 1848-9, living specimens were obtained
from a London dealer, Mr. Jamrach, of 164, Ratcliffe
Highway, who purchases largely for the Zoological So-
ciety. They really were, as they are described by na-
turalists, affectionate, confiding, and even troublesomely
tame. But the object was not merely to procure a
pleasing aviary bird, but either to get them to propa-
gate, and see our neighbours and friends do so likewise,
as the savans have told us we may and ought to do, and
thereupon lay claim to the great merit and honour of
distributing and dispersing an actual addition to our
poultry stock; or to ascertain, by fairly testing their
capabilities, the fact that they are not easily rearable in
England, and so save other fanciers of exotic poultry
CHAP, ii.] UNSDITABILITY. 259
from future expense, or at least from disappointing
speculations.
It is certainly a very remarkable case of fitness and
unfitness, of assimilation and rejection may we not
say of Providential design and arrangement ? that so
many of the natural productions of Asia, the cradle of
the human race, should be found available for our per-
manent use, while so few from the newly-discovered
hemisphere can be fixed under our sway without difficulty.
It mattered little to the infant human race, that the
western world lay so many centuries unknown and cut
off by the then impassable expanse of ocean, if it was
to yield so few things necessary to the requirements of
a rising population. The observation is applicable to
plants, as well as to birds and animals. There seems
to be almost a natural repulsion between our soil and
whatever comes to it from South America especially,
and a kindly relationship and attraction to things which
are the growth of eastern regions. We have scores of
plants from the warm parts of Asia and its islands, which
stand the climate of Great Britain admirably, and are
most valuable additions both to the flower and the vege-
table garden ; whereas, we believe, everything which we
have received from South America, the extreme parts
excepted, such as Potatoes, Heliotropes, Marvels of
Peru, Tropoeolums, &c., not only are cut down by the
slightest frost, but are with difficulty saved from " damp-
ing off," as the gardeners call it, during our winters,
even if protected from the cold. According to all that
we can as yet gather, a similar degree of suitability and
unsuitability to English seasons extends to the birds also
of these respective continents : while Cocks, Pheasants,
Pea-fowl, and, it now appears, Lophophori, can be raised
s 2
260 REVERSED SEASONS. [CHAP. u.
as easily as Hollyhocks, Hydrangeas, Chrysanthemums,
&c. ; Curassows, Penelopes, Tinamous, &c., are, on the
other hand, to be fostered only in greenhouses, like so
many tender annuals.
The only bird from South America that we have
done anything with, as far as we can recollect, is the
Musk Duck, and that does not appear to be a very pro-
litable speculation, or to have increased in hardihood
or fecundity since its introduction. Every authority,
in short, shows that there is a greater difficulty in in-
troducing and establishing the gallinaceous birds of
South America into England than those from the East,
although the latter have so much longer a sea voyage to
endure. Thus, as one instance out of many, in Robert-
son's admirable letters on Paraguay we are told, " I
shipped four of these birds (the large Partridge of South
America, Tinamus rufescens of Temminck), under the
hope of introducing the breed into this country; but
they lingered, notwithstanding every precaution, in an
unhealthy state when they came into a cold climate,
and died in the Channel. Still, I think they might be
introduced, and they would be a very great acquisition
to the English sportsman." And thus hopes of re-
claiming bird after bird are held out to us, only to be
consecutively baffled in the experiment.
An additional difficulty in getting South American
birds to settle comfortably in England may arise from
their finding on the northern side of the Equator a re-
versed alternation of season ; so that not only have they
to contend with a comparatively severe climate, but their
proper times of laying, hatching, moulting, &c., would
be completely thrown out of proper course and order :
the months which hitherto have been summer to them
CHAP, ii.] MR. DARWIN'S ACCOUNT. 261
would here bring winter, at a period when their consti-
tion is, perhaps, least able to withstand it. The impedi-
ment has been partly overcome in the case of several
Australian birds, such as the Black Swan and the Bronze-
winged Pigeons ; but still this game of cross purposes in
the seasons may have had something to do with keeping
up the line of demarcation in the Fauna of the northern
and southern hemispheres, and renders the acquisition of
birds that have been long resident, or, if possible, bred
in this country, most desirable to the experimentalist.
With many birds, as we shall hereafter see, the spring
of the south exerts its influence in a northern climate,
even after the lapse of many years.
As to their suitableness for our climate, Mr. Charles
Darwin had informed us that " Buenos Ayres is the far-
thest point south at which the genus of Guans occurs,
and there there are at worst the slightest frosts. I have
no doubt the imported birds come from Brazil or Guiana,
the climate of which is so like that of India that it must
lie in the innate constitution of the bird, if it does not do
as well as Peacocks or Poultry. The Guinea-fowl from
the dry deserts of Africa has always appeared to me
to have withstood a greater change of climate than
any other of our poultry. The hen Guans, or birds of
the genus, are said sometimes to lay their eggs in a com-
mon nest, and if these are reared, it would show that the
young must be able to feed themselves."
The circumstance which induced us to make the trial
was a visit to the Surrey Zoological Gardens in the spring
of 1848. Of all the choice birds that were there col-
lected, a Guan intreated the most earnestly to be trusted
with liberty, and promised most faithfully, by voice and
manner, to reward the benevolence of its liberator. We
262 HABITS AND DIET. [CHAP. n.
had hoped that birds thus permitted to go at large
would derive such an advantage from the change out of
a dealer's garret to a free run in the country, as to breed
in due season ; and it was also desirable to place them in
the same position which they would have to occupy if
they were really destined to prove eventually any acqui-
sition to the British poultry-yard. Accordingly, on the
receipt of a pair of the Penelope super ciliaris, or Eye-
browed Guan, in the following December, we turned them
at first into a large empty room to test their wildness ; but
they ate readily from the hand, and were soon set loose
with the other poultry, roosted with them in the hen-
house at night, and took their chance of messing with
them by day. Their favourite food on their arrival was
shred cabbage, for they emulated the Londoners them-
selves in their appetite for greens and fruit ; afterwards
they preferred boiled rice, or pollard and barley-meal,
mixed stiff with water, and now and then would take a
few kernels of barley or wheat, but to this day are dis-
inclined to eat much grain*. They continued in mode-
rate health at first, but one of them subsequently died
* The diet and manners of these birds in a native state are thus
described by an eye-witness : " Gruans were stripping the fruits from
the low trees, in parties of two and three, and constantly repeating a
loud harsh note that proved their betrayal." Voyage up the Amazon,
p. 143.
" Curassows moved on with stately step, like our wild Turkey,
picking here and there some delicate morsel, and uttering a loud
peeping note ; or ran with outstretched neck and rapid strides, as
they detected approaching danger." Idem, p. 141.
" In the Brazilian forests the trees are usually thickly covered
with berries of some sort, and until these are entirely exhausted, the
concealed sportsman may shoot at the perpetually returning flocks,
until he is loaded with his game. Berries succeed berries so con-
stantly throughout the year, that in some spots the bird's food is
never wanting." Idem, p. 31.
CHAP, ii.] TKOUBLESOME TAMENESS. 263
from the climate even of that mild winter, and the sur-
vivor lost some of its claws from chilblains. The bird
of which we were thus deprived (a hen, now mounted in
the Norwich Museum) was replaced by another fine one,
so tame as to fly up and alight on our fist like a Hawk,
when called to receive a morsel of bread. She had the
misfortune to break both her legs in scrambling through
a hedge when no one was near to help her, and died soon
after. Another mate was again provided for the lone
Guan, and still continues in his society. It was quite
evident that, till summer came, they suffered much from
cold ; for whenever the kitchen door was left open, they
would dart in to warm themselves, and frequently sat on
the fender to enjoy the blaze of a roasting fire. But at
all seasons they manifest this propensity to insinuate
themselves into the house, and pry into nooks and cor-
ners. If a window is left open, or a door ajar, they will
make themselves at home either upstairs or belowstairs,
sometimes announcing their presence by cries that would
sound horribly alarming to those who are ignorant of the
gentle temper of the utterers, and occasionally giving
even less agreeable tokens of their domiciliary visits.
One morning, while busy writing, we heard a great clat-
ter in the adjoin ing apartment; on inspecting the cause,
there was one of the Guans on the drawing-room man-
tel-piece, admiring itself in the glass, and making room
for its mate by clearing off the china ornaments. Well
might we mutter Alexander Selkirk's complaint, as
nearly as we could recollect it in our excitement
" These birds, stealing into the house,
My form with indifference see ;
They are so disrespectful a race,
Their tameness is shocking to me."
'264 TRICKS AND DANGERS. [CHAP, n,
The first and third rhymes are not happy, and \ve hereby
beg to apologise for them ; but they are not much worse
than Cowper's original "plain "and " man," or " see,"
responded to by the emphatic "me," in an island where
there was nobody to stand in antithesis to "me." But,
to waive this piece of criticism, the Guans go on playing
exactly the same tricks. The only indication they have
given of nesting, is that one of them entered through
the iron bars of the nursery window, and buried itself in
the nurse-maid's work-basket ; whether it intended to
make use of the accommodation as a nest, or as a dust-
ing-hole, it has not to this day explained. Frequently
in the evening they will refuse to enter their shed, but
will mount to the -ridge of our house-roof or up the tal-
lest trees close by, and thence, at about four or five
o'clock next morning, when the chilly hours come on,
they will fly to the sills of our bedroom windows, and
with much croaking and flapping of wings, beg, like the
dissipated inmates of a lodging-house, to be admitted at
that unseasonable time. One of them nearly got shot
lately, being taken for some unhallowed night-bird, by
alarming in this manner the inhabitants of a cottage to
which it betook itself, after failing to procure admission
at home. But indeed there is no keeping them within
limits in warm weather and when the trees are in full
leaf. The old ballad ever runs in their heads
" When shaws been sheene, and swards full fayre,
And leaves both large and longe,
It is merrye walking in the fayre forrest
To heare the small birde's songe."
But in these days of gamekeepers and of naturalists
ambitious to add to the list of home-killed birds, with
CHAP. II.] CAPRICIOUSNESS. 265
the chance of being immortalised in some future edition
of Mr. Yarrell's standard bird book, the Guans should
think of a subsequent stanza :
" It had been better of William a Trent
To have beene abede with sorrowe,
Than to be that day in the green wood shade,
To mete with Little John's arrowe."
And so we are, at last and unwillingly, compelled to
subject them to occasional aviary confinement. Any
stranger to whom they take a fancy, or even a dislike,
they will follow off the premises as closely as a dog will
follow his own master. In their attachments they are
most capricious : one of the Guans always erects his
feathers and threatens an attack (which is executed if
permitted) whenever he sees our little girls ; and though
the other poultry were unnoticed, except when he had
any tit-bit in hand, a yellow Bantam Hen with a brood
of chicks was made a special object of aversion. The
Zoological Society's keepers inform me that their Guans
show similar marks of displeasure when certain strangers
are admitted into their aviaries. Mr. Jamrach had told
me that giving them raw meat occasionally would tend
to induce them to lay ; but they have had that, and all
the insects they chose to gather during their rambles, in
vain. With better accommodation and more elbow-room
than falls to the lot of many country clergymen, we have
still been unable to keep them from straying, and unless
our neighbours, on whom they have trespassed, had been
very obliging, they must long since have been destroyed,
or made off with. As it is, continual sixpences and pints
of beer to the bearer in reward for their restoration from
tree-tops and road sides, have made the "profit" as yet
derived from this proposed addition to our domestic birds
266 A COADJUTOR'S TALE. [CHAP. n.
quite a negative quantity. One hour mischievous in-
truders, the next careless truants, they may provoke a
smile at their odd freaks, or excite interest by their
confiding familiarity ; but we hope that henceforth their
serviceable introduction either to the poultry-yards or
the game preserves of this country will be spoken of ra-
ther as a mere remote possibility than as a promising
speculation. In order to avert accusations of presump-
tion in venturing to decide against any probable utility
or profit to be expected from the domestication of the
Penelope, we produce extracts from the letters of a
friend (H. H.), who undertook the same experiment at
about the same time as ourselves :
" You have revived my old Curassow-longing by the
mention of the Guans, and T should much like to have
any further particulars you may know about them.
Their price, 50s. the pair, is a good deal, but yet not
unreasonable, when we know what is given every day
for Malay articles. Are Jamrach's full-grown birds,
and do they make a very unearthly noise? I do not
want a couple of mere pets, but something that would
breed, and become interesting in point of producing a
new sort of game or poultry. I know they are not
showy, except the throat and legs, but are they nice,
dignified birds ? If I had a pair, I should not place
them exactly with the other poultry, but in another
place, where they would do well, if the having access to
scraps of bread, &c., &c. that are continually being
thrown out there would not hurt them.
* * * *
" My pair of Guans arrived this morning, Jamrach
foolishly sending them by the mail train at night. [This
was in the month of February.] I am rather in the
CHAP. n.J PAINSTAKING. 267
dark about them as to their identity with those (Pene-
lope cristata) mentioned in Bennett's work on the
Gardens. These sent have no crest, and the spots of
black and white, instead of being confined to the neck
and breast, spread over the wing coverts ; the naked red
skin under the neck, although present, does not form
so prominent a feature as I expected. There is a white
line, too, over each eye. Now, are these in immature
plumage? [They were, like our own, the Penelope
superciliaris, or Eye-browed Guan of Temminck, and
exactly resembling larger, and we believe older, spe-
cimens of the same species which we have -seen at the
Regent's Park Gardens and in Lord Derby's mena-
gerie.] The birds are not so large as I expected, but
rather elegant; they are not in very good condition, but
seem healthy. I have applied a little warm soap and
water, which has done a deal of good. The male is the
most confiding, the lady rather more skittish. I had
hoped to see them heavier, and not so inclined to use
their wings. I like their usual note. They will be
kept in an airy aviary for the present, till I see what
they are made of. It is a good plan, when the tail
feathers are broken off, as many of my birds' are, to
extract the stumps gently, and let them grow up afresh;
they otherwise remain a long time. * *
"It is a pity the Guan does not produce more eggs
(from two to five); but may they not become more pro-
lific by domestication? [the old fallacious hope.] As
in the Turkey, the red part of the throat becomes more
visible when eating or erected. They are thriving, and
being partially sheltered in bad weather, and with a
little care this first winter, will become thoroughly
acclimatized by the breeding time. [Again the ever-
268 HIS ILL SUCCESS. [CHAP. n.
deceptive expectation that we can change the inborn
nature of things.] I imagine they are not really tender
birds, but may have been coddled by the London dealer.
Though mostly docile and gentle, they are yet the most
obstinate birds in one respect I ever met with, viz., if
you wish to drive them anywhere, they will directly
tend the other way, right against you, even through
your legs ! Indeed, Paddy's pig was a joke to them.
It is remarkable, that although so tarne as to feed from
the hand, and fly up to my bedroom window (where I
have several times detected the cock Guan on my dress-
ing-table, attentively examining the brushes and combs),
yet when shut in, they exhibit more timidity, and a
Guinea-fowl-like restlessness, which vanishes when they
are let out. Courage they are by no means deficient in ;
and an engagement between one of them and a good-
natured old Cock was amusing enough, the Cock being
shy of his new customer, and making only half attacks,
and the Guan dropping his wings, and sailing round
him, giving him a sudden poke or two, and then draw-
ing himself up nearly erect, with a kind of ' Who-are-
you?' air, and giving at the same time, a shrewd, comi-
cal glance sideways, which they are very fond of doing.
* * * *
" I am in a great fix at present about the Guans, as
the cock has a kind of attack every other day, that com-
pletely puzzles me unless one may call it hydrophobia !
It is not the staggers, but a kind of paroxysm, with
temporary weakness in the limbs, and gasping; you
would think he was dying every minute, but next day
he is as well as ever: this has occurred three times.
He is a noble bird, and so thriving in flesh and plumage,
which makes it more vexatious. I thought the hen
CHAP, ii.] OUR OWN. 269
Guan not sufficiently thrifty to insure breeding by-and-
by ; so Jamrach obligingly changed her, which I have
repented of ever since, as I have got a fine but un-
manageable one in lieu thereof I am daily thinking of
having the first back, but wait to see if the cock dies or
lives, when I must make some arrangement with Jam-
rach. So you see what a stupid mess I have made of
it! How do yours get on?" We were thus hard at
work trying to make a beginning of acclimatizing and
naturalizing some of the Cracidae in East Anglia and in
the south of England, in obedience to the suggestions of
Messrs. Temminck, &c., without yet suspecting that the
labour was in vain. The experiment proceeded
" My poor Guan is dead, not surviving the fifth
attack. I thought of epilepsy, after I wrote to you, and
believe it was that. The birds might have been kept
short at Jamrach 's, and allowed no gravel [it would be
contrary to a dealer's interest not to take every care of
valuable birds], and my bird perhaps throve too fast
afterwards. He was a splendid fellow. I am not par-
ticularly tender-hearted, but I never wish to see a Guan
die again : it made noises just like a little Christian,
enough to bring the tears into your eyes, and was indeed
what the poor people call ' a hard- dying crater.' I have
dismissed the unruly hen, and have a pair of tame,
rather large ones, from Jamrach, one of which is nearly
chestnut colour on the head and breast I suppose a
two-year-old hen."
One of our own. birds had died from inability to stand
the mild winter of 1848-9, but still the idea could not
be entertained that so many scientific and speculative
naturalists could be at fault, and the blame was then
supposed to lie with the London dealers. Specimens
from the metropolitan bird merchants are certainly often
270 HABITS OF THE EYE -BROWED GUAN. [CHAP. II.
in a sad, ricketty, and declining state ; but if we go and
buy a Heliotrope or Verbena of a florist, we have no
right to blame him because it does not bear exposure to
our climate during winter, be it never such a miserable
scrap. However, the next move is, that there may lie
the cause of failure. " The Guans I have sent back :
they, as well as all the specimens that I have seen,
have the seeds of disease from over-close confinement,
I imagine. They got thinner under the best of food
and attention, and as I did not wish to lose any more, I
returned them, and told the vendor either to send me a
pair of stronger birds now, or let the matter rest till I
come up to town, when I will make some purchase ;
but not the pair of Emeus he lately offered me for 35Z.
(How famously they would draw a carriage full of
children, if one had any !) Still, although these dealers'
birds will not pay, I think if we could have a fair start
with healthy unmuddled birds from any source (from
such a place as the Earl of Derby's, for instance), we
should certainly succeed. My birds have all been of the
supercilious sort the chestnut of the last arose from
age, I fear. I dissected my poor Guan, and then quietly
interred him : the way in which the trachea comes for-
ward over the keel of the breast-bone, and turns about
before entering the larynx, is curious and interesting.
I am sorry to hear of the ill-success of your last Guan ;
but it only proves the correctness of my opinion, that
the whole of the dealers' birds are affected in some way
or other, so as to render them unfit for breeding and
thriving. We shall worry Jamrach to death between
us ! He has, however, been very obliging."
Here follows an account of the habits of this special
lot of birds, before their final dismissal in despair of
doing anything with them : " The character of the
CHAP, ii.] THEIK EATING AND DRINKING. 271
Guan appears to me to be made up of that of three dif-
ferent birds. It much resembles the Pheasant in grace-
ful attitude and demeanour when excited and in action ;
it reminds one of the quiet mopishness of the Turkey
when entirely at rest (and occasionally at other times
also) ; and it now and then, when much alarmed, puts
on the quick-eyed distrustful wariness of the Guinea-
fowl. It is then that the Guan utters its loudest and
harshest note, perched on high, or scampering along at
an incredible rate in a sort of sling-trot, having some-
times both wings extended to assist its onward progress,
a la Ostrich. At other times, when eating or sunning
themselves, they have, especially the cock, a soft chuck-
ling note, not unlike the Barbary Dove or Collared Tur-
tle ; and also another still lower note, uttered by the cock
in an interrogatory manner, and answered by the hen,
nearly an octave lower still. They are by no means
great eaters, but they like to have the bread, apple,
meat, and other scraps, given them in large pieces. My
birds will not yet eat corn, though the cock attempts it
sometimes, so we have compromised the matter by giving
boiled rice. Greens are enjoyed intensely ; but T wish
to wean them from the dealers' trash, and get them to
wholesome corn before the breeding time, and also not
to expect every meal from the hand, which the hen did
at first, and would scarcely eat from the ground ! In
drinking, the Guan unites the sipping of the common
Fowl with the jolly haustus of the Pigeon, taking a good
draught, and then holding up the head.
" I took pains at first to form an attachment between
them and a couple of fowls kept in the same place,
after which they had their entire liberty, the wings being
uncut. The chief thing is to have an eye on them till
accustomed to Dogs and other creatures. My cock bird,
272 SUCCESS AT KNOWSLEY. [CHAP. 11.
on being startled in this manner the other day, flew up
into a high elm about 100 yards off, ascending to the
very top : it was, however, a mere frolic ; for on taking
his friends, the fowls, to the foot of the tree, he was
down in an instant, and quietly followed them home.
Both of these are now much heavier than when from
the dealer, and with young tail-feathers sprouting abun-
dantly, they having lost the whole of their tails on their
journey, being foolishly sent in an absurdly small bird-
" cage."
The conclusion eventually arrived at by this able co-
adjutor, if not already anticipated by the reader, may be
gathered from this last allusion to them, which we have
received: "The Knowsley collection must be well worth
seeing ; but I was prepared for the account you give of
the impracticability of the Cracidae, and had written to
Jamrach to say that he need not trouble about the Guans,
but let me know when he had anything else suitable."
The opinion of their impracticability was expressed
early in the summer of 1849, after careful inspection
and inquiry, and some personal experience ; but the
reader may be pleased to know, by way of postscript, the
substance of some later information with which we have
been honoured respecting these birds at Knowsley Park.
In 1849 success was attained in hatching both Guans
and Curassows : there were living eight of the latter,
and one solitary chick of the Penelope superciliaris ; but,
at that late period of the year (the middle of September),
little hope was entertained of rearing this last. There
were indeed hatched ten Curassows (Crax G-lobicera),
but one met with an accident when very young, it is
believed from the hen jumping down upon it, so had it
lived, it would have been a cripple : the other was nearly
grown, and died quite suddenly, as is suspected, from
CHAP, ii.] CHICK OF GUAN. 273
the bad weather which had occurred in that part of Eng-
land. There is one great peculiarity about these young
Curassows they are perchers almost from the very first,
and appear very averse to go under their nurse ; even
when put under they quickly emerge, and generally try
to get on her back ; but a perch, even only a few inches
, from the ground, is their great object. They appear to
be (to coin a word) rather of dumetal, than arboreal
habits, affecting neither the ground nor yet the tree tops,
but something midway between the two.
At Knowsley, during the season of 1850, there have
been hatched seven Curassows and two Guans. There
have been reared six of the former, five very good birds,
and one of the latter now almost full-grown as to wings.
The vignette represents a chick of the Penelope super -
ciliaris hatched at Knowsley.
CHAPTER III.
THE CRESTED TURKEY.
Imaginary and doubtful animals. Crested Turkeys formerly in Holland.
None now produced in English poultry-yards. Still extant in Central Ame-
rica. Of two kinds. Not a freak of nature, but distinct species. Desiderata
in our menageries.
So long as a creature is included, by common con-
sent, in the list of fabulous animals like the Unicorn,
the Phoenix, the Salamander, and the Mermaid
naturalists look down upon it with a feeling of com-
placent contempt. They smile, as they behold its effigy
carved in stone or cut on wood : not an incredulous
smile, for the question whether such phenomena are
credible or not does not dare to intrude itself; but the
curiosity is, to their minds, a natural-historical joke
a sort of Blue Lion, or Swan with two necks. Many
respectable and intelligent people are apt to be sceptical
as to the veracity of the representations of animals
hitherto unknown to them. The rude copperplate of
the Anhinga, in Willughby, has often been taken for an
outline sketch of a bird that never existed. Some
animals, however, that for a long period have remained
in the condition of zoological outlaws, have at last been
restored to their proper place in civilized society. The
Dodo, the Giraffe, the Aldrovandine (spicifer) Peafowl,
and others, have all passed through this state of tem-
porary rejection. They have been " cut " for a while,
but the force of truth and their own merits have rein-
CHAP. iii.J FORMERLY IN HOLLAND. 275
stated them into favour. Proper restorations are made
to their rightful owners : the Bird of Paradise regains
its long-lost legs and feet, and ceases to pass its whole
life in unresting flight ; the Halcyon has to yield her
sea-borne nest, which retires to the bottom of the ocean,
and becomes fixed to the rocks in its true character of
Neptune's Cup. But when the fabled monster really
shows signs of life, we are perplexed as well as
delighted. When a thing, which we took to be no
better than a made-up popinjay for holiday wits to
shoot at, gives tokens of being somewhere in actual
existence, we know not what to make of it. And so it
is with the Crested Turkey.
For some time, others, as well as myself, had been
puzzled by reading in Temminck's " Pigeons et Gal-
linacees,"* a passage, the translation of which follows.
" The Crested Turkey is only a variety, or sport of
nature, in the species ; it only differs in that it has a
crest of feathers, sometimes black, sometimes white;
and these Crested Turkeys are sufficiently rare. Ma-
demoiselle Backer formerly kept, in her magnificent
menagerie near the Hague, a flock of Turkeys of a
beautiful Tsabelle yellow approaching to chestnut ; they
all had an ample crest of pure white."! Buffon also
quotes Albin to a similar effect.
What could this mean? Such instances are zealously
sought after by those who wish to exalt the innate,
self-moulding powers of organic beings, the idol
Nature, in the atheistical sense in opposition to the
creative providential omnipotence of the Word, in the
* Vol. ii. p. 387.
f See Albin, Natural History of Birds, vol ii. pi. 33.
T 2
276 NONE IN ENGLAND. [CHAP. in.
Christian theological sense. I could not believe in the
sport of nature, and did not like to distrust Ternminck's
veracity, supported too as he is by Albin. But inquire
of any clever farmer's wife what she would think, if
any one told her that all her neighbour's Turkey-poults
grew up this season with large feathered crests on their
heads, some black and some white ! A pretty freak of
nature indeed ! She would either laugh, or be angry
and affronted from suspicion of a hoax, according as her
temper might happen to be. A Turkey's head, with
its movable and eligible skin, certainly does not look
a likely place for a plume of feathers to start from. Such
a Jusus has never occurred in the great Turkey-breed-
ing counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire ;
for the appearance of the monster would be sure to be
observed, if it ever took place. So we gave it up, till
a valued friend sent us the following extracts from
"Wild Life in the Interior of Central America, by
Geo. Byam, 43rd Light Infantry" :
" There are two species of wild Turkey in Central
America, differing widely from each other, both in
appearance and value as an article of food. The com-
monest is the almost black Turkey, with a grey spotted
breast and red crest; their form is elegant, and their
movements resemble the Peahen: they are abundant
near rivers or water, and it is not difficult to bag five or
six in a day's shooting: but the flesh is dark and rather
coarse when roasted, but makes splendid soup, very
like hare-soup, and slices cut raw from the breast and
fried in a pan, are capital. They are fond of living in
very high trees on the banks of rivers and streams, and
do not shun much the ranches built in the forest.
" The other, and much rarer, is a most magnificent
CHAI-. in.] EXTANT IN CENTRAL AMERICA. '277
bird, and gains the greatest perfection at the foot of the
mountains. The male bird is splendidly plumed in
white and metallic lustred greenish black, with a superb
orange-coloured crest on his head. The female is very
different in appearance, and also possesses great beauty,
but of another class : the colour of her plumage is more
a mahogany, but variegated on the breast and neck like
a Pheasant, and she has a fine black comb, or rather
crest. They are as good to eat as beautiful to look at,
but are very difficult to get near to, as they are ex-
tremely shy, and avoid human habitations; but when
they are caught young, or hatched under a Hen, they
soon become so tame as to be quite troublesome. Pass-
ing one day under a clumpy, thick tree, I was startled
by a great commotion in the branches, when out flew a
fine cock Turkey, which I knocked over with one barrel :
the report sent out a hen bird, which shared the same
fate from the other barrel. Thinking there might be
some young ones, I climbed up the tree, and found
a nest with two large eggs in it. The nest was clumsily
made, but strongly secured by being placed in the fork
of several diverging branches. The eggs were much
larger than those of the common Turkey. I took them
home and put them under a Hen that wanted to sit,
and they almost wore her patience out by sitting so
much longer on these than is required on Hen's eggs,
not to mention her being run away with one night by
an Opossum. But her patience was at length rewarded
by the appearance of two fine Turkeys. [Query, how
did she manage to hatch the eggs after she was run
away with by the Opossum ?]
" These birds were never touched by our own Dogs,
or by those belonging to Indians accustomed to call at
the ranchos ; but a stranger arrived one day, and his
278 OF TWO KINDS. [CHAP. in.
strange Dog made a dash at these and killed them both,
though they were in the midst of poultry he did not
touch. However, our Dogs very nearly pulled him to
pieces for his pains : but it was vexing to lose them in
such a way, as no doubt the pair would have bred."*
We at first suspected that the birds here described
might be, perhaps, one a Guan, and the other a Curassow:
but Mr. Byam would know those birds from Turkeys ;
and Central America belongs rather to the Northern
than the Southern Continent, and so would be out of
the range of the Cracida}. This circumstance makes
the acquisition of live specimens so much the more
desirable, and, if they be real Turkeys, or very nearly
allied to them, increases the probability of their future
domestication in this country as naturally acclimated
poultry. They are, moreover, of peculiar interest in
reference to the theory of the forms of domesticated
animals. The discovery of a wild Crested Turkey,
after the instance recorded by Temminck, will much
strengthen the belief which we have expressed else-
where, that there must have existed at some time in
the East, an aboriginal race of Polish or top-knotted
Fowls. The crests on the heads of Mademoiselle
Backer's Turkeys, will no longer be allowed to have
been produced by a freak of nature, any more than the
Crested Guinea-fowl, the Peintado Corned of Temminck,
and Numida cristata of Lathan, is " a freak ;" but will
only prove that the lady had more zealous agents, and
consequently a better collection than her neighbours.
That such birds have existed, not only in Holland
but in this country also, cannot be doubted, although
we cannot tell by what means they came here. Their
* Wild Life in the Interior of Central America, p. 154.
CHAP. m.J GREAT DESIDERATA. 379
present absence from us looks as if there had been a
difficulty in propagating them. Albin, referred to by
Temminck, gives a good coloured engraving, which he
leads us to suppose was drawn from the living bird
while in the possession of an English gentleman, whom
he names, about a hundred years ago. He is par-
ticularly careful not to admit any apocryphal species
into his book. But at present, Byam's birds remain a
great puzzle as well as a great desideratum. With
much regret at not having the power to give fuller
details respecting Crested Turkeys, I am still glad to
have made this imperfect mention of them, both because
they will be a great acquisition to our aviaries, perhaps
to our poultry courts, but most especially because that,
on the appearance of any of these rarities, they may not
now be looked upon as "a sport," the offspring of
domestication, but as a pure and primitive race. None
of the theories frequently deduced from the supposed
transmutation of corn, &c., can now be propped up by
the re-introduction of these birds, which we have hopes,
ere long, of seeing in England. The Earl of Derby,
who has already rendered such great assistance to zoo-
logy by enriching its stores, is promised to have sent
from South America, not only those tempting species
mentioned by Mr. Byam, but also the Oreogallus Dro-
Uanus of Gray, or Chao of Central America, (Chao
being the native name of what the Spanish Creoles call
the Gallina di Monti), and likewise the lovely Ocellated
Turkey, of which his lordship possesses a solitary living
female specimen. Whether as possible replenishers of
the larder, or merely as most elegant additions to the
menagerie, all these birds are very earnestly to be
desired.
Nest of Water Hen.
CHAPTER IV.
THE WATER HEN.
Undomesticable, and of paradoxical habits. Their familiar caution. Attracted
by luxuriant water-weeds. Will have their own way. Mode of travelling
underwater. And on the surface. Post mortem. Proofs of creative design.
Habits of the young. Rare water-rail. Aldrovandi's uncertainty. Versa-
tility of Water Hens. Modes of escape. Water Hens in St. James's Park.
Water Hens about country houses. Odd noises. Activity of the young.
Usual nesting-places. Prolific breeders.
" THE arrowy course of the Swallow the wander-
ings of the Albatross or the soarings of the Eagle
are all directed to certain points, and are confined
CHAP, iv.] PARADOXICAL HABITS. 281
within limits, invisible indeed to the material eye, yet
as impassable and as exclusive as a wall of brass.
' Hither shalt thou come, but no further,' with safety
or comfort to thyself. This command, although not
pronounced, is a part of the natural instinct of every
animal in a state of nature. Domestication can do
much, but its effect is almost entirely limited to those
animals which have been marked out by our Creator as
destined to the service of Man. Let him be thankful
for these exceptions, and not, with a modern philo-
sopher, idly boast of mans conquest of nature, when
his highest faculties cannot domesticate a worm ! " *
The Water Hen seems as much disinclined as the
worm to submit itself to human discipline, or to go in
any other way than its own, however frequently it may
cross our path, or delight to intrude as a privileged tres-
passer, whom there is no gainsaying, within the precincts
of our gardens and shrubberies. It is one of the most
paradoxical of the feathered race, not in mere form, but
in habits and temper combined with form. There are
few birds whose entire banishment from this island
would be less noticed by the inhabitants of cities, and
more immediately remarked by those whose home is fixed
in certain rural localities, than the Water Hen. Even
in large towns the loss of the occasional sight of the
Rook or the Sparrow (in whose expulsion we would cor-
dially assist), of the numerous birds that are seen and
heard here and there in cages, or now and then in the
game shops nay, even of Hawks and Owls (though the
gamekeepers have pretty severely reduced their num-
bers), would be observed, and perhaps cause inquiries ;
* Swainson.
282 VARIOUS NAMES. [CHAP. iv.
but the Water Hen is little thought of, even by the
strollers in Saint James's Park. In the country, if we
have a sedgy stream hard by, or a fish-pond half choked
with weeds, or a mill-dam skirted with a few osier banks,
the Water Hen attracts the attention of the most indif-
ferent observer by its merry freaks, its odd noises, the
perplexing "fast and loose" system on which it ever
and obstinately treats all human society and neighbour-
hood, and the remarkable faculty which it exhibits of
making itself quite at home in every one of the four
elements, fire alone excepted.
We have adopted " Water Hen" as the most appro-
priate English name of the Gallinula chloropus, or
Green-footed Gallinule. " Moor Hen" suggests to the
mind the Moor-fowl or Moor-game, a gallinaceous bird,
and besides sounds and looks like a corruption of the old
title, " Moat Hen," which is far more correctly applied.
A moor, if we bear those of Yorkshire and Scotland in
mind, is an uncultivated tract or waste, in the uplands,
or table-lands, or on the shoulders of hills ; and though
such places do abound in standing water and rushy pools,
they are more likely to be the haunt of the Mallard than
of the Water Hen, which much prefers the warm, muddy,
weed-covered creeks in low fenny districts.
In two remarkable peculiarities, either of which ought
to draw upon them the close attention of naturalists,
Water Hens are anomalous birds. They have feet ap-
parently as little adapted for swimming as those of a
Pigeon or a Lark, and yet are as much at ease in the
water as any bird whatever which is not of oceanic ha-
bits; and they seem, from delighting in an approach to
the dwellings of Man, to require only a little persuasion,
and encouragement, and kindness, to become perfectly
CHAP, iv.] FAMILIAR CAUTION. 283
domesticated, but are of all birds perhaps amongst the
most untameable. They treat us in the same tantalising
way as the Swallow does the Hawk; they are continually
glancing within a few yards of us, but never come within
our actual reach. As we retire, they advance ; on our
advancing, they sound a retreat. They will measure
the nearness of the approach which they think prudent
to make toward us, exactly according to circumstances.
Does an afternoon cloud overshadow the landscape, out
come the Water Hens from their hiding-places in the
sedgy banks ; does the cloud send forth a pelting shower,
which drives the gardener and the labourer to seek a
temporary shelter, the Water Hens extend their range,
to retire again as soon as the squall is over, and out-
door work resumed. Before breakfast, while the family
are not yet down, they will flirt and play and feed under
the very living-room windows, but as soon as the faces
of their would-be friends are seen peeping thence at
their gambols, they keep their former cautious distance.
Should the household be unusually quiet from sickness,
death, misfortune, or an absence for change of scene,
the Water Hens know it, and presume upon their know-
ledge ; immediately that they perceive symptoms of re-
turning bustle and cheerfulness, they judge it time to
desist from their intrusive visits. Not that they are to
be frightened quite away by a good deal of noise and
disturbance, if there is but plenty of the food which
tempts them, and the cover which they delight in. The
din of a foundry has not prevented their occupancy of
a neighbouring pool : and if grass and tall weeds did
but grow, not in the streets but in the canals of Amster-
dam, there we believe, would Water Hens be playing
at hide-and-seek. In our own case, a large piece of
284 WILL HAVE THEIR OWN WAT. [CHAP. iv.
water was overgrown with aquatic weeds, so much so
that in the month of June in former years no water was
visible, but its surface looked like a green continuation
of the lawn and the meadow; the bottom was paved
with a network of gigantic roots of water-lilies, both
white and yellow, reminding one of the extinct vegeta-
tion of a former world, and there was a rich variety of
every plant which delights in such a situation. Water
Hens abounded. By-and-by we cleared out a greater
part of this superabundant mass of weeds, and the Water
Hens disappeared. But at the same time a railway was
opened, passing within a few yards of one margin of the
moat, and to this latter cause we then attributed the
flight and retirement of the birds. Mallards and Herons
used occasionally to frequent the spot, but have never
since appeared there. The weeds, however, have very
much grown again ; the lilies were scotched, not killed ;
seeds, insects, and aquatic larvae now abound, and Water
Hens are again abundant, although the trains run scream-
ing past as frequently and as furiously as ever.
In short, they are utterly self-willed creatures ; they
will do what they like, and come and go as they like,
and can neither be coaxed by kindness, nor be frightened
away by threats and onslaught, as we soon discovered.
For, being pleased to watch their curious tricks and
fancies, we at first forbade any to be shot, in the hope
of getting up a large head, by preserving them : but
the old birds drive off the young ones late in autumn to
seek their fortunes elsewhere : a single pair establish a
sort of lordship over each small pond, or each reach of
a larger piece of water ; those in possession of the pre-
mises will admit of no intruders ; and so we have tried
how they answer in a pie, of which we can give a very
CAP. iv.1 MODES OF TRAVELLING. 285
satisfactory report ; and we believe that if every indi-
vidual Water Hen were eaten to-morrow, there would
again be as many as ever in a fortnight by immigration
from some quarter or another, to occupy the vacant
space, their world of weeds, and bulrushes, and sedge.
Water Hens not only swim but dive with ease, re-
maining apparently a very considerable time under the
surface. We say, apparently ; because they have the
cunning to stop in any convenient clump of weeds, put
just their head, or part of it out of the water, take
breath, and then go on again. Their progress may
often be traced by the motion of the weeds, like that
occasioned by the passage of a large fish. That these
subaqueous excursions are habitually undertaken as a
matter of business, and not as mere pleasure trips, or
attempts to escape pursuit, is proved by the statement,
that they are often to be caught under water by a hook
baited with a worm. They are also fond of running
rapidly on the surface of the water (like St. Peter's
bird, the Stormy Petrel), partially assisted by their
wings, but mainly supported by their long toes, spread
out over comparatively a large area of floating vegeta-
tion, exactly as a skater may glide rapidly over thin ice,
which would let him through were he to stand still ; but
when the weeds are thick and the lily leaves full grown,
they step boldly and demurely on, picking up their food,
and halting in their way with as much coolness as if
they were enjoying a promenade on terra firma.
The subjoined post mortem of two Water Hens killed
at the end of a frost, from a friendly correspondent,
is to the purpose. " Gizzards filled with grass and
reeds, less powerful than in granivorous birds, i. 0., in
the birds that habitually get grain : the inner mem-
286 POST MORTEM. [CHAP. iv.
braue thin, easily torn, the pieces of quartz not nume-
rous, and scarcely larger than millet seed, all showing
that little hard work is required to grind their food of
insects, grass, and weeds. The elastic membrane fring-
ing the sides of the toes, the length and limberness of
the toes themselves, are well adapted for their mode of
life, aiding them in running over stones by the water-
side, and the reedy, boggy, margins of pools, and occa-
sionally in diving and swimming." Are we wrong in
believing that these long toes were intended by the
Creator to aid the bird in walking lightly over water-
plants in search of its subsistence ? They are by no
means the only birds in which a similar contrivance
has been made to answer exactly the same purpose.
Edwards, in his voyage up the Amazon (p. 21), saw
"flocks of Jacanas, a family of water-birds remarkable
for their long toes, which enable them to step upon the
leaves of lilies and other aquatic plants." But, without
going so far as South America for an additional illustra-
tion, the feet of our own Bittern, with their wide-spread-
ing toes, each terminating in a very long slightly-curved
claw, exhibit an admirable contrivance for enabling the
bird to walk over spongy morasses, in which, were it
furnished with feet like those of the Ostrich, it would
soon sink, and be inextricably mired.
" The use of the frontal shield in the Water Hen is
evidently to defend the forehead of the bird, when
boring and poking for its food in soft marshy ground.
We observe the same shield, only of ampler size, in the
Coot. The Rook, too, has this defensive armour on his
grey bill (the mark by which the Rook is best distin-
guished in the field from the Crow), so developed, that
it has been said by some to be produced by his boring
CHAP, iv.] PKOOFS OF DESIGN. 287
in cow-droppings and hollow turfy ground for worms
and beetles ; but we have only to examine the bill to see
that it is a provision of nature for his mode of life.
If we compare the bills of birds which subsist on grain
and berries, with those of the Water Hen and the Coot,
the contrast will strikingly illustrate the adaptation
now noticed. In our most cursory and general observa-
tions, as well as in our minutest researches, the grand
fact is incessantly presented to the mind, that over all
these works infinite skill, harmonious adaptation, and
the most watchful benevolence preside.
" The linsey-woolsey undercoat of the Water Hen is
admirably adapted to its amphibious mode of life. Man
has been unable hitherto to devise anything approach-
ing to the soft, warm, and elastic waterproof mantle of
the Gallinule. All our combinations of Welsh flannel,
Llama cloth, and mackintosh, are infinitely inferior to
the coverings of the Duck and the Goose. The way in
which this clothing is distributed on the body of the
Water Hen, is well worthy of notice. The whole is
warm and waterproof; but the inner garment over the
crop, where it meets the brush of the water in the act
of running through wet grass and in diving, is much
thicker than on the breast, within which the vital organs
are well shielded by muscles and bone. Over the belly
again, the thick, close, impervious down covers the in-
testines, and preserves them effectually from the wet
and cold to which they are so much exposed in wading
through the moist rank herbage of their favourite
swamps. It has often struck me, in examining water-
fowl, that the air inclosed in the delicate net-work of
down must be one provision for keeping the bird dry,
as if it were sailing upon a natural air cushion." D. L.
The reader will be pleased to have one or two original
288 HABITS OF THE YOUNG. [CHAP. iv.
observations that have been kindly supplied from another
quarter :
" June, 1845. I picked up a young Water Hen some
time since, that had just escaped from the egg, and was
swimming off across the river. I placed it with some
lately-hatched chickens, to which it soon grew accus-
tomed, though rather complaining and unhappy at first.
It would eat bread and any odd scraps very eagerly,
and throve well till about half grown, when T lost it
one day, and suppose some vermin must have carried it
away, as it showed not the least inclination to run away
from its friends the chickens. * *
"Watching an old Water Hen swimming in the river
the other day, I was much pleased with her tenderness
and solicitude for her young ones, calling and collect-
ing them round her, and feeding them. On one occa-
sion, one of the brood, a weakly chick, was unable to
swim across the river to the mother : she immediately
returned, and took it over on her back, with a little soft
complacent note, as if she was pleased it was in safety.
It is singular that although in the early spring, and
throughout the breeding time, Water Hens are so
abundant on our river, yet after that time has passed
by, we see but few until the autumn has set in. Where
they go I know not, or whether it is that they conceal
themselves at that time, the time, perhaps, of their
moulting." H. H.
As we do not propose recurring to this family of
birds, we will take this opportunity of calling the atten-
tion of naturalists to a probably unknown member of it,
which has hitherto preserved its incognito, and for a
notice of which we are indebted to the friendship of the
same accurate observer of nature.
"December, 1844. I am convinced that there are
CHAP, iv.] ALDROVANDl's UNCERTAINTY. 289
two species of the Water Rail, Rallus Aquaticus, about
our meadows (bordering the Avon, Wiltshire). The
common sort is, as described by Yarrell, about eleven
inches in length, but the other, a bird of more rare
occurrence, though now and then shot here, is much
smaller too in respect to the legs, and shorter in the
neck. Both sorts are similar in plumage, the difference
consisting in size. Yarrell makes no mention of any
difference in size between the sexes; therefore I con-
clude this to be another species. The people here work-
ing in the meadows are aware of the difference between
the birds, and call the small ones runners. I have
not as yet ascertained whether the notes of the runners
are the same as the large sort. Both kinds are equally
good for the table." H. H.
Aldrovandi, living in Italy and never having travelled
northwards, was sadly puzzled between the Gallinule,
the Tringa (whatever he meant by that), the Water
Ouzel*, and the Rails. He gives what he had heard
respecting the feathered inhabitants of this outlandish
island, and leaves the reader to judge for himself,
"ut quilibet pro arbitratu de ea judicet." We translate
the passagef as a curious specimen of middle-aged
natural history, and also as a hint to some good-
natured archseologian to favour us with a paper on the
moats that surrounded many of the country mansions of
our ancestors, respecting which so little is known with
accuracy, either as to certain peculiarities of construc-
* For an interesting account of the Water Ouzel the reader will
be obliged to us for referring him to Mr. Charles St. John's " Wild
Sports and Natural History of the Highlands," altogether a charming
and genuine little book. We still retain a vivid recollection of the
locality in which it was written.
f Ornithologia, torn. iii. lib. xx. p. 487.
U
'290 AMBIGUITIES. [CHAP. iv.
tion, or of the date and condition of society in which
they were constructed.
" Turner says that the Trynga is in German called
Ein Wasserhenn (that is a Water Hen); in English,
Mothen (perchance, says Ornithologus, from Morhen).
But the hird is all over of a russet brown, except that
part of the tail which covers the rump, for that is white,
and is then seen when the tail is erected. It has little
power in its wings, and therefore makes short flights.
In the stagnant waters which fence the houses of the
nobility, and in fish-ponds, it mostly dwells amongst
the English. If at any time it is exposed to danger, it
is wont to betake itself to the thicker reed-beds. So
far he. Ornithologus says that he had heard that
Snyt * (he probably means Snyp or Snipe) is, amongst
the English, the appellation of a bird with a long bill,
of the magnitude of a Magpie, which always busies
itself near the water, and keeps moving its tail. He
doubts whether this be the Water Ouzel or the Water
Hen. I, when it is compared to the Magpie in magni-
tude, rather refer it to the Water Hen. Other Ger-
mans describe this sort of bird for the Tringa. Tringse,
they say, are all black, cloven-footed, with white on the
top of the head reaching down to the bill ; their feet
are tall and black ; it (the confusion of the singular and
the plural number is in the original), continually moves
its tail, and inhabits watery places. Finally, Ornitho-
logus thinks that to the name Trynga pertains the bird
which, at some places, as at Clarona, is named Vvasser
Trostle, that is, Water Thrush."
* " Snytes" were a dish at the " solempne coronacyon" dinner of
Henry VI.
CHAP, iv.] VERSATILITY. 291
Water Hens, to which we will now return, can climb
like cats when a sense of approaching danger prompts
them to get out of the way. If they perceive a strange
dog prowling about their haunts, the sportsman will
find as many birds clinging half-way up an ivy bush, or
mounted in a spruce fir, to make observations, as are
close squatted in the sedges. Their flight too is strong,
though their down-dangling legs spoil the look of it.
And thus, in the versatility of their powers, earth, air,
water, and trees are all accessible to them at their plea-
sure. No wonder that so supple and agile a character
should be averse to leading anything but a freebooting
life. Chaucer, to whom they must have been well
known, surely meant, in " The Manciple's Tale," to
borrow an illustration from the Water Hen
" Take any brid and put it in a cage,
And do all thin entente and thy corage
To foster it tendrely with mete and drinke
Of all deintees that thou canst bethinke,
And keep it al so clenely as thou may,
Although the cage of gold be never so gay,
Yet had this brid by twenty thousand fold
Lever in a forest that is wilde and cold
Gon eten wormes and swiche wretchednesse :
For ever this brid will don his besinesse,
To escape out of his cage whan that he may :
His libertee the brid desireth ay."
But when captivity is inevitable, the Water Hen re-
signs itself to its fate philosophically, and makes itself
as comfortable as it can, and will even breed in that
condition, in arriving at which contented state of mind
it is much aided by having part of its prison, especially
that towards the water's edge, planted with flags (ins),
sedges, and rushes, and any other aquatic herbage that
u 2
292 MODES OF ESCAPE. [CHAP. iv.
will afford a permanent place of retreat. One wing
must be pinioned, close at the elbow, and the inclosed
space in which they are kept must be surrounded by
walls against which there are no trees or creeping plants
growing, to serve the purpose of a scaling-ladder; or by
upright paling, or iron palisading no network will do
or even by a fence of reeds fixed perpendicularly.
If there is the least hole or weak place, they will find it
out and work their way through it, as surely as Baron
Trenck would, were not his catalogue of escapades long
since brought to a close. With these precautions they
make an elegant adjunct to the fountain, the gold-fish
pond, or the aquarium of a pleasure ground. The Lap-
wing is another undersized bird, of pleasing shape and
still more engaging manners, which is well worthy of
being made one of the ornaments of such a situation.
It is surprising that they are not advertised for sale by
the dealers in such birds ; they have not hitherto been
the fashion, but could readily be obtained if asked for.
Captive Water Hens have bred both in the Zoological
Society's Gardens and in St. James's Park ; in which
latter inclosure they exhibit quite the tameness of
despair. There the unescapeable, unceasing, busy hum
of men, the daily crowds of prying eyes and prattling
tongues, compel them to arrive at the wise conclusion,
''What can't be cured must be endured." Those who
are desirous that any piece of water in their park or
shrubbery should become the constant resort of Water
Hens, have only to allow the weeds to grow, and shoot
off a few of the superabundant birds, as soon as they are
observed to begin quarrelling with each other. The
Purple Gallinule Porphyrio (a foreign genus of which
there are two distinct species at least, the greater and
CHAP, iv.] WATEB HENS IN THE COUNTRY. 293
the smaller, though exactly similar in their lively
colouring, namely, azure blue all over, with scarlet
feet, legs, bill, and frontal shield) appears to be so
tender as to require great care and housing, and is
unfortunately not robust enough in this climate to orna-
ment our ponds and lakes. But our own humbly-clad
native species may well claim our regards for the in-
terest which is attached to it.
A stranger, "long in populous cities pent," starts for
a country excursion, and arrives rather unexpectedly at
the house of a friend. No one happens to be in the
way to receive him : all except the indoor servants are
dispersed hither and thither after their own devices.
As his carriage drives up to the door, he looks around,
and soliloquises : " Pretty place pleasant lawn nice
piece of water rather full of weeds though ; no objec-
tion to a few water-lilies and so on, but not quite so
many. Those are some of his Ducks quite a poultry
fancier, I know has written about it in the papers ;
wonder he was not afraid of being laughed at I should ;
and those little things walking amongst the Ducks that
are asleep on the grass, and showing a little bit of white
now and then in their tails, just as the old ladies
used to open their fans those, I suppose, are some of
his Bantams but they need not fly off in such a hurry
to the other side of the water I am not going to steal
them, and should like to have a look at them. I
thought he would have had better ; they seem long in
the leg, with curious bills, queer too in colour, neither
brown nor black. Ill wait here in the dining-room till
some one returns, and take a chair by the window and
there come the Bantams again, peeping out from what
seems an island and, yes they take to the water, and
294 THE PARENT AND HEE YOUNG. [CHAP. iv.
are swimming jerkingly across, nodding their heads as
they go to join company again with the dozing Ducks,
where I first saw them. What can they be? But
here comes our friend."
In the evening a walk in the garden is proposed.
Twilight is coming on. The garden skirts the water,
which is in places overhung by trees whose branches
feather down and droop to the very surface. " What
a splash was that! you have some large fish here."
Yes, and you shall hear more about them by-and-by ;
but that was no fish, unless perhaps a flying-fish ; for
see ! there it goes, round the horse-chesnut at the corner;
and I need not tell you to listen to the strange noises.
Our children are all in bed, or ought to be, so it is not
their rattle or penny-trumpet which you hear, but the
Hen bird calling her young ones to a place of refuge ;
and look, there go the little things like black red-nosed
mice on two legs (for they are covered with thick fur
like that of a water rat, rather than with down, to keep
out the water), running over the weeds which you so
much dislike, and, you see, where there is an interval
between the leaves of only two inches square, some of
them are diving with the decision of a whale that is
astonished to feel a harpoon sticking between his ribs,
and they have taken this mode of disappearance as
much a matter of course as the ghost does, who goes
down the accustomed stage-trap on the hundredth night
of a successful melodrama. On the water, over the
water, under the water, are all the same to them. The
young cannot fly at present, but will very soon. By this
time they have all joined their parent on the island. It is
of no use trying to follow them there. They are already
much more cunning than you or I. And, my friend,
CHAP, iv.] NESTING-PLACES. 295
beware of the bridge ; like other inviting paths, it is
full of holes and pitfalls. We are forewarned, and so
forearmed, but you are a stranger to these dangerous
regions. Yet immediately under that insecure loose
plank, a Wagtail reared her brood last summer, although
a wheelbarrow was rumbling three or four times a day
over her head all the while. The bridge is broke and
must be mended ; we wish that everything else that is
amiss could as easily be set right. But the inventing
a pretty rustic design will be an agreeable amusement
for somebody in a snug room some dull winter's
evening."
# * * *
" And now, as it is a bright warm morning, while
they are making breakfast we will, if you are not afraid
of the dew, show you two or three of the nests of our
'Water Bantams.' In some localities, they build in
trees, in others on the ground, but with us always in
this manner. There, you see where the bulrushes have
been pulled down into a sort of basket-work, about
three feet from the bank: if you attempt to make a
long arm, and lay hold of it, you will assuredly over-
reach yourself, and fall in ; and if you venture to ob-
tain a footing to it, you will sink knee-deep, or higher,
in mud and water. It looks like an Egyptian home-
stead during an inundation of the Nile, or like one of
those Don Cossack terraqueous residences that were
visited by the brave Dr. Edward Daniel Clarke. That
nest contained eight eggs, all of which would have been
hatched, but that the young lady whom you see at our
elbow, in her anxiety to secure a pet for herself by
means of a landing-net, frightened off the dam and
seven chicks, and only obtained a half-hatched egg.
296 PROLIFIC BREEDERS. [CHAP. iv.
The young one chirped strongly in the shell, but what
became of it soon afterwards may be easily imagined.
They rear several broods during the season. Yonder
swim three or four nearly full-grown birds after their
mother, begging her to put the seed or the shell-
fish she has found for them into their mouths the
great babies ! instead of remembering that they now
ought to be old enough to feed themselves. This short-
ranging telescope, which we will lend you, will help you
to watch their proceedings during the day, on many
occasions when they little suspect that your eye is upon
them. Water Hen's eggs are often brought to our
market, during the spring, to eat, but they are seldom
without a slight suspicion of incubation, which is more
attractive to an Arctic than to an English appetite. The
eggs to appear on our breakfast table to-day are not
those of the Water Hen."
CHAPTER V.
KINGFISHERS.
Halcyon of the ancients; what ? Aldrovandi's figures and descriptions. Nest
of Halcyon. Haunts and habits of the Kingfisher. Anecdote. How far de-
structive to fish. To procure young birds. To rear and feed them. Captive
Kingfishers. Mr. Rayner's aviary. Diet and habits of Kingfishers there.
Mode of eating. Their pugnacity. Destructiveness of a Heron. Unsociability
of Kingfishers. Management in a captive state. African Kinghunters.
Australian Kingfishers. The Laughing Jackasses.
"HALCYON is rendered a Kingfisher, a bird commonly
known among us, and by Zoographers and Naturals
the same is named Ispida, a well-coloured bird, fre-
quenting streams and rivers, building in holes of pits,
like some Martins, about the end of the Spring; in
whose nests we have found little else than innumerable
small fish-bones, and white round eggs of a smooth and
polished surface, whereas the true Alcyon is a Sea-Bird,
makes a handsome nest floating upon the water, and
breedeth in the Winter."*
Some learning has been bestowed to ascertain whether
Halcyon should be spelt with or without the H ; leaving
the matter much where it was. Sir Thomas Brown, in
the above quotation, uses it both ways, and so makes
sure in being right in one place, and of obliging equally
those country-folks who can, and those Cockneys who
cannot, pronounce the aspirate. Aldrovandi thought
that it was a song bird, and hoped it would not complain
* Sir Thomas Brown, Tracts, IV.
398 ALDROVANDI. [CHAP. v.
in its mournful and very sweet song (" lamentabile et sua-
vissimo suo cantu") of the affront he had put upon it, by
giving the precedence, in his Ornithologia, to other less
celebrated birds. According to him, the Halcyon of the
ancients no longer exists ; in which opinion we may be-
lieve him to be correct, if the observations of the old
Poets and Philosophers are required to be verified if
we are to find a bird which " at the time of its nidula-
tion, which happeneth about the brumal solstice, maketh
a nest which floateth upon the sea," and which, after
death, if suspended in a room, veers to the quarter
whence the wind happens to blow, as unerringly and
surely as the magnetic needle continually points to the
pole. It was another vulgar belief, that if their intes-
tines only were extracted, and their bodies hung up to
dry, they would moult every year exactly as if they were
alive ; but Aldrovandi assures us that he had one sus-
pended in his museum for several years, and yet was
never able to perceive the renewal of the feathers.
" Most moderns," he adds, " believe the Ispida to be the
Halcyon of the ancients : although we disapprove of the
opinion, yet we grant them to be nearly allied to it ; and
the ancients have recorded many things of the Alcyon
which are also observed in the Ispida." Pliny's descrip-
tion is not so very wide of the mark : " Ipsa avis paulo
amplior passere, colore cyaneo ex parte majore, tan turn
purpureis, et candidis admixtis pennis."* The bird
itself is a little larger than a Sparrow, of an azure
colour for the greater part, only with a mixture of
purple and white feathers.
Aldrovandi's figure of the Ispida is an excellent like-
* Lib. 10, c. 31.
CHAP.V.] HALCYON'S NEST. 299
ness of our Kingfisher, accompanied by a reduced repre-
sentation of some water-weed, which, contrary to his
usual custom, he has omitted to specify by name, though
in other places he makes up for the omission by adding
an insect or a fish, as well as a botanical fragment. As
Claude Lorraine used to sell his landscapes, and give the
figures into the bargain, so Aldrovandi appends to his
birds a little bit of plant by way of make weight. Thus
we have " ' Grus cum Geranio Cretico.' The Crane, with
the Cretan Geranium. ' Anser quadrupes alius cum al-
tha3a palustri.' Another four-footed (monstrous) Goose,
with the Marsh-mallow. * Anser ferus Ferraria missus
cum nymphsea lutea majori.' A wild Goose sent from
Ferrara, with the greater yellow water-lily." Sometimes
he is extra liberal, as when he gives " ' Ardese cinereaB
tertium genus cum persicaria, et cochlea.' A third sort
of Ashy Heron, with the Persicaria and the Cockle."
Other writers tell us that the nest of the Halcyon,
namely, the one which floats on the surface of the sea
during its prescribed period of calmness, is " very like
a sponge." Aldrovandi gives a large figure from which
it is clear that it must have been a sponge. Ancient
authors are profuse in their admiration of the skill which
the bird exerts in manufacturing this spongy ark, and
are in some confusion about the fish-bones, which they
suppose to be used as needles on the occasion. The
musical talent of the Nightingale, the conjugal affection
of the Dove, do not, in their way, surpass the industry
of the Kingfisher. That such a bird should disgrace it-
self by yielding to the weakness of dying of love !
But without reference to these marvels, the King-
fisher is really an interesting bird, from its habits and
its beauty, both of which are sure to attract attention.
300 THE KINGFISHER. [CHAP. v.
The holiday stroller from the confinement of a large
town, as he tracks the retired footpath that skirts the
margin of some small brook overhung with alders and
willows, is startled by a shrill, sharp cry, and sees glanc-
ing past him one or two winged emeralds : in a moment
they are gone, and he walks on thinking of the brilliant
creatures that have just vanished from his gaze. Soon
he advances to a spot where the streamlet spreads into
an open pool : he sits down to rest, wondering at the
beauty of the dragon-flies, longing to reach the floating
water-lilies, and enjoying the perfume of the mint he has
trodden underfoot. He hears a short splash, he turns,
and sees the spreading circles on the water; he looks up,
and behold, on an outstretching branch, a bird whose
ruddy bosom alone meets his view. He remains mo-
tionless, watching his newly-discovered neighbour. Soon
the bird dashes into the water, and returns immediately
to its seat on the branch : in flight, it seems all blue ;
in repose, all ruddy-brown ! It is the same bird which
he saw before, but has two completely different as-
pects like those double-masquerade costumes, wherein
the front assumes one character, and the back another.
Again a plunge is made into the stream, and the bird
uprises, bearing a little fish in his beak ; this time he
returns not to his branch, but departs straight away like
a levelled rocket : perhaps the nest is near at hand.
The arrival of the Kingfisher at his fishing station, is
as abrupt as his departure thence. The very first con-
venient perching- place that offers in his course, invites
him to alight, if water is hard by. An unexpected ex-
ample of this habit occurred to a gentleman on whose
veracity I can depend. He was angling near Norwich,
close by a bridge that crossed a small stream, whose
CHAP. v.J HOW FAR DESTRUCTIVE. 301
banks, at that point, were naked of trees or shrubs. As
he stood quietly watching his float in thje water, a King-
fisher darted through the arch of the bridge, and alighted
on his rod, as being the readiest pecch. It soon saw by
what sort of trunk this taper twig was supported ; but
the time of its continuance thereon, though only a mo-
ment, was long enough to permit a steady view of the
gaudy visitor. One might angle for many years without
meeting with a similar accident. An iron railing a few
yards from our own windows is occasionally thus occu-
pied ; and some spruce firs opposite, whose branches
droop over the water, often, when lighted up by the after-
noon sunshine, serve as resting-places to the Kingfisher.
But its haunts seem to be perpetually changing : some
weeks not one is to be seen ; during other short periods
they flash every day upon our sight.
Do Kingfishers make such havoc in our fish-ponds,
that they need be persecuted here, as the Water Ouzel
is in Scotland ? Some few fry they must of course con-
sume ; but while we permit the ravages of Eels, Pike,
Herons, Otters, and Seals, it seems an overgrudging
seventy to punish the depredations of the Kingfisher,
unless indeed his feathery spoils are wanted to set off,
by contrast, a case of dull-plumaged stuffed birds, or to
prove even more destructive to the finny tribe than be-
fore, in the shape of artificial flies. We rather like to
see them dipping into our waters, as a proof of the
abundance of fry of the current season, and cannot bring
our hearts to grudge them their moderate enjoyment of
an occasional white-bait dinner.
But not all admirers of the dazzling tints of the King-
fisher have been content with a casual glance, as the
bird flits by at perfect liberty : attempts have been made,
302 TO PROCURE YOUNG. [CHAP. v.
and that with considerable success, to rear and keep it
in a captive state. It is true they have not survived
very long in confinement, in any instance with which
we are acquainted ; but an account of what has hitherto
been done, may be some guide to those who choose to
amuse themselves with the undertaking.
The Kingfisher usually breeds in holes in the sides
of banks that overhang small ponds or streams. The
nest, such as it is, is composed of small fish-bones, which
appear to be the pellets thrown up by the bird after its
meal is digested. The eggs are pure white, of a pecu-
liar porcelain smoothness and lustre. So situated, it is
easily robbed by any adventurous youth who is fearless
enough to encounter the terrible stench which saturates
the hole, if he waits till the young are fit to take. When
fledged, they are easily reared by hand, and, from the
first, have the peculiar metallic brilliancy of plumage
which decorates them in after life. They may be had,
at the proper season, of the London bird merchants, at
about half-a-crown each ; but as they are by no means
rare birds in those localities of Great Britain which they
do frequent, and rear not a small quantity of young,
i. e., five, six, and sometimes seven, they are not diffi-
cult to be obtained by country residents. Fish at
first is their diet, after which they will take to meat ;
but no stale food of any kind should be given, as it is
apt to prove even fatal. They will also, if permitted,
dabble and plunge in their water trough, before they
have sufficient strength to emerge rapidly, and will die
of the cold and chill thus brought on. In a state of
nature they dash boldly into the water, and rebound
again, as it were, with the rapidity of a cricket-ball from
the player's bat. Not a drop of moisture adheres to the
CHAP, v.] CAPTIVE KINGFISHERS. 303
plumage ; and if it did, the subsequent exercise of the
creature would soon shake it off and evaporate it. But
the caged Kingfisher has no such means of warming
and drying itself, and must therefore not be allowed to
follow its natural instinct of plunging after its prey,
till it has attained its full strength.
We have good reason to believe that the very efficient
Secretary of the Zoological Society (to whose judicious
exertions both the Society itself and the public who
frequent their Gardens owe so much) once conceived an
idea that a very attractive object would be formed by a
small aviary filled with numerous individuals of our
native Kingfisher, and furnished with all the necessaries
and comforts that could enable them to exercise their
natural habits, and so display a concentration of that
exquisite plumage, which renders the sight of even a
solitary living individual quite an event in a country
ramble. We are not aware that the project has ever
been attempted to be realized ; but if it had, that Mr.
Mitchell, before succeeding, would require the best aid
of some of the French philosophic " conquerors of na-
ture," and " subjugators of wild races," and " moulders
of innate instincts," will appear from the following ori-
ginal and valuable notes which I owe to the kindness
of Mr. Wm. Eayner, Surgeon, of Uxbridge. They show
how much may be effected in the practical pursuit of
natural history, with even moderate means and appli-
ances.
" I send you a list of the birds I have kept in a state
of captivity (94 species)* : with the exception of the
* 1, Hobby ; 2, Merlin ; 3, Kestrel ; 4, Sparrow-hawk ; 5, White
Owl; 6, Red-backed Shrike; 7, Spotted Fly-catcher; 8, Missel
Thrush: 9, Fieldfare; 10, Song Thrush; 11, Redwing; 12, Black-
304 ME. RAYNER'S AVIARY. [CHAP. T.
Hawks, the whole were kept in an aviary open to the
weather, situated in a northerly direction at the back of
my parlour window, and, until I moved into my present
habitation, had communication with my parlour, the
window then opening into the aviary, in the centre
of which stood a stone fountain, the water playing con-
stantly. The class Sylviadae were separated simply on
the score of economy as regards the food, which being
soft, and consisting of animal matter, would have been
devoured by other birds whose food is generally of a far
less expensive character. I send you this list to show
the number of birds that may be kept together. My
aviary measured 33 feet long, by 10 feet wide, and 17
feet high, consisting of iron wire, in which aviary
trees of the fir tribe, and box, birch and beech were
bird; 13, Hedge Accentor; 14, Redbreast; 15, Redstart; 16,
Stonechat; 17, Whinchat; 18, Wheatear; 19, Sedge warbler ; 20,
Reed- warbler ; 21, Nightingale ; 22, Blackcap ; 23, Garden-warbler ;
24, Common Whitethroat; 25, Lesser Whitethroat ; 26, Willow-
warbler; 27, Chiff-chaff; 28, Golden-crested Regulus; 29, Great
Tit; 30, Blue Tit; 31, Cole Tit; 32, Marsh Tit; 33, Long-tailed
Tit ; 34, Bearded Tit ; 35, Pied Wagtail ; 36, Grey Wagtail ; 37,
Yellow Wagtail; 38, Tree Pipit; 39, Meadow Pipit; 40, Skylark;
41, Woodlark; 42, Snow Bunting; 43, Common Bunting; 44,
Black-headed Bunting; 45, Yellow Bunting; 46, Girl Bunting;
47, Chaffinch ; 48, Mountain Finch ; 49, Tree Sparrow ; 50, House
Sparrow; 51, Greenfinch; 52, Hawfinch; 53, Goldfinch; 54,
Siskin ; 55, Common Linnet ; 56, Mealy Redpole ; 57, Lesser Red-
pole ; 58, Twite ; 59, Bullfinch ; 60, Common Crossbill ; 61, Star-
ling ; 62, Jackdaw ; 63, Magpie ; 64, Jay ; 65, Green Woodpecker ;
66, Great Spotted Woodpecker ; 67, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ;
68, Wry-neck; 69, Common Creeper; 70, Wren; 71, Nuthatch,
72, Cuckoo; 73, King-fisher; 74, Nightjar; 75, Woodpigeon ; 76,
Common Turtle ; 77, Collared Turtle ; 78, Pheasant ; 79, Partridge ;
80, Quail; 81, Golden Plover; 82, Peewit; 83, Heron; 84, Com-
mon Snipe; 85, Jack Snipe; 86, Land-rail; 87, Water-rail; 88,
Moor Hen; 89, Little Grebe; 90, Canary; 91, Averdavat ; 92,
Chinese Grosbeak ; 93, Quaker-bird ; 94, Java Sparrow.
CHAP, v.] KINGFISHERS THERE. 305
planted, so that the birds soon made themselves at
home in their new habitation, and followed their natural
instincts.
" Of the class Sylviadae, those which I had were for
the most part brought up by my children from the nest,
so that we had opportunities for watching their natural
propensities, untaught by the parent birds. King-
fishers were also brought up and kept by me with the
other birds, and in fact one nest of Kingfishers was
confined, in a separate long cage, with two Hobby
Hawks. These Hawks were brought up from the nest
by my apprentice living with me at that time : he also
had the care of the Kingfishers, which were fed on
dace and gudgeon until they could manage for them-
selves ; but it so happened that he forgot my King-
fishers, while he thought of his own Hawks, and I was
astonished one day by observing, when he threw into
the cage the meat cut up into small pieces, these said
Kingfishers dashing down upon the meat, and, so great
is the power of instinct, dashing the meat against the
perches on which they alighted, as if to kill the imagined
prey, and at length bolt it. This diet at last became as
palatable to them as fish, upon which they were usually
fed ; and so tame did they become, that at any time if I
held a piece of meat in my fingers, either in the aviary
(in which they were afterwards placed) or against the
wires outside, the birds would instantly dart at my
hand and fly off, with the meat in their bill, to their
roosting-place, which I observed was always particu-
larized, if I may use the term, each bird having his
separate roost. These were generally on boughs, so
situated as to have a good view of the fountain, in which
306 MODE OF EATING. [CHAP. v.
I kept a plentiful supply of minnows : they would
devour a prodigious quantity of these fish in the day.
" I have observed them take their food in the follow-
ing manner : attentively watching the approach of their
prey, they would suddenly, as if by a paroxysm, close
their feathers more tightly to their bodies, and taking a
short spring upwards, dash down into the water, which
was a foot deep, and at the bottom of which the min-
nows lay. With unerring aim they would seize their
prey, and float on the top of the water for a second,
holding the fish across in their beak. On alighting on
their favourite branch, they would strike it against the
branch, right and left, for a few seconds, until the fish
became stunned and quiet, when with a sudden catch
the head is turned towards the gullet, and down it goes.
The bird leaves the water without a feather being
wetted, and after it has filled its maw, it then makes
several dashes into the fountain, uttering a peculiar
shrill cry, no doubt of pleasure, as if it were enjoying
its bath. From thence it flies to its roost, and then
becomes inactive for some quarter of an hour or twenty
minutes, its feathers rumpled, and sitting all of a heap,
sleepy and stupid. This lasts during digestion, which
is very rapid ; and as soon as it is completed, the bird
is observed to be opening its bill very wide two or three
times, and at length ejects a pellet, about an inch long,
composed of bones, beautifully matted together, and
not unlike a lump of Epsom salts (you see I cannot
help comparisons, which are natural to me). This mass
is perfectly inodorous, and forms, in the wild state, the
nidus for the deposit of their eggs, in the holes to which
they continue to resort year after year, for breeding
CHAP. v.J PUGNACITY. 307
purposes. Their dejections are highly offensive, and
are voided from them with considerable force ; and this
it is which gives to their nest the horrid and disgusting
odour of which naturalists justly complain.
" If you have never brought up young Kingfishers,
you would be astonished how large fish they are capable
of swallowing. In feeding them I have often given
them a bleak or a dace as long as their entire body, in-
cluding beak and tail ; and, in swallowing it, it seemed
as if the fish encircled their whole body, while during
the feasting they set up a peculiar burring sound, in
which the whole nest joins, forming a not unmusical
chorus.
" I have had as many as seven young birds in one
nest, all of which I have brought up and kept until the
following spring, when battles ensue amongst them,
which are kept up incessantly until one only remains
the victor, and a-11 the rest have perished in the deadly
conflict. I have watched them pursue each other until
at last, by one grand dart, the one has transfixed the
other to the ground, and flown away triumphant. This
I have observed in several broods that I have suc-
cessively brought up, but all with the like result, occa-
sioned no doubt by a wisely-ordained instinct, that each
might find its own separate location and dependence.
The same pugnacious propensity is seen in many tribes
of birds that have a voracious appetite, showing that a
very wild field is required for their support.
"They obtain their prey evidently from sight alone,
and I have often wondered how they have managed
when the streams are constantly muddy from the fre-
quent rains, for in confinement they will not bear
starvation. It is said they feed on insects ; I have
x 2
308 UNSOCIABILITY. [CHAP. v.
never observed them to do so in captivity, though, as
before mentioned, they have resorted to the meat of the
Hawk. Frequently have I observed them hawking or
rather hovering for several minutes over the fountain,
watching for food, and then suddenly dash to the bottom
and rise again with the fish, and very seldom indeed
miss their aim. It is said the fish are dazzled by the
brightness of their plumage, but this cannot be ; the
dazzling portion being above, and the reddish-brown
beneath, which only could be observed by the fish
underneath, if the fish are observers.
" I am here reminded of a large Heron that I kept
in this same aviary, which I used to feed on fresh
herrings by throwing into the fountain half-a-dozen or
so, which he would in a very short time devour. I
then had seven Kingfishers, but I found one morning
(I suppose I had not been sufficiently early with the
herrings) one of my Kingfishers missing and nowhere
to be found ; the next morning another was gone, and in
a day or two another. I never suspected the Heron, but
while watching him one day I found in his dejection a
quantity of feathers undigested, which upon a nearer
view I discovered to be those of the Kingfishers ; so
without more ado I packed Mr. Heron off in a hamper
to the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, where he
was left and his character together."
Mr. Rayner's observations of the selfish and jealous
disposition of these birds as they approach the adult
.state, demonstrates the impossibility of keeping a
multitude of them in captivity, so as to form a closely
crowded constellation of ornithological stars. What-
ever we do, the strongest will persecute the weakest to
death. " Depart, and make room for me ! " is an innate
CHAP, v.] MANAGEMENT AS CAPTIVES. 309
piece of tyranny common to men, animals, and birds.
It may be doubted whether even a pair of Kingfishers,
male and female, could be kept together in confinement
for a continuance. In a wild state they are seen singly,
except during the breeding season and for a short time
previous to it. But, as we must be content with a
solitary individual, even that would be an ornament to
a sufficiently spacious aviary. If it be necessary to feed
it on large fish cut in portions, instead of entire small
fishes, its health would be better maintained by the
washing of each slice previous to giving it (as any stale
food is proved to be so injurious), and also by allowing
them to swallow the bones and scales together with the
portions of fish, and even the little bits of fur attached to
any meat that may be given them ; the object of this
would be to keep up the occasional casting of pellets
and rejectamenta from the stomach, which is usual in a
wild state. All birds which have this habit when at
large in their natural haunts, require to have it pro-
moted if they are to continue healthy in confinement.
Captive Kingfishers that have acquired their full
strength, may best be fed by supplying them with
minnows and small fry in an open glass vessel, such as
a Gold-fish globe cut down ; though their owner may
probably prefer to exhibit their tameness by making
them take food from the hand. Or something elegant
could be designed as their feeding-place in the shape of
an elevated glass cistern, with a little fountain perhaps,
in the centre of their aviary. It might contain a few
branches of coral, lumps of agate and cornelion, gold-
fish, tadpoles, newts, the Iarva3 of gnats and dragon -
flies, or any other interesting objects that are usually
found in fresh waters.
The mention of insects as an occasional diet of our
310 AFEICAN KINGHUNTEKS. [CHAP. v.
Kingfishers reminds us of some of the foreign species,
called by Mr. Swaiiison Kinghunters, and by the French
Martin-chasseurs, which are as great lovers of dry places
as our own is of wet. Mr. Charles Darwin, in his
" Journal of the Voyage of the Beagle," says " It had
not now rained for an entire year in St. Jago. The broad,
flat-bottomed valleys, many of which serve during a few
days only in the season as water-courses, are clothed
with thickets of leafless bushes. Few living creatures
inhabit these valleys. The commonest bird is a King-
fisher (Dacelo Jagoensis), which tamely sits on the
branches of the Castor-oil plant, and thence darts on
Grasshoppers and Lizards. It is brightly coloured, but
not so beautiful as the European species : in its flight,
manners, and place of habitation, which is generally in
the dryest valley, there is also a wide difference."*
The most wonderful Kingfishers yet discovered are
those brought to light by Mr. Gould, in his only too
superb and costly " Birds of Australia." He says that
these birds appear to be endowed with the power of sus-
taining and enjoying life without the least supply of
water, that element without which most others lan-
guish and die. Mr. Gould believes that water is not
essential to their existence, and that they seldom or
never drink ; and instances the Halcyons, which he found
sustaining life, and breeding, on the parched plains of
the interior during the severe drought of 1838-9, far
removed from any water. They feed almost exclusively
upon animal substances; small quadrupeds, birds,
snakes, lizards, and insects of every kind being
equally acceptable. Strange ! that among creatures so
closely allied, and bearing such a striking family re-
* Page 2.
CHAP, v.] AUSTRALIAN KINGFISHERS. 311
semblance as the Kingfishers do to each other, one
species, our own, should be almost bound to the vicinity
of brooks and streams ; whilst others, equally occupying
their allotted place in Creation, and fulfilling the office
assigned to them by Providence, should be able, in order
to perform that task, to dispense with what is usually
considered the necessary element of water, except just
the few thimblefulls of liquid contained in their living
prey, that are absolutely requisite to keep their animal
fluids circulating. The creature that can live through
these fierce Australian droughts, respecting which see
the late "Volumes of Ad venture, "passim, is not far from
being the feathered representative of the fabled sala-
mander, and would not have found itself very uncom-
fortable had it joined M. Chabert in his little retire-
ments into a heated oven. The act of perspiring must
be a function as good as unknown to it. Who, after
this example, can pronounce that the moon is unin-
habited, even though it have neither seas nor atmo-
sphere ?
Two of these birds rejoice in the title of " Laughing
Jackass." The smaller, Dacelo cervina (Gould), inha-
bits the north-western parts of Australia. It speaks a
different language, and its noise is by no means so ridi-
culous as that of Dacelo gigantea, the Jackass par excel-
lence, which inhabits exactly the opposite region, namely,
the south-eastern portion of the Australian continent.
Captain Sturt, while tracking the course of the Morum-
bidgee and Murray Rivers, mentions that the cry of this
Kingfisher, " which resembles a chorus of wild spirits,
is apt to startle the traveller who may be in jeopardy,
as if laughing and mocking at his misfortunes. It is
a harmless bird, and I seldom allowed them to be de-
312 LAUGHING JACKASS. [CHAP. v.
stroyed, as they were sure to rouse us with the earliest
dawn.
" I shall here particularize the routine of one of our
days, which will serve as an example of all the rest. I
usually rise when I hear the merry laugh of the Laugh-
ing Jackass (Dacelo yigantea), which, from its regularity,
has been not unaptly named the Settler's Clock ; a loud
cooee then roused my companion."
The Zoological Society possessed this summer (1850)
a Laughing Jackass in full feather and high spirits.
We had the pleasure of seeing and hearing this strange
creature giving vent now and then to its risible fit, as if
it saw something in the appearance of some of the visi-
tors to the Gardens of which it could not help expressing
its contemptuous opinion. It is an ugly-plumaged fellow,
with nothing to be proud of on its own part a sort of
gray bird with white interspersed, and the family fea-
ture, an enormous bill ; but coming from the antipodes,
and having such a remarkable name and habits, it seldom
fails to attract the notice of those who have ajiy suspi-
cion what bird it really is.
CHAPTER VI.
THE GRALLATORES, OR WADERS, IN CAPTIVITY.
Their tameable disposition. Fallacy of generalizing too much. The "White
Stork and the Black. Gigantic Indian Cranes. Cruelty the companion of
ignorance. Strange forms well contrived. The Lapwing and the smaller
Waders. The Common Crane. The Stanley Crane. The Spoonbill. The
Common Heron. Dr. Neill's Heron. His proceedings, and attempts to
breed. Unfortunate end.
WE should hardly, on a first glance at the Waders,
expect to find among them a great number of confiding,
friendly, and easily tameable birds ; and yet, if we
select the individuals from each order to whom these
epithets may be applied, we shall be able to make as
long a list from the Waders as from any other, even
the Rasores, in which the domestic fowls are included.
The Grallatores alone would prove the little dependence
there is to be placed upon Mr. Swainson's rasorial and
other types, as any guide to the instincts of a little
known creature, whatever index they may be to analo-
gies of form. It does not follow that because the
common fowl is eminently domestic, all other galli-
naceous birds should be equally so. The pheasants
furnish a sufficient refutation of this notion. And if
the Rasores themselves are not universally docile and
attachable in their tempers, how can any opinion be ven-
tured, before actual experience, respecting their sup-
posed representatives in other orders?
It is very amusing to those who have actually kept
314 THE WHITE STORK. [CHAP. vi.
living birds to find scientific naturalists (for whom we
entertain all due respect) recommending us to patronize
and protect certain species, as if they had no instinc-
tive will of their own. We are to encourage this, and
domesticate that, exactly as we choose to domesticate and
encourage them : their consent to the arrangement is
taken for granted, although we have plenty of hints
that they do make a point of being consulted. We
have condescendingly permitted many of the Waders
to approach us in confidence ; but the Bittern still
prefers his swamps to any comforts that we can offer
him. So that a general rule is as inapplicable to the
Grallatores as to the gallinaceous birds, or, to the
entire race of man and woman kind.
A great deal both of this mathematical distribution of
the animate creation into " circles," and of precise series-
making in Natural History, is very absurd, if we look
at it closely. " With the Penguins, Nature is about to
pass from the birds to the fishes." How pass ? Change
the feathered fowl itself to a scaly swimmer ? modify
lungs into gills, flappers into fins ? Beautiful imagina-
tions ! perhaps unreasonable talk. There is certainly
in each a common adaptation to the same element, and
therefore some resemblance and analogy; but where
can we show the passage, or act of transition ? And
the change of natural instincts is often as difficult to
demonstrate as the metamorphosis of bodily form.
The leopard cannot change his spots (even though he
be a black leopard) nor the Ethiopian his skin : the
sow returns to her wallowing in the mire. Even all
Waders are not alike in disposition ; nor can we make
them so.
The White Stork appears to be one of the most
CHAP, vi.] GIGANTIC CRANES. 315
domesticable, and therefore, to us, most interesting of
its order; although, when we recollect, there are
several of its near relations that are extremely familiar
and submit readily to captivity, besides others that are
less closely allied, the Ibis, the Curlew, the Lapwing
the Oyster- Catcher, Ruffs and Reeves, &c. Buffon,
whose accounts of the habits of birds are much more
valuable than his ideas of their mutual relations, re-
marks that "the Black and the White Stork are
exactly of the same form, and have no external differ-
ence but that of colour. This distinction might be
totally disregarded, were not their instincts and habits
widely different. The Black Stork prefers desert tracts,
perches on trees, haunts unfrequented marshes, and
breeds in the heart of forests. The White Stork, on
the contrary, settles beside our dwellings ; inhabits
towers, chimneys, and ruins : the friend of man, it
shares his habitations, and even his domain ; it fishes
in our rivers, pursues its prey into our gardens, takes
up its abode in the midst of cities, without being dis-
turbed by the noise and bustle, and, ever respected and
welcomed, it repays by its services the favours bestowed
upon it ; as it is more civilized, it is also more prolific,
more numerous, more dispersed, than the Black Stork,
which appears confined to particular countries, and re-
sides always in the most sequestered spots."
Everybody will remember the gigantic Grallatores
of India the Marabous, &c., which are almost as much
at home in human society as dogs and horses, fulfilling
their office of living muck-carts of all sorts of offal.
English residents have been said to exert upon them
that habit of mischief which phrenologists affirm to
be a peculiar manifestation of destructiveness, by
316 CRUELTY OF IGNORANCE. [CHAP. vi.
throwing down to them a marrow-hone, charged with
gunpowder, and carrying inside a lighted match. The
point of this fun comes when the explosion takes place
within the stomach of the hird. We may be excused
for blowing up a whale with a congreve rocket, as a less
hazardous, and, perhaps, more merciful mode of se-
curing our prey ; but such barbarity to an inoffensive
Stork is on a par with the cruelty of the blacksmith,
who, for a wager, induced a duck voluntarily to swallow,
in its hasty greediness, a piece of red-hot iron that he
tossed to it among some lumps of raw meat. It is
surprising how cruel thoughtless and ignorant people
can be. A sergeant returned from India has told me
with high glee, that one of his amusements there was
to bore a smallish hole in a few cocoa-nuts, partly fill
them with sugar, and throw them on the ground in
the woods. The monkeys would contrive to insert
their hands after the bait, and while unable to disen-
tangle themselves, were whipped to death by the holiday-
makers. And yet this man professed to be a sincerely
religious person ; only he forgot that monkeys could
feel like himself. This digression may be mal-a-propos,
and yet productive of good in the end.
Creatures of so strange an aspect as the Waders,
with such oddly-formed members, are yet provided with
these curiously-modified limbs for a special purpose. If
any one feature had been made less exaggerated, less
ridiculous to the vulgar eye than it is, the united work-
ing together of all to one end, viz. the sustenance of
the bird, would to that degree have failed. When a
Heron or a Stork alights upon a marsh, fishes and frogs
may well call out, like little Red Riding Hood at the
sight of the Wolf, " What are your great flapping wings
CHAP. vi.J THE LAPWING. 317
for ? " " They 're on purpose to come to visit you with."
" What are your long thin legs made for ? " " They 're
meant to walk into the water after you with." " What
are your great round eyes for?" "They're made to
look close after you with." "What is your sharp long
beak made for ? " " 'Tis sharp to catch and swallow
you with."
Not all of this family of birds are thus destructive
to creatures that we can much sympathize with. The
Lapwing forms a most useful and engaging garden pet,
by clearing off great numbers of slugs, grubs, and
insects ; but its history is almost sure to be tragically
ended by its falling a victim to the nocturnal prowlings
of cats. Pinion it, feed it well, and give it a little re-
tiring place in which to hide itself, and it will be happy
as long as its life is spared. Its diet consists of worms
in the first place, second to which comes chopped meat,
and even bread and milk. It eats a large worm in
clever style ; taking it firmly by one end, probably the
head, and working it down smoothly and gradually,
exactly as a Neapolitan is said (for we saw no such per-
formance at Naples) to take in a yard or two of Macca-
roni, without dividing its continuity with his teeth. It
has also a curious habit of forming a small beaten path,
we may guess how wide would be the road trodden
smooth by a Lapwing's feet to and from its night-
box and other favourite spots. It would be of great
service kept in numbers in the gardens of the metro-
politan squares, by eating the grubs of the destructive
daddy-long-legs, and would save many and many a rod
of turf from having to be relaid ; but in such a spot it
would require an army of night and day protectors to
save it from its feline enemies. London cats are a
318 THE SMALLER WADERS. [CHAP. vi.
legion of hydra-heads ; destroy one knot of ravagers,
and another forthwith starts to supply its place.
I cannot agree with those who place the Lapwing
high in the list of edible birds.
" Qui n'a mange de Vanneau
Ne scait pas ce que gibier vaut/'
may be a true proverb in a country where Pheasants
and Partridges are shot on the nest to be roasted after-
wards * : but no lady, I hope , who, on the strength of
these words, shall admit a pair of captive Lapwings
into the sacred inclosure of her flower-garden, will cease
to be pleased with their engaging and serviceable ways,
as long as she can baffle the jealousy of Puss.
Indeed, the whole tribe of the smaller Grallatores
are appropriate and amusing inmates of the turf-floored
aviary, where they are secure from the attacks of any
overbearing enemy, either beast or bird. Poiffs and
Beeves may be specially mentioned : their plumage is
so frequently changing its style ; the fashion of their
dress varies so rapidly ; and no two birds are scarcely
ever alike. The main requisites to keep them, and
such like, in health, are, besides their grassy floor, a
pan of mould well replenished with earth worms, and
in defect of them, with chopped meat, and a pan of
water to dabble and play in. A very small space will
suffice for not a few individuals.
Mr. W. Rayner has had several of them in his
possession. " The Golden Plover," he informs me,
"I kept only for a short space of time. I had only
one or two of these birds, which were shot in the wing.
* See that amusing book, " O'Connor's Field Sports of France,"
for the way in which game is treated there.
CHAP, vi.] THEIB DIET. 319
The time I did keep them, they fed on worms and in-
sects and slices of meat cut to resemble worms ; they
however soon died, whether from the effects of amputa-
tion of the pinion, or for loss of liberty, or want of
proper food, I cannot tell. The Peewit I have kept
with no difficulty along with the rest of my birds. It
fed on bread and milk and crushed hemp-seed mixed
together, as well as on meat and worms. I had also
one running about my garden, which maintained itself,
the wing being cut on one side, until it was destroyed
by some neighbouring cats. My common Snipe and
Jack Snipe were both shot as the Plover ; these I kept
for some days on worms and insects, and was pleased
at the exquisite sensibility perceptible at the end of the
bill, by means of which it felt for and seized the worms,
and devoured them whole immediately on prehension.
I imagine these birds died from an insufficiency of
worms ; they did not take kindly to their bread and
milk, upon which the Water Kail, which I kept for years,
did so well. I observed that the Peewit would run several
steps, and then stop and stamp, as it were, upon the
ground with the seeming intention of terrifying some
insect from its hiding-place, as, upon doing so, it eyed
the ground beneath it with considerable intentness. I
had a couple of birds brought me, which were caught
by my bird-catcher by the side of the river on a quantity
of mud that had been thrown out. These I kept for a
considerable time, principally on bread and milk, and
occasionally worms and what other insects they could
find. I called them the Grey Phalerope; but what
they really were I never could tell, not having at that
time any book by which I could with certainty define
them."
320 CRANES AND HERONS. [CHAP. vi.
The common (or, as it ought to be called in England,
the uncommon) Crane, is a very ornamental bird for
the lawn or pleasure-ground. It walks about with a
peculiar feminine elegance and consciousness of grace.
But it is apt to be cross, and not to be trusted with
children or strangers ; and where it does choose to
manifest a dislike, its bill is really a formidable means
of offence. It is also expensive ; good specimens
fetching IQl. or 12?. each. A still more beautiful
creature to occupy the inclosed paddock, and of gentler
manners, is the Crowned Crane, also a costly pet. But
altogether the most remarkable of these birds is the
Stanley Crane, which has long drooping feathers pen-
dant not only from its tail or train, but from its wings
also. These have regularly bred at Knowsley for the
last few years ; but I am not aware that they are in the
market, or to be had at all, except by those persons to
whom Lord Derby chooses to grant the favour of com-
municating the superabundant progeny of his stock.
The common Spoonbill is a very tameable and gentle
creature, and feeds on the same diet, and is suitable for
the same situations as the White Stork. It is not a
high-priced bird, and might almost be naturalised
amongst us, were it not for the persecutions of " stuffed
specimen" hunters. The usual end of those kept
captive in gardens or pleasure-grounds is, to fall victims
to the cruelty of boys and other mischievous bipeds.
The Purple Heron is a shy and slippery character,
which makes his handsome appearance of less value.
But the common Heron has sufficient beauty of plu-
mage, in the adult state, to make him worth keeping,
where facilities exist for supplying him with his proper
food. At the Birmingham poultry show in December,
CHAP, vi.] DR. NEILLS HERON. 321
1849, a bird of this species was exhibited, that had
been hatched and brought up by a hen, together with a
brood of chickens. It was in the same cage with its
foster-brothers and sisters, and suffered them to take
their share of the animal food that was given to it. The
Heron is most easily kept: not only refuse fish, but
rats, mice, dead birds, &c., afford a welcome repast. It
is as easily attainable : young birds from the nest are
to be had at a cheap rate in most localities of England.
It may be considered as a typical representative of a
considerable number of species (including the Egrets) ;
and the following original account of its conduct in
captivity, which I owe to the kindness of the venerable
Dr. Neill, will probably be acceptable to the reader :
"In the end of 1821, Mr. Wilson, janitor of the
College, presented to me a cock Heron, which had been
slightly winged on Coldingham Mere in the autumn,
and kept alive in one of the College cellars for several
weeks. It was evidently a young bird, just beginning
to assume the plumage of the male, and was readily
tamed under the judicious treatment of my servant,
Peggy Oliver (honourably mentioned by Audubon in
his "Ornithological Biography."*) During a severe
snow storm in February, 1822, the bird remained
at large in a shed behind a greenhouse, often sitting
not far from the stoke-hole of the furnace, and never
offering to go out of the shed. In the following
spring he gradually visited all parts of the garden,
and chose as his regular roosting place the stem of
a very large Bedford willow tree, which reclined on
my boundary Avail, and the spreading branches of
* Vol. iii. pp. 312-13.
322 HIS DIET. [CHAP. vi.
which overhung Canonmills Loch. Although the in-
jured wing had completely healed, yet it hung a little,
and the bird seemed sensible that he could not effec-
tually fly off, or provide for himself. He therefore re-
mained wholly at large, running with expanded wings
to Peggy when he expected food. The food consisted
of such fish as could be procured, haddocks, flounders,
herring cut in pieces ; and sometimes, in default of
fish, of bits of raw bullock's liver. He often followed
me through the garden, in expectation of being treated
to a bit of soft cheese, of which he was very fond, and
which I generally carried in the pocket of my morning
coat for the benefit of the other pets. He accepted
a bit of loaf bread, if he found that I had nothing else
to give him ; and when he experienced difficulty in
swallowing the bread, I have repeatedly admired the
sagacity and gravity with which he marched to the pond,
and dipped the morsel in the water till it was suffi-
ciently softened. I once saw him kill a rat. The rat
was busy stealing a portion of the food laid down for
the Heron, when he raised his head and wings, and in-
flicted a single blow of his bill on the head of the
depredator, who gave a shiver, and died. During the
first season the Heron picked out every perch which I
had in my small pond ; not a frog nor toad were left
in the garden, nor have I seen one ever since ; and he
extirpated a breed of the large edible snail (Helix
Pomatia) which the late Dr. Leach had sent me from
Somersetshire, and which had multiplied in the crevices
of a rock-work. In the volume of Audubon above re-
ferred to, you will find an account of a Great Black-
backed Gull which was in the habit of annually going
off in the breeding season, and returning to Canon-
CHAP. vi.J ATTEMPTS TO BREED. 323
mills for the rest of the year. [That distinguished
Ornithologist repeatedly visited the Gull, and also the
Heron here spoken of.] On one occasion I had the
opportunity of remarking that, when the Gull and the
Heron first met in my garden, after the absence of the
former for some months, they evinced no shyness, but
on the contrary rather indicated by their motions that
they mutually recognised each other.
" Early in the spring of 1828, the late Mr. Allan,
of Lauriston Castle, sent me a female Heron, which
had been slightly hurt, and blown into his grounds at
the sea-side during a violent gale, and caught by his
gardener. It was tied -by the leg ; but I immediately
removed the ligature, shortened the quill-feathers of
one wing, and placed her at large near the other bird.
After a few cautious approaches, they soon associated,
and the new comer showed no inclination to escape.
Somewhat to my surprise I observed that they paired
in the following season. They formed a very rude
nest on the top of my garden wall, the base of which
was, at that time, washed by Canonmills Loch (now
drained by a railway company). The hen laid either
three or four eggs, I am not sure which. By some
strong wind or other accident the nest and eggs were
swept into the loch. % The hen then laid three other
eggs, in a shrubbery border, in a rough nest of sticks
which they had collected. It was very near a door
which opened from the garden into the loch, and was
placed close by the box edging of the walk. When
the gardener was drawing water from the lock, the hen
never moved ; but when strangers happened to approach
incautiously, she suddenly flitted off the eggs, and in
this way t\vo of the eggs were broken. We then put
Y 2
324 UNFOKTUNATE END. [CHAP. vr.
in a couple of Bantam eggs to keep up the appearance.
The hen continued to sit, being occasionally relieved by
the cock when feeding. Unfortunately she had one
day waded (or swum, for to some distance the water
was too deep for wading) to the exposed margin of the
loch, near the high road, and was there killed by some
boys ; and my expectations of breeding a Heron were
thus frustrated. The cock continued to sit till the
afternoon of the next day, when he seemed to tire of
the duties of incubation, and finally abandoned the
nest. The solitary bird lived for a number of years,
going perfectly at large, except during severe snow-
storms, when he readily submitted to confinement in
an outhouse. Having crossed the loch in 1838, he
unluckily fell in with some lads unacquainted with his-
habits, and shared the fate of his mate."
Bittern in its attitude of defence.
CHAPTER VII.
THE BITTERN.
Its temper. Voice. Nesting habits and haunts. The Marram banks. The
district which they skirt. The Bittern: its home. Money value. Mr. Jecks's
Bittern. Its manners in captivity.
THE Bittern is a remarkable bird. He differs much
from the tameable Herons. The sportsman reckons
326 INDOCILE TEMPER. [CHAP. vii.
him a first-rate addition to the game-bag ; the peasant
listens to him by night as to some unearthly creature ;
and there is no little superstitious consideration at-
tached to his history. Those who believe in the trans-
migration of souls and some people will not eat
crocodile through unwillingness to digest a slice of
their own grandfather regard the Bittern as having
owed the spark of life to an idle servant, named Ocnos,
who was punished for his laziness by this metamorphosis.
Ocnos continues to be of but little better domestic use
or profit in his second than in his first character, ex-
cept when artistically roasted, or skilfully mounted in a
glass case. The Bittern is as provoking to his master's
forbearance as was Ocnos ; nay worse, he is even dan-
gerous. Although Aldrovandi does say, " Sed et cicurari
facile puto, ut caeteras quoque Ardeas," that he may
be easily tamed, like the rest of the Herons, it will be
better that the point of his bill should never be permitted
to come within a yard of one's face, especially when he
is out of temper, or reproached with the indolence of
his good-for-nothing prototype. We will not say a
word against the other long-legged gentlemen, but doubt
whether the learned physician of Bologna ever tried
his powers of fascination upon this individual. Some
nations call him "the Bull," from his roaring "an it
were a sucking dove," and certain etymologists derive
his English name from his imitating the boatum tau-
rorum, or bull roaring. The old Polish title "Bunck "
is tolerably expressive. Sir Thomas Browne, who not
only was well acquainted with the haunts of the bird,
but kept one in captivity, says, " the Bittern in his
common note, which he useth out of the time of coupling
and upon the wing, so well resembleth the croaking of
a raven, that I have been deceived by it."
CHAP. vn.J NESTING HABITS. 327
The Bittern is still found occasionally, not too often,
in Norfolk. It breeds there, and seems to rear its
broods of young on a very odd principle. The Rev.
R. Lubbock, in his " Fauna of Norfolk," says that, in
two cases of four young in one nest, two were apparently
much older than the others : so great was the difference,
that one pair were more than half-grown and nearly
fledged, and the other pair covered with nestling down,
and but a few days hatched. So that they would ap-
pear to make a second laying before the produce of their
first eggs is reared, after the manner of Pigeons, only
the last eggs are deposited in the same nest. When
obtainable, the Bittern is usually procured from a small
but naturally marked district of the county, the coast
boundaries of which are terminated by Winterton and
Happisburgh respectively. It may also inhabit the
curious region lying along Weyborne, Cley, Stiffkey,
Wells, and Burnham the last well known as Nelson's
birthplace ; but the specimens that one hears of all
come from the first named tract of quasi land, a good
deal of which answers to Milton's description of a cer-
tain district of chaos, being
" A boggy Syrtis, neither sea,
Nor good dry land."
The whole beat, containing many extensive parishes,
lies low, in fact scarcely, if at all, above the level of
high spring tides. Fifty years ago, it was a tender,
barely treadable swamp, the old churches and few farm-
houses being built wherever there might happen to be
the most solid foundation for them. I am not geologist
enough to say whether it is in a state of gradual sub-
sidence or elevation ; at Palling there is to be seen at
328 THE MARRAM BANKS. [CHAP, vn,
low water a stratum of very old peat either stretching
into or encroached upon by the sea, and the foundations
of Eccles Church, now in ruins, are not out of the
reach of high tides. But if some huge subterranean
monster could set up his back, and by a gentle heave
raise the whole district a few feet above its present ele-
vation, it would be a capital thing for the landowners,
and at the same time a sure notice to quit to many ob-
jects of natural history that are still to be found there.
The sea has sometimes made its inroads on these low
lands, though they are well guarded against it now ;
and it has then taken pastures some time to recover
from the effects of the influx of salt water. The fence
which keeps the greedy waves of the ocean from licking
up this prostrate victim, that lies before it apparently
quite ready to be devoured, is not of human construc-
tion or contrivance, though we do all we can to aid
what we call " Nature " in the matter. There runs
along this part of the coast a line of sand-hills known
as " The Marram Banks." Something of the kind
may be seen in the sandy dunes near Calais. " The
Marram plant " is the local name for a species of reed
(Arundo arenaria, the true Marram ; though Elymus
arenarius and Carex arenaria assist in forming the plant)
which grows solely on these desert sandy salt wastes,
among the sparse blades of which the Rabbit plays its
gambols, and the Shieldrake used (for it is gone) to rear
its young. As the winds drift the sand from the beach,
it gets arrested in these tufts of Marram, like snow
in a hill-side clump of heather. The little hillock
of sand soon increases and spreads fast : for the Marram
grows the more, the more sand there is for it to grow
in. And again, still the more Marram, still the more
CHAP, vii.] DRAINAGE OF THE DISTRICT. 329
sand is stopped as it runs along the ground. And so a
natural mound is upraised, just above high-water mark,
capable of affording security to thousands of acres and
hundreds of human lives ; all through the agency of a
wiry, glaucous, sapless, good-for-nothing-looking weed.
Scores of people would stand on the Marram banks,
enjoy from their -elevation the glorious prospect of
glittering sea and fertile fields, and would pluck a
handfull of tiresome monotonous weed, and say " What
is the use of all this rubbish ? 'Tis good neither for
pasturage nor seed. Why don't they grub it up and
try if something better will not grow in its place?"
But when any failure of this sandy rampart does occur,
in what are called " Sea Breaches," great is the tribu-
lation among and something the rate upon the adjoin-
ing property. Bushes, faggots, hurdles, &c., are made
to do badly the delicate job of checking the blowing
sands, which before was so well performed by the
wretched much-despised weed. The wall of sand is
not like the wall of China ; it is cemented together by
a net- work of living fibres ; destroy them, and the
whole mass is blown to the winds, and the raging,
roaring enemy admitted in a briny deluge.
The drainage of this Bittern preserve is as curious
as its sea boundary. Marsh-mills, i. e., pumps worked
by wind-power, raise the superfluous water into chan-
nels that are considerably elevated above the pastures
which they thus drain ; and the stagnant pools are in
this way made to run up hill, as it were, by a circuit-
ous route, and escape, contrary to apparent pos-
sibility, into the German Ocean, through the Haven's
mouth at Great Yarmouth. Its surface is sometimes
diversified by large shallow, and yet mostly bottomless
330 THE BITTERN'S FEET. [CHAP. vn.
(on account of the mud) pieces of water, called " Broads."
They are fringed with beds of reeds and rushes, and the
distinction of lake and land at their margin is but
ambiguously defined. For the sake of the litter which
the rank herbage of their banks and shallows afford
for cattle, they are annually mowed by men in boats
(not boots], who cany off their aquatic hay-harvest in
barges instead of waggons.
Here we have the home of the Bittern, and after
our description the reader will not be surprised that its
nest and young should so seldom be found ; for many
of these marshy coverts are impenetrable to boats, and
the deep muddy bottom prevents all search by wading.
A winged sportsman would be the only one likely to
succeed. Itself is enabled to walk on the treacherous
morass by feet and claws of a peculiar construction.
Had the Bittern feet like the Emeu and the Ostrich,
Foot of Bittern one fourth natural size.
or even like the Stork, it would sink, and become inex-
tricably bog-foundered in haunts to which it trusts for
safety ; but by means of the long claws which stretch out
from its spreading toes, it is enabled to tread securely on
the floating platform of reeds and rushes.
CHAP, vii.] MONEY VALUE. 331
In the fen districts of Cambridgeshire a harmonious
couplet expresses a high estimation of the ancient
marketable value of the Bittern :
" Be she lean, or be she fat,
She bears twelve pence upon her back."
But the progress of Epicurean taste has not kept
pace with the diminished value of money. In March
1849, on going to the person with whom I usually deal
in Norwich fish-market, I saw a Bittern hanging at a
shop a few doors off. I sent to inquire the price, was
asked Is. 6d., and bought it, as it was fresh and in good
condition. The seller afterwards informed me that it
had been shot at Ludham. He was astonished when
told that the bird was good to eat, and I doubt whether
he will again sell a Bittern for eighteen pence, without
first trying one for his own supper, as a cheap experi-
ment, in default of a more profitable customer. The
specimen, however, had hung unpurchased throughout
the previous market day, Saturday. On bringing
home my game, it proved to be a young male, in tole-
rably perfect plumage. Its weight was 3 Ibs. 6| oz. The
stomach was empty. The feet and claws were remark-
able, and must be formidable weapons when the wounded
creature lies kicking on its back.
For an original account of the Bittern in confinement,
and what may be expected of him as an Aviary bird,
I am indebted to the kindness of Charles Jecks, Esq.,
of Thorpe, near Norwich.
" Our Bittern was brought to us by a wherryman,
about six years ago, in an unfledged state, having been
picked up in one of the marshes by the river near
Yarmouth. When I received it, it was exceedingly shy,
MR. JECKS BITTERN. [CHAP. vii.
and would not eat for some time ; but finding it swal-
low a few small fish after a few days had elapsed, I
thought there was some chance of its living, and im-
mediately constructed a sort of house for it, by parting
off a portion of a flower-border with wire netting, and
placing a large sod of thick grass in the far corner, and
a basin of water, which was refilled every other day.
The inclosure had a wall on the north and west sides ;
the south divided him by a gravel walk from a fine
brown Eagle, which, like the poor Bittern, had been re-
moved from his early home before he had any feathers ;
and on the east side, a couple of tame Hawks were
shut up in a cage similar to the Bittern's.
" As the bird's strength increased, he would make
occasional attempts to break the meshes of the wire,
but ultimately gave it up, and kept himself quiet in his
grassy nook, except when disturbed by any one coming
near him, when he would draw his neck and head down
between his wings, sit on his haunches, and snap his
beak loudly and quickly, as a warning to come no nearer :
at one or two of my family, and they the least likely
to annoy him, he would spring forward with open beak
and crest erect, but proved himself an arrant coward,
when they stopped and looked fixedly at him. He
would then slowly retreat, facing the enemy all the
while, till he gained his place of security, where he
would snap his beak most viciously. This was his usual
habit ; even when fed, he made a feint of catching the
man by the leg, but never did more than affect an attack.
He never showed the slightest attachment to any one,
though he could discriminate between individuals (as
in the case of particular dislike to my wife and daugh-
ter), but was invariably prepared to defend himself, as
CHAP. VH.J MANNEBS IN CAPTIVITY. 333
if anticipating an attack. We generally got fish for him,
but when that was impracticable, he would eat anything
that was given to him, swallowing little birds entire,
feathers and all. He would not refuse a rat, though he
could only swallow it by slow degrees, the gullet dis-
tending to an amazing size. During the five years we
had him, he seemed to enjoy perfect health, with one
short exception a swelling or hard tumour in the
neck, which was cut out, and he resumed his usual
condition.
" I fear there was some neglect in the severe winter
of '47. The only change in his accommodation was
hanging a mat in front of his inclosure, and this was
omitted for several nights. One morning he was found
dead, and on examiation his craw was well filled with
food, and his condition good ; no cause for death being
found, the coroner, the man who always fed and at-
tended him, brought in a verdict of died from cramp
in the stomach !
" I do not think he was much regretted ; his unsocial,
unloving disposition gained him no friends ; he certainly
has found more admirers in his present quiet, beautiful
state of preservation, in which he maintains his usual
position of defence, than he ever did with ruffled plumes
in life. The attitude is a crouching position, in appear-
ance something like that of a hen brooding her chickens,
though in intention more analogous to a serpent coiled
preparatory to his spring. Indeed, when stretched out
at length, as was his wont, he bore no little resemblance
to one of the serpent tribe.
" During the calm summer nights, I was frequently
awoke with his very peculiar cry or boom ; this call was
continued for about two months, June and July, and
334 VOICE. [CHAP. vn.
nearly all the night * boom ! ' * boom ! ' in a loud
yet pleasant tone. Some Owls that were confined near
him also did now and then to the moon complain, on
which occasions the Bittern would swell his voice to its
utmost power, trying to drown their more feeble cry ;
but when the Eagle at an earlier period of the year
shrieked its desire for companionship and liberty, the
Bittern never noticed him, though during the months
of January and February his cry in the night is some-
what startling.
*' I think we had a Bittern nearly five years. Our
Eagle we have had eight or nine ; he was brought from
Nova Scotia by a timber ship ; the captain kept him in
a crate, and when brought to me had only a few wing
feathers appearing : he is a noble fellow, and is looked
on with as much affection as any of my domestic
pets."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE WHITE STORK.
A model of virtue. Ancient instances and modern explanations. Gratitude.
The charm of ideality. Captive Storks best in pairs. The Dutch and
English modes of pinioning. Delight at liberation. Jealousy, muteness, and
politeness. Mode of fishing. Diet. Services rendered. Sad misadventure.
Habits in captivity. Congregation of Storks in Sweden. Antiquated notions.
The Stork's departure and return.
" WHO teachethus more than the beasts of the earth,
and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?"*
Good lessons are to be learned of the Stork. Ac-
cording to Aldrovandi, Gratitude, Temperance (though
one hardly sees how that can be), Chastity, Parental
and Filial Affection, are virtues attributed to it of yore.
The old birds, when weak and infirm, are believed to
be sedulously fed by the young, in honourable re-
membrance of which, the Lex Pelargica, or law com-
pelling the maintenance of parents by their children,
derived its title from the 7rg>a^yo?, or Stork. This, say
ancient authors, is the ground of the respect and for-
bearance with which they have been treated, first by
the Egyptians, and subsequently by modern nations.
The Stork foresees the imminent storming of cities,
and departs before the enemy enters. This fact can-
not be doubted, if the besiegers happen to be hard at
work in the month of August. Its prudence is manifest
in always leaving and returning to its summer haunts
* Job xxxv. 11.
336 ANCIENT INSTANCES. ' [CHAP. vin.
stealthily by night. Its order and punctuality are
equally admirable : " The Stork knoweth her appointed
time," and keeps to it, and travels in the form of a dis-
ciplined army, not of a disorderly rabble. " The
Stork," says Plutarch, " though neither sheltered nor
fed by us, nor bound by any protection or assistance,
still pays a rental for the spot it occupies by destroying
the reptiles which are noxious to us." Another author*
mentions a payment of a more precious nature. " The
Stork returning year by year to the same nest, throws
out to the lord of the place one of its young ones ready
plucked, by way of tribute ; nay, even it is commonly
said, it also makes an offering of a tithe Storkling,
satisfying in this manner every just demand, in token
of which it refuses both to dwell in and to enter Thu-
ringia, where tithes are not paid, as experience teaches."
Perhaps they are equally scrupulous about church rates,
the shabby resistance to which may have disgusted them
with certain localities in England, and rendered their
rare visits to this country still fewer and more far
between. However, such is the notion ; although it is
suspected that the Stork has perhaps tossed out of the
nest dead birds that it has been unable to rear. The
creature too has its political prejudices, though it ad-
heres to them no more firmly than other liberal wan-
derers, who are glad of a comfortable home, even within
the boundaries of a monarchy. " That Storks are to be
found," saith Sir Thomas Browne, " and will only live in
Republics or free States, is a pretty conceit to advance
the opinion of popular policies, and from Antipathies in
nature, to disparage Monarchical Government ; but how
* De Rerum Natura, quoted by Aldrovandi.
.J GRATITUDE. 337
far agreeable unto truth, let them consider who read in
Pliny, that among the Thessalians, who were governed
by kings, and much abounded with serpents, it was no
less than capital to kill a Stork." Be all this as it may,
the gratitude at least of the creature is exemplary.
A Stork's leg was broken by a stone: some women
saw it limping, doctored it, and cured it*; by-and-by
it departed with its comrades. In the spring of the
year, when it returned (and it was known to be the
same bird by its halting gait), the women were delighted
to see their patient once again. It immediately came
mid laid at their feet a precious and resplendent gem,
which it dropped from its long bill, and w r hich they un-
derstood as intended for a proof of gratitude. It is not
recorded whether the ladies quarrelled about the pos-
session of this jewel, and therefore we may presume
that they did not; but ^Elian relieves us of the diffi-
culty by relating the event as happening to one woman,
and the tale must be true, as lie gives the name of the
person, Heracleis, and of the town where she lived,
Tarentum, though he leaves us in uncertainty which
leg, the right or the left, the Stork had the misfortune
to get broken.
Another Stork made a less costly return for services
rendered ; it had its nest on the house-roof of a certain
citizen of Wesel, in which for many years it hatched its
eggs and reared its young according to custom, This
bird having experienced the favour of its benevolent
* These ladies would have been interested to hear of another
case. " This night I walked into St. James his Parke. where I saw
many strange creatures, 'as divers sorts of outlandish deer, guiny
sheep, a white raven, a great parot, a storke, which, havmg broke
its own leg, had a wooden leg set on, which it doth use very dex*
teroiisly." Journal of Mr. K Browne (Son of Sir Thomas), p. 50.
333 POLITE CONDUCT. [CHAP. viii.
host for so long a time, and been free from all molesta-
tion by the servants (through the commands of their
master), used every year to fly away, and return again
to occupy the same nest ; but this creature had a cus-
tom something beyond the other birds of its race,
whether it were taken with the humanity of its modest
and frugal host, or with the convenience of the spot
and the buildings, or whether, as is more probable, its
own nature led it to this ; but twice a year, namely, in
spring and autumn, the day before it departed and the
day after it had returned, it used to fly round about the
entrance door of its host's house, and with a clattering
of its beak present itself on its arrival, always with a
joyful, and as it were applauding gesture ; and having
had a word from the master, considered itself as dis-
missed. After these compliments had passed for many
years between the bird and its host, at last, when about
to migrate in autumn according to custom, it seemed,
after rattling its bill and bustling about, to take its leave
in a somewhat unusual and boastful manner. The master
wished it a pleasant journey and a safe return. On its
arrival in spring, the creature makes its wonted saluta-
tion before the house door by rattling its bill, and
shortly lays at the feet of the man, as if in congratula-
tion, a large root of fresh ginger which it produces from
its throat. The host wonders at the foreign and rather
ill-looking present, accepts it, and shows it to the
neighbours, who are convinced by tasting it that it is
a true and green root of ginger ; and, although it has
hitherto been doubtful, and to a degree unknown to
many persons (among whom is Pliny), what place
Storks come from and return to, it will be clear from
this fact that when they fly away from us, they make
CHAP, viii..' OPPIAN'S TALE. 339
for those hot and outlandish countries where ginger at
this day is said to grow ; but, by this example, such as
it is. we are admonished of this at least, if of nothing
else, that kindness and hospitality ought to be highly
esteemed among men.
Another most elegant tale, continues good Aldro-
vandi, about the gratitude of these birds is extant in
Oppian. It is reputed, he says, in Italy, that when a
certain serpent, creeping to a Stork's nest, had devoured
their young, and again had similarly destroyed the pro-
geny of the following year, the Storks, on their return
the third year, brought with them a new bird never
seen before, which was not so tall as the Storks, and
had a large bill as sharp as a sword. The calamitous
case of their offspring had been communicated to it,
and it had been induced either by promises or persua-
sions to render them assistance ; for, whether birds and
other animals can interchange with each other the con-
versation which is unintelligible to us, may be pro-
nounced doubtful. This bird was not intimately con-
nected with the Storks till their laying was ended ; but
when the young were hatched, and the parents had to
fly to a distance to procure food both for them and for
the guardian bird, it never quitted the nest, in order
that it might resist the serpent. The serpent, there-
fore, soon afterwards stole from its hiding place, and
attacked the Storklings, and though the guardian bird
assailed it with its bill, it did not retreat at once, but
gave battle with body erect, and tail firmly fixed, and
tried to entangle the warden in its folds. While the
serpent was thus striving to destroy, and the bird to
preserve, the little Storks, the former fell pierced with
many wounds, but not unrevenged ; for in the conflict
z 2
340 THE CHAEM OF IDEALITY. [CHAP, tlii,
it so injured the bird with its poisonous fangs, that
every feather fell off. When, therefore, the time for
migration was come, and the other Storks had already
flown away, these parents, with their children that had
been rescued, remained, in order to give proof of their
gratitude, till the plumage of their preserver was re-
newed, when they all departed together.
And so the Stork has been idealized, and been made
to embody virtues which are found more scantily than
could be wished amongst our own race; just as the
Redbreast is said to have in pity strewn sheltering
leaves over the bodies of the babes whom man's cruelty
had murdered. From actual infirmity we love to flee
in thought to ideal perfectness, and that with our own
kind, as well as with the birds and beasts of fable.
In our respectful or affectionate remembrance of the
dead, we recall to mind not so much the character
which actually did exist, as the perfected image of that
which might have existed, had the failings and infirmi-
ties of human nature permitted; our thoughts delight
to dwell rather upon the heavenly than the earthly
vision of our departed friends ; and as the artist, in his
material representation of them, subdues all bodily
faults and adds angelic wings, so our mental picture of
the companions whom we have lost, obliterates each
weakness, and enhances each moral beauty, till we can
almost realize to our mind's eye the blessed and purified
spirits whom we hope to meet in a happier existence,
after we also shall have thrown off our heavy and cum-
bersome garment of clay. Now, let us put the fact in
this way. The absent and the estranged are dead to
us, either corporeally or spiritually. Can we not bring
ourselves to regard them with an equal love, tenderness,
HAP.VIII.] MODES OF PINIONING. 341
and forbearance, and even, if possible, through the
same beautifying medium of retiring distance, in our
mournful recollections, as we would friends departed,
really denizens of another world ?
The captive Stork does exhibit some traces of these
engaging traits, but they are best seen where a pair is
kept. Solitary individuals, though they do not seem to
pine, still require a companion to draw out the full
manifestation of their habits. My own pair, so long as
I had the two, afforded much more interesting amuse-
ment than does the sole surviving bird ; they were pur-
chased in Great Yarmouth, of a person who several
times a year makes trading trips to Holland, and were
brought from Dort, not far from Rotterdam. It is
quite a modern innovation that Storks are permitted to
be sold, but now the young are regularly exposed for
sale ; they may be had in London at about %L, some-
times less, the pair. Soon after the purchase of mine,
I started early one morning to bring them to their
future home : they were placed in a large wicker cage on
the top of a railway carriage, to the great astonishment
of the porters, who wondered what new sort of poultry
those long-legged creatures could be. I had inquired
of the vendor if they were pinioned, who said that they
were; and they were accordingly turned loose, on ar-
riving at their journey's end, without further examina-
tion. But by " pinioning " I meant amputation of one
or more joints of the wing; he understood the Dutch
fashion of tying the wings together with twine at the
upper arm, close to the back, nearly as we serve
criminals before hanging them. This twine, being hid-
den by the feathers, was not perceived till the birds had
grown considerably, when an unaccountable bleeding
342 JEALOUSY. [CHAP, vni,
from the wing of the male bird caused an examination
and a relief of both sufferers. The string had quite
eaten into the flesh, and made an ugly wound; after
the removal of these shackles, and the dressing of the
sore, the poor birds had to be pinioned in our once-for-all
method, by amputation. I mention the case for the
guidance of those who are likely to receive any large
birds from the Continent. The pinioning with string,
though it prevents flight, can still be made to allow a
certain liberty of wing.
The female Stork, soon after being liberated from
the basket, and turned out on our lawn, began dancing
on one leg, holding the other in the air, and keeping up
the step with the aid of her wings, as much as to say,
' Here we are, settled at last ! " Turkeys occasionally
indulge in a similar hop-skip-and-jump, the same in
kind though less elastic in degree. By-and-by she
walked into the water, and took a bath, (she was very
filthy from confinement in a close yard, and needed it
much,) laying herself down at full length, as any lady
might in her dressing-room. The male had too much
dignity not to conceal his joy at this emancipation,
though he evidently felt it. After the dip, they dried
themselves in the sun, walking about with their wings
open and outstretched, just as if a person were carrying
a couple of parasols, one in each hand, if it were the
fashion to wear two.
I can quite believe the stories about the jealous and
careful affection of the male Stork towards his mate ;
for when we first visited them, before purchase, in their
confined yard, in one corner of which they had a small
straw-littered shed, the male tapped his wife two or
three times gently on the head, and twitched her
CHAP. viii.J VOICELESSNESS. 343
feathers, as a child would pull his mother's gown, to
lead her out of the way of us suspicious-looking
strangers. These occasional touches and pokings which
they give each other are, with them, a substitute for
the voice, which is wanting. Mr. Swainson too hastily
says, " There is (are?) no birds yet discovered which,
even so far as they have been observed by man, are
altogether silent;" but the Stork is utterly mute; it has
no vocal utterance whatever ; the nearest approach to it
is a faint sigh if they are roughly treated. Their looks
and gestures to each other are, in consequence, more
than usually expressive. When they are close together,
they make little communications by these crossings and
touchings of the bill, which put one in mind of the
antennal language of Bees. A clattering of the two
mandibles of the bill is used as a more distant signal.
The politeness of the husband to the wife, during their
joint residence with us, was remarkable in many little
things : their lodging at night was in a small house in
our court-yard; when they came up at evening from
their day's perambulation on the lawn and their fishing
in the moat, the male, on their arriving at the gates of
the court-yard, would step aside to let the lady enter
first, with a perfect gentlemanly air of "After you,
Madam," and would then follow her into their chamber,
the door of which was immediately closed by the ser-
vant for the night. Similar attentions were paid on
their exit of a morning for the day's ramble.
And so they went on happily together, following
their natural instincts. In fishing, they did not stand
still waiting for their prey to approach them, like the
Heron, and some other waders, but proceeded along
sounding the mud with their bill in search after eels,
344 SERVICES RENDERED. [CHAP. Tin.
and poking among the water-weeds to find their victims
by feeling, exactly as we may suppose to be the case
with Woodcocks, Snipes, and Curlews. A popular
notion here is, that the legs of the Herons secrete an
oil which is attractive to fish, and which tempts them
to swim within reach of the bird's unerring bill ; and
it has been suggested, in consequence, that some pre-
paration from the legs of Herons would be a capital
thing to smear or mix with bait, and so make it irre-
sistible to the fascinated Roach and Dace ; but Storks
have no such inviting medicament to aid them, and are
obliged to trust entirely to their own exertions ; fish,
however, is but a small item of their diet. On inspect-
ing the eastings which they now and then throw up
from their stomach, (and which may have contained
among other indigestible matter, jewels and ginger-
roots, as before related,) I have often observed the
wing-cases of beetles. The grubs of these insects they
eat greedily, and so must not only be serviceable to
pasture lands, but in a country like Holland, where the
very existence of the people depends on the dykes, which
are themselves held together by the roots of grasses,
W 7 hieh again are most liable to destruction by grubs, the
Stork must be an incalculable benefactor. But even
more : the Water Rat is extremely destructive to such
banks, by burrowing through them the beginnings of
strife are like the letting in of waters and also by
eating both the tops and the roots of various plants
that hold them together. But let a Water Rat only
venture within reach of a Stork's bill, and he will
soon find himself transferred to a small safe dun-
geon, whence there is no return. I have been told
that some years back a tame Stork was kept at
CHAP. vui.J DIET. 345
Guist in Norfolk, to whom mice were administered,
by opening his bill, and placing them alive on the lower
mandible, when they would run down the open throat
before them, thinking it a most convenient retreat. The
other day, I asked our rat-catcher to spare me a three-
quarter grown animal that his dogs had just killed, as
Mr. Stork had had no breakfast that morning. The
man stared and complied, and opened his eyes still
wider, when the beast which I tossed Stork- wards by
the tail, was caught in the air, and soon seen travelling
down the swelling gullet of the bird. As the perform-
ance gave so much satisfaction, we ventured to request
in return that the destroyer of rats would now and
then send Storkie a present of a bunch of game of his
" small deer." Indeed, we have never had so few rats
and mice on the premises as since a Stork has been
kept there. This diet is most healthful for the bird,
as the pellets of fur, &c., which it throws up cleanse
the stomach. It must, however, be confessed that
chickens and ducklings would soon share the same fate
as rats and mice ; and that, so long as they are under
age, he must be kept out of their way, or they out of
his, if the consumption of poultry in our establishment
is not to go on at quite an extravagant rate. It may be
supposed that, on the Continent, the free use of his wings,
and the power to search after less valuable prey, causes
him to refrain from similar depredations amongst the
young broods there ; otherwise he would be a much less
welcome guest at the farm-houses where he is now so
hospitably received. But Temminck, in his " Manuel,"
p. 561, includes in the " nourriture " of the Stork,
young Ducks and Partridges : what the Dutch game
preservers think of this, he does not state. We have
346 SAD MISADVENTURE. [CHAP.VIII.
verified the old remark, that, though the Stork will
eat frogs at such a rate as to be held by them in fearful
contrast to good King Log, he will not swallow a single
toad, even when pressed by a sharp appetite. Frogs
do no great harm, that we should wish them to be so
eaten up ; and the real services which the Stork does
perform are a sufficient reason for the almost super-
stitious consideration with which he is regarded. It
is a pity the feeling does not extend to England : the
Germans care nothing for Redbreasts, and so, in re-
venge, the English show no forbearance to Storks.
After a few days' hard weather, my birds, tired of
parading the snow-covered ground, though they were
sufficiently supplied with food, ventured down to the
brook which separates my glebe from the neighbour-
ing property, to amuse themselves by fishing for some-
thing and paddling in the running water. This habit
of resort had been observed ; and a loose fellow shot
at them, and was stopped in the act of making off with
the male bird, which he had wounded. His excuse
was that " he took them for Hansers ; " * the hypocri-
tical vagabond ! He' had handled a gun too often on
the sly, for us to believe a syllable of that. But a
humble apology, prompted by fear, was made ; and as
the bird promised to recover, and indeed did recover
from his wound, the matter dropped, with a caution for
the future. But the hen, who was apparently unin-
jured, received some stray shot, and afterwards pined
away, and died. The survivor stood mourning over
* Hanser is a local and also an old name for the Heron. The
proverb, " He does not know a Hawk from a Handsaw," is nonsense,
till we correct the reading by substituting Hanser or Heron; i.e.,
" He does not know the Falcon from his quarry, the pursuer from the
pursued ;" the height of folly in feudal and real sporting times.
CHAP, vin.j HABITS IN CAPTIVITY. 347
the body of his mate, till we carried it away as a present
to a neighbouring bird-stuffer ; and he still continues
with us in a state of widowhood, as he is unable to
make a journey to his native home and find a new
wife for himself.
Storks in captivity do not show any restlessness at
their usual times of migration ; but after that period,
it is advisable to house them at night, and in bad
weather : in midwinter they had better not be in the
open air more than the three or four finest hours of the
day. They get so used to this sort of shelter, that they
will have it when the regular time comes. No dissipated
lodger, locked out for exceeding all respectable hours
of return, knocks to be let in with more determination,
than does my poor shivering Stork insist on being ad-
mitted on a winter's afternoon. If he happen to be on
the island, and the gate on the bridge is closed, he will
Foot of White Stork one fourth natural size.
take to the water, though it is much beyond his depth,
and swim across most determinedly. In this he is
348 LOCAL HAUNTS. [CHAP. vni.
assisted by the partial web which connects his broad
flat toes. The resemblance of the claws to the nails of
the human hand has long been noticed, but, I believe,
not before specially figured as now. As far as we can
judge of the expression of the bird's sentiments, it ap-
pears, when once made captive, to lose the desire of
journeying into other climes, and to attach itself for
good to the residence of its owner. I almost believe
that it might be trusted, after a time, with the free use
of unpinioned wings, were not the precautionary muti-
lation necessary, in this country, to save it from destruc-
tion by wanton, or malicious, or dishonest gunners. I
now resign the hope of myself founding a colony of
Storks hereabouts, but am informed that Lord Wode-
house has lately settled a pair in his grounds at Kirn-
berley, and perhaps his lordship's protection may be
more efficient than that of a mere humble country
clergyman has proved to them.
Storks are capricious in the selection of their local
haunts. " The Stork does not visit the Peninsula of
the Crimea ; on the contrary, the small Crane, called
the Numidian Virgin, is very frequent, and constructs
its nest in open plains, chiefly in the vicinity of salt-
lakes. The young birds are brought to market by the
Tartars in great numbers, and are speedily tamed,
insomuch that they afterwards breed even in farm-
yards."* England, for some unexplained reason, never
has been a great resort of the White Stork, although
it is found at much greater distances from its German
head summer quarters.
From M. Sundevall's good and original account of the
* Pallas's Travels in the Southern Provinces of Russia, vol, ii,
p. 460.
il.] STORKS IN SWEDEK. 349
birds of Calcutta *, we learn that " The Stork is one of
the birds which occurs both in Sweden and Bengal ; it is
probably found in the latter country only at the season
when it is wanting in the former. In the tree-covered
vicinity of Calcutta I only saw one, but some miles
further north they occur in flocks on the plains : about
sixty were counted in one of these flocks. This was a
very unusual sight for a European, for the Storks with
us live, or at least fly, solitary ; yet in Sweden they
assemble in flocks at certain places of meeting, in order
to migrate, There has been from time immemorial
one of these meeting places for Storks on certain hills
near my native place, Hogestad in Southern Scania.
These hills lie between Hogestad and Baldringe, on a
dry heath, surrounded on two sides by marshes and
peat-bogs, about one thousand paces from an open oak-
wood, where Storks have always built in numbers.
After the Storks in autumn have collected around in
parties for some weeks, without keeping near the nests,
or roosting in them at night, one may see them some
day in the middle of September coming from all quar-
ters to the hills in question. The number gradually
increases, so that many times more Storks than breed
in the district are soon assembled. They are supposed
to come hither from a considerable part of Scania,
perhaps from all the colonies which are sent out at
intervals from the oak-wood above mentioned. Two
days thus elapse, during which the birds which have
arrived chiefly remain quiet, each by itself, without
seeking food, which, however, is to be found abundantly
in the marsh close by ; but the following morning they
* Annals of Natural History, vol. xix. p. 60.
350 ANTIQUE NOTIONS. [CHAP. vxn.
have all disappeared, arid no Stork is seen afterwards
in the district, until they, after half a year's interval,
return more gradually to their homes from their dis-
tant wanderings. The natives say that they hold a
council before they set out from the country. Many
such meeting-places for Storks are found in Scania,
near the woods which they inhabit. In the wood just
mentioned they build close to each other in the oak-
trees, and agree well together; but in other places
they usually will not allow another bird in their vicinity
without violent battle arising when they come near
each other's nests.
" The Storks which I saw in Bengal had the beak and
legs red as with us ; but it occurred to me that the black
between the beak and the eye in the males was somewhat
broader."
Storks were of old believed, on their retirement from
Europe, to lie torpid at the bottom of ponds, with their
long bill not tucked under the wing, but inserted in a
ludicrous and hardly describable position. Even now
their visits and departures are matters of great interest,
at which no one can wonder who has seen these wide-
winged birds and their brood wheeling around a Ger-
man farm-house. It is quite like the bidding farewell
to, or the welcoming of old friends.
In autumn, alas ! the Storks are gone ; no more to
be seen standing about, or flapping to and fro, or sailing
round about. Yesterday they were here ; now they
have departed without notice ; and we must prepare for
long bitter nights, and days of sad privation, with scanty
firing, and but poor food. We hard-working Bauer
folk must eat our black rye-bread, munch our sauer-
kraut, and sup our watery soup, with hardly a sight of
CHAP, viii.] THE STORK'S RETURN. 351
the morsel of imsalted Rindfleisch that has been boiled
in it As to a savoury Gebraten, Calf's flesh, or Swine's
flesh, such as the English traveller calls for, that is quite
out of our way. Even the Ofen which warms the house
does not cheer the eyesight; for, you know, a German's
household fire is rather to be found in his pipe than on his
hearth. So we shall be dull and miserable (except at
a chance time in the Bierbrauerei) so long as the Storks
are away from Deutschland.
But in spring ! News ! Good news in the village !
This morning are the Storks returned ! Even in the
darkness of night they found the way to their old home.
See them walking before the house, taking a survey,
and looking kindly to know that we are well, before they
sail off to forage for awhile in the marshes. One is on
the house-top, glad that the winter has not blown away
all the sticks from her old nest on the cart-wheel. Now,
we poor bodies may rejoice for awhile, and eat our sorry
fare in cheerfulness. Winter is gone, and the Storks
are come ! The children may now gather flowers, and
play in the woods. We shall hear the Gross Herzog's
military band play under the lime trees ; and perhaps,
if we have a few kreuzers to spare, we may drink the
summer cup with a bunch of sweet herbs in it ; better
that than our ordinary water and vinegar. Ja wohl !
The Cuckoo will sing ; the cherries will ripen ; only
think of the Kirschwasser to be made, and then the
harvest and the vintage will follow, all while the blessed
Storks are with us !
CHAPTEft IX.
THE EMEU.
Pete foi> princes. Orthography of the name. Confounded with the Cassowary,
Game laws in Australia.Anticipated extinction of the Emeu. Operating
causes. Self-denial of the aborigines. Duty of the present Australians to
preserve the Enieu.Ease with which it may be stalked. Proposed Emeu
parks. Little hope for future Emeus. The refuge of domestication. Dinor-
nithes, or Wonder Birds. Their discovery and history. Adaptation of the
various species to their localty in New Zealand. Their great variety. Their
recent existence. How congregated in New Zealand. Professor Owen's con*
jecture. Any hope that they still survive ? A few glimpses of evidence. The
latest news. Habits and propagation of the Emeu. The Emeus at Knowsley.
Follow the seasons of the southern hemisphere. Injudicious proceedings.
Their diet. Peculiarities of their plumage.
THEKE are pet birds suited for all classes and ranks
of mankind ; there are Larks, Linnets, Canaries, and
Finches for the humble artisan, as well as for his supe-
riors; there are Hawks and Falcons for sportsmen;
Jackdaws, Magpies, and Ravens for ostlers and stable-
keepers ; Parrots and their kind for indoor invalids ;
Swans and Peacocks for the gentry ; Ducks and Geese
for the fen-folks ; the Stork for the Dutch, the Eobin
for the English peasant ; and, since the Ostrich refuses
to breed in captivity, the Emeu is the bird for Peers
and for Princes.
It will hardly be supposed that the Emeu is made to
appear in this volume from any hope of its possible pro-
fitableness in a domestic state. But we may urge, in
the words of Eleazer Albin, that " T is certain brute
animals were placed amongst us for nobler ends than
just to kill and eat ; and to a mind athirst for know-
CHAP, ix.] ORTHOGRAPHY. 353
ledge, as all unprejudiced are, an acquaintance with the
actions, views, and designs of these creatures, must be
a higher gratification than ever they can yield in the
field or the dining-room." The English reader will
not be amazed, like an Australian native, that other
besides marketable animals should ever receive a glance
of attention from civilized men. "Our tawny friend
Daraga," says Mr. G. Bennet*, "was puzzled to form
a conjecture why, with such abundance of cattle, sheep,
&c., we wanted Mallangongs, or Duck-billed Water-
moles ! " I have not introduced the Emeu as an aviary
bird from any experience of keeping it on my own
grounds. I doubt whether I dare keep a pair, had such
ever been bestowed upon me. The sight of such a couple
of rare poultry chasing each other round the boundaries
of our lawn might cause the neighbours to ask how long
it would be before the Commission of Lunacy was
issued. But, in spite of this difficulty, a few particulars
that have been collected, and others that have been
kindly communicated, induce me to devote a few pages
to this noble creature.
The name of the bird is spelt in two ways : by Ben-
net and by the first Australian discoverers, Emeu ; by
Mitchell, Swainson, Sturt, and others, Emu. We
prefer retaining the elder mode. To English readers
the point seems of no importance, and would really be
of none, except as fixing in written language the ori-
ginal Indian pronunciation ; whether the syllables are
to be sounded as E-me-u according to the first, or E-moo
as the latest orthography would lead us to conclude.
But Emeu is not the native name of the Dromaius
* Trans. Zool. Soc., London, vol. i. p. 245.
A A
354 THE CASSOWARY. [CHAP. ix.
Nova Hollandia ; it was first applied to the Horned
Cassowary, as may be seen in Albin *, who gives a very
good figure : " Two of these birds," he says, " were to
be seen (1738) at the George Tavern at Charing Cross,
to which place I went to draw them. Their food was
bread, flesh, fruit, &c., which they swallow very greedily,
having no tongue. They were brought by a Dutch
ship from Pallampank in Ea&t India." The Australian
bird was at first supposed to be the same as the Indian
Cassowary, and hence arose a temporary confusion of
terms. Thus, Sir Thomas Browne, writing to his son
Edward in 1680, says, " wee heare of two oestriges w ch
are brought from Tangier. I sawe one in the latter
end of King James his dayes, at Greenwich, when I was
a schoolboy. King Charles the first had a cassaware, or
emeu, whose fine green channelled egge I haue, and you
haue seen it. I doubt these will not bee showne at Bar-
tholomew fayre, where every one may see them for his
money." Dampier was unacquainted with the Austra-
lian Emeu. Writing in 1688, he states, " New Holland
is a very large tract of land. It is not yet determined
whether it is an island or a main continent
Here are a few small land birds, but none bigger than a
blackbird, and but few sea-fowls. "I
The Emeu is especially interesting in these days,
from the rapidly impending destruction which threatens
it from the hands of European settlers. The Aborigines
would gladly preserve it, but the Englishman steps in,
and persists in exterminating the race. Even among
the savage natives in the interior of Australia, where, if
anywhere, we should expect to find an unlimited licence
* Vol. ii. p. 56. f Account of the Philippines.
CHAP, ix.] APPEEHENDED EXTINCTION. 355
to kill and eat the first wild creature that came to hand,
restrictive game laws are in force ; and Captain Start
tells us that they are universally the same all over the
known parts of New South Wales. The old men, he
says, have alone the privilege of eating the Emeu, and
so submissive are the young men to this regulation,
that if, from absolute hunger, or under other pressing
circumstances, one of them breaks through it, either
during a hunting excursion, or whilst absent from his
tribe, he returns under a feeling of conscious guilt, and
by his manner betrays it, sitting apart from the men,
and confessing his misdemeanor to the chief at the
first interrogation, upon which he is obliged to undergo
a slight punishment. This evidently is a law of policy
and necessity, for if the Emeus were allowed to be in-
discriminately slaughtered, they would soon become
extinct. Civilized nations, thinks Captain Sturt, may
learn a wholesome lesson even from savages, as in this
instance of their forbearance. For somewhat similar
reasons, perhaps, married people alone are there per-
mitted to eat Ducks.
Now Sir Thomas Mitchell predicts the extinction of
the Aborigines of Australia themselves, in consequence
of the slaughtering of the Kangaroos, on which they so
much depend ; and the destinies of these animals and
of the Emeu seem to be bound up together. "The
Kangaroo," he says, " disappears from the cattle runs,
and is also killed by stockmen merely for the sake of
the skin ; but no mercy is shown to the natives who
may help themselves to a bullock or a sheep. Such a
state of things must infallibly lead to the extirpation of
the aboriginal natives, as in Van Diemen's Land, unless
A A 2
356 OPERATING CAUSES. [CHAP, ix,
timely measures are taken for their civilization and pro-
tection. I have heard some affecting allusions made by
natives to the white men's killing the Kangaroo. At
present, almost every stockman has several Kangaroo
Dogs ; and it would be only an act of justice towards
the Aborigines to prohibit white men from killing these
creatures, which are as essential to the natives as cattle
to the Europeans."
But if the Kangaroo is fast vanishing, the Emeu is
doomed indeed. The same authority, writing in 1838,
informs us, " Of the Kangaroo and Emeu it may be
observed, that any noise may be made in hunting the
latter without inconvenience, but that the less made in
chasing the Kangaroo the better. The Emeu is dis-
posed to halt and look, being, according to the natives,
quite deaf ; the eye is proportionally keen ; and thus
they frequent the open plains, being there most secure
from whoever may invade the solitude of the desert.
The Kangaroo, on the contrary, bounds onward while
any noise continues whereas, if pursued silently, he is
likely to halt and look behind, and thus lose distance.
Dogs learn sooner to take Kangaroos than Emeus,
although young Dogs get sadly torn in conflicts with the
former. But it is one thing for a swift J)og to overtake
an Emeu, and another thing to kill, or even seize it.
Our Dogs were only now learning to seize Emeus,
although they had chased and overtaken many. To
attempt to seize them by the side or leg is dangerous,
as an Emeu could break a horse's leg with a kick ; but
if they seize them by the neck, as good Dogs learn to do,
the bird is immediately overthrown, and easily killed.
The flesh resembles a beef-steak, and has a very agree-
CHAP, ix.] IMPROVIDENCE OF THE WHITES. 357
able flavour, being far preferable to that of the Kan-
garoo."* So that not only is there facility of capture
to allure the passing sportsman, but also daintiness of
flesh to tempt the hungry traveller.
It is usual with Englishmen to spare the hen Phea-
sants in their own preserves ; but a similar forbearance
can hardly be expected to be exercised by famishing ex-
plorers of the wilderness towards those female Emeus
that fall in their way. The same Sir T. Mitchell relates
exultingly, " This day we had even better fortune than
yesterday in our field sports, for, besides three Kan-
garoos, we also killed two Emeus, one being a female,
and then esteemed a great prize ; for I had discovered
that the eggs found in the ovarium of the Emeu were a
great luxury in the Bush, affording us a light and
palatable breakfast for several days."f This is certainly
one way to check the increase of population in any race
to hunt up the females for the sake of their unborn
young ; and Sir Thomas shows the natives by his ex-
ample how well he appreciates their self-denial during
a season of short commons. It cannot, we think, be
wondered at if the natives occasionally proceed ahead of
a party of mischievous intruding " White-fellows," and
drive off both those birds arid the Kangaroos from their
expected track of female Emeu stalking. They do not
indiscriminately indulge in the flesh of so valuable a
part of their live-stock ; and the same traveller had pre-
viously witnessed an instance of their abstinence : " On
my return to the camp, I found the dogs had killed an
Emeu. It is singular that none of the natives would
eat of this bird : the reasons they gave were that they
* Eastern Australia, vol. i. p. 292. f Idem, vol. ii. p. 168.
358 DUTY OF THE AUSTBALIANS. [CHAP. ix.
were young men, and that none but older men who had
"gins" (wives) were allowed to eat it, adding that it.
would make young men all over boils, or eruptions.
This rule of abstinence was also rigidly observed by our
interpreter, Piper."* The untaught natives showed
that they had a little self-control, and gave a practical
rebuke to the reckless wastefulness of the Englishmen.
And thus the gentleness of the Emeu's disposition,
the ease with which they are approached and destroyed
by man, and run down by dogs, together with their in-
capability of flight, must insure their speedy and com-
plete extermination, notwithstanding their present (I
ought perhaps to write late) numbers, in surprisingly
few years, unless measures are taken by somebody
somewhere to propagate the species in captivity. And
where so fit a place to execute the task as Australia
itself? Australians in future ages will regret to find
themselves in possession of the preserved remains only
of a gigantic bird, which their ancestors might have re-
tained as an existing race ; and they ought not, like im-
provident children, to expect us, their parents, to exer-
cise for them a foresight in matters which are of most
interest to themselves, and most in their own power to
husband wisely. It will be curious if Australia has to
send off to England for a fresh stock of living Emeus ;
but such a case is far from an impossibility. Their di-
minution is going on with fearful ease and rapidity ; if
the object were to exterminate them utterly, it could not
proceeding to its completion better than it is. Austra-
lian discoverers have not seemed to anticipate such a
consequence. But just let us listen to the facts they
* Eastern Australia, vol. ii. p. 29.
X3HAP. ix.] EASY EMEU-STALKING. 359
tell us : v< An Emeu came very near our tents ; and by
carrying a bush a la ' Birnam,' we got several shots,
without, however, having the good luck to hit." ("Small
thanks to the shooters," may the Emeus mutter.) " It
was obvious, on various occasions, that the first appear-
ance of such large quadrupeds as bullocks and horses
did not scare the Emeu or Kangaroo ; but that, on the
contrary, when they would have run at the first appear-
ance of their enemy, man, when advancing singly,
they would allow him to approach mounted, and even to
dismount, fire from behind a horse, and load again,
without attempting to run off." "Emeus were very
numerous on the open downs, and their curiosity
brought them to stare at our horses, apparently un-
conscious of the presence of the biped on their backs,
whom both birds and beasts seem instinctively to
avoid. In one flock I counted twenty-nine Emeus, and
so near did these birds come to us on that occasion,
that, having no rifle with me, I was tempted to dis-
charge even my pistol at one, although without effect."
Small thanks again to Sir Thomas Mitchell ! but a few
skilful Highland Deer-stalkers would bring home a very
different bag of Emeus. Dr. Leichhardt's book contains
numerous instances of the little difficulty there is in
securing them ; and when it is remembered that every
water-course discovered by these pioneers of colonization
will soon be occupied ; that a grand object of enterprise
at this date is to penetrate through Australia in all di-
rections; and that the continent, wherever habitable,
must become veined, although not overspread, with a
European and game-pursuing population, it is not pre-
mature to commence a lament over the departing
coursers of the wilderness, and think how sad will be
360 PROPOSED EMEU PARKS. [CHAP. ix.
the dirge over the last of the Emeus. However, before
so deplorable a consummation does actually take place,
we ardently hope that some Australian aristocrat will
arise no matter whether from the proceeds of the
Burra Burra copper-mines, or from the Murrumbidgee
golden fleeces, if the fortune be but honestly come by
who will imitate the magnificent deer-parks of the
great Scotch proprietors, and by appropriating a few
thousand acres of desert as Emeu grounds for his own
private shooting, and by appointing two or three "Black-
fellow" families to reside therein and act as keepers,
will succeed in preserving live specimens of both the
man and the bird, for the study of future Ethnologists
and Ornithologists.
But the fate of both can hardly be averted. Emeus
and native Australians will have to give way to white
men. "It was really an animating scene," writes the
Bishop of Adelaide, Oct. 1849, "to see so large an
assemblage of the upper classes gathered together, to
witness the laying of the first stone of a new school
room, on a spot ivhere, twelve years ago, Kangaroos fed
undisturbed." We wish we could also record the inclo-
sure of the South Australian Zoological Gardens as well
as the building of school-rooms and chapels ; but that
will perhaps follow soon, and Old England will then
be happy to supply them with spare specimens of New
Holland rarities.
The case, which is a general one, and not limited to
this solitary species, is really worth serious consider-
ation. We cannot re-create any animal or plant that
we may have at last, however thoughtlessly and without
malice prepense, pushed out of the list of living organ-
isms ; and at no period of the world's history has the
CHAP, ix.] LITTLE HOPE. 361
invasion and occupancy of solitary wilds been going on
with such rapid progression as at the present moment,
and that with every prospect of an accelerated, instead
of a retarded, rate of advancement. It is not with
gigantic and valuable birds only that the exterminating
process is carried on by the first marauders into an un-
occupied country; plants also, that are in great demand,
are threatened with the same fate. " Dr. Weddell
entirely confirms the statement that there is so little
proportion between the consumption and the supply of
the Peruvian barks, that the most valuable sorts are
threatened with rapid destruction. Nor does there
appear to be any probability that this calamity, for such
it must surely be considered, can be arrested, unless the
best species are introduced into European colonies
suited to their cultivation. This is fortunately not un-
likely to be accomplished, for the finest of all, the Cali-
saya, has been raised in England from seed communi-
cated by Dr. Weddell through his friend Mr. Pentland ;
and there is reason to believe that these gentlemen
have also placed seeds in the hands of the East India
Company, in many parts of whose vast territories the
plant is certain to find a suitable soil and climate."* So
that even plants may find a refuge in domestication, as
well as birds and beasts, that will submit to such pro-
tection.
Some naturalists may think that these dismal pro-
phecies respecting the poor Emeu, and other things,
are a little too Cassandra-like ; but, since
" old Experience doth attain
To something like prophetic strain,"
* Gardener's Chronicle, Jan. 6, 1850.
362 DINOKNITHES. [CHAP.IX.
we may safely divine the sad fate that impends over
the bird a century or two hence at furthest, unless
the refuge of domesticity be offered and accepted, from
the past history of the Dinornithes, or Wonder-birds of
New Zealand creatures whose existence has been so
marvellously interpreted and proved by the skill of
Professor Owen. A brief sketch of their history, com-
pressed from the Transactions of the Zoological Society
for 1849, will be an appropriate episode in what we
have to say about the Emeu.
The first discovery of this numerous family of colossal
wingless birds arose from the finding of a fragment of
a bone, which the Professor, for elaborate reasons, pro-
nounced to have belonged to a large Struthious bird,
" heavier and more sluggish than the Ostrich." Three
years afterwards, a large collection of these bones was
received, that had been found by the Rev. W. Williams
and other Church of England Missionaries. From the
various size of these, they believed that the bird to
which they once belonged was many years in attaining
its full growth; and from their place of deposit and
condition, that the bird was in existence in New Zea-
land at no very distant time. The latter conjecture
proves even more correct than was anticipated ; the
former difficulty Professor Owen has explained, by
proving that the various relics belong to numerous
species, ranging from four to ten or twelve feet in
height. All the large existing Struthious birds derive
their subsistence from the vegetable kingdom. The
predominance of plants of the Fern tribe, and the nu-
tritious qualities of the roots of the species most com-
mon in New Zealand, are the characteristics of its pre-
sent, and appear to have been of its former Flora.
CHAP. IX.] THEIR CHARACTERISTICS. 363
Some at least of the characters of the skeleton of the
Dinornis may have related to root-eating habits. The
unusual strength of the neck indicates the application
of the beak to a more laborious task than the mere
plucking of seeds, fruits, or herbage *. In the spinous
processes of the vertebraB are indications of those forces
by which the beak was associated with the feet in the
labour of dislodging the farinaceous roots of the Ferns
that grow in such abundance over the soil of New
Zealand. The great strength of the leg had reference,
especially in the less gigantic species, to something
more than sustaining and transporting the superincum-
bent weight of the body ; and this additional function
is indicated, by the analogy both of the Apteryx and
the Rassorial birds, to be the scratching up of the soil.
Professor Owen therefore pictures to his mind's eye
a living portrait of the long-lost Dinornis, and imagines
the several species ranging as the lords of the soil of a
fair island, in which the will of a bountiful Providence has
offered a well-spread table to a race of animated beings
peculiarly adapted to enjoy it. They were then the
highest living forms upon that part of the earth. No
terrestrial Mammal was there to contest the sovereignty
with the feathered bipeds, before the arrival of Man.
The extent and variety of the wingless terrestrial
birds in times anterior to Man's dominion over the
earth, must have been enormous. We know that the
Struthionida have suffered greater diminution within the
* The Bustard is an existing example of the same adaptation.
" Yesterday I had a cock Bustard sent mee from beyond Thetford. I
never did see such a vast thick neck ; the crop was pulled out, butt as a
Turkey hath an odde large substance without, so had this within the
inside of the skinne, and the strongest and largest neck bone of any
bird in England." Sir Thomas Browne to his son Edward.
364 THEIE NUMBEBS AND VARIETY. [CHAP. ix.
time of Man than any other class of birds, perhaps than
any other in the whole animal kingdom. Both the Maori
(New Zealand) tradition of the destruction of the " Moa "
(or Dinornis) by their ancestors, and the history of the
extirpation of the Dodo by the Dutch navigators in the
isles of Maurice and Rodriguez, teach us the inevitable
lot of bulky birds unable to fly or swim, when exposed,
by the dispersion of the human race, to the attacks of
Man. It is not improbable that the species of Dinornis
were in existence when the Polynesian colony first set
foot on the island ; and if so, such bulky and probably
stupid birds, at first without the instinct, and always
without the adequate means, of escape and defence,
would soon fall a prey to the progenitors of the present
Maoris. In the absence of any other large wild ani-
mals, the whole art and practice of the chase must have
been concentrated on these unhappy cursorial birds.
The gigantic Dinornis, we may readily suppose, would
be the first to be exterminated : the strength of its kick
would less avail, than its great bulk would prejudice
its safety, by making its concealment difficult: at all
events, the most recent-looking bones are those of the
smaller species. Many of these bones were subse-
quently found by the Rev. Mr. Taylor in little hillocks
scattered over the valley of Whanganui ; each heap was
composed of the bones of several kinds of the Moa, as
though their bodies had been eaten, and the bones of
all thrown indiscriminately together. The closely-
allied, but comparatively diminutive Apteryx still (?)
survives by virtue of its nocturnal habits and subter
ranean hiding-places, but in fearfully diminished and
rapidly diminishing numbers. When the source of
animal food from terrestrial species was reduced by the
CHAP, ix.] PROFESSOR OWEN'S CONJECTURE. 365
total extirpation of the genus Dinornis to this low point,
then may have arisen those cannibal practices which,
until lately, formed the opprobrium of a race of men
otherwise to be admired in many respects.
And how came this vast assemblage of Dinornithes
to be congregated in one limited group of islands, to
be preyed upon by Man before Christianity could come
to teach him to refrain from preying upon his fellow-
men? Professor Owen replies by a bold, almost an
audacious conjecture, which, however, will afford matter
for thought to those who remember that fossil footsteps
of similar birds have been found in North America, and
who have considered the theory of subsidence set forth
in Mr. Charles Darwin's important and lucid works.
"The extraordinary number of wingless birds, and
the vast stature of some of the species peculiar to New
Zealand, and which have finally become extinct in that
small tract of dry land, suggest it to be the remnant of
a large tract or continent, over which this singular
Struthious Fauna formerly ranged. One might almost
be disposed to regard New Zealand as one end of a
mighty wave of the unstable and ever-shifting crust of
the earth, of which the opposite end, after having been
long submerged, has again risen with its accumulated
deposits in North America, showing us in the Connecti-
cut sandstones of the Permian period the foot-prints
of the gigantic birds which trod its surface before it
sank; and to surmise that the intermediate body of the
land-wave, along which the Dinornis may have travelled
to New Zealand, has progressively subsided, and now
lies beneath the Pacific Ocean."
Alas for the Wonder-Birds ! They are gone ! Take
them for all in all, we ne'er shall look upon their like
366 DO THEY STILL SUEVIVE ? [CHAP. ix.
again. Certainly not look upon them : but may we ever
possibly look up to them behold them as we would the
Trojan Horse, or the Duke's Statue on the gate at
Constitution Hill? Is there a chance that we, like the
Romans with Julius Ca3sar " when he was grown so
great," may ever " peep about their huge legs " in
wonderment at the living monster ? Let us see what
hope is to be entertained that the Dinornis will one
day shelve the Hippopotamus at the Regent's Park.
The Professor, when delivering his first oracle in
1843 on the single piece of bone, was " willing to risk
his reputation on the statement that there has existed,
if there does not now exist, in New Zealand, a
Struthious bird nearly, if not quite, equal in size to
the Ostrich."
Mr. Swainson, the eminent ornithologist, in a note
accompanying some specimens of the bones, says, "They
are from the north island .... I have no idea that
this strange group of birds is any longer in existence,
notwithstanding all the stories of the natives and others.
If any may be alive, they will probably be found in the
Middle Island, which may be almost said to be unin-
habited, except on the coast."
Our expectations rise ; and in a letter from the Rev.
Mr. Williams, dated 1842, we find this : " Within the
last few days I have obtained a piece of information
worthy of notice. Happening to speak to an American
about the bones, he told me that the bird is still in
existence in the neighbourhood of Cloudy Bay, in Cook's
Straits ; he said that the natives there had mentioned
to an Englishman of a whaling party, that there was a
bird of extraordinary size to be seen only at night on
the side of a hill near there ; and that he, with the
CHAP. ix.J GLIMPSES OF EVIDENCE. 367
native and a second Englishman, went to the spot;
that after waiting some time, they saw the creature at
some little distance, which they describe as being four-
teen or sixteen feet high. One of the men proposed
to go nearer and shoot, but his companion was so ex-
ceedingly terrified, or perhaps both of them, that they
were satisfied with looking at him, when in a little time
he took the alarm, and strode away up the side of the
mountain. The incident might not have been worth men-
tioning, had it not been for the extraordinary agreement
in point of size of the bird. There are the bones which
will satisfy you that such a bird has been, and there is
said to be the living bird, the supposed size of which,
given by an independent witness, precisely agrees."
In 1843, Colonel Wakefield writes, " I received lately
your (Mr. Gowen's) letter respecting the Moa, with
Professor Owen's notice I have heard several
stories of live Moas having been seen ; one, that the
enormous size (higher than our storied houses), fright-
ened the person, an Englishman, who was going to
shoot it ; but I don't believe any one has seen a live
one lately. I intend to make further inquiries amongst
the old natives."
In 1844, Captain Sir Everard Home wrote, "I feel
little doubt that the Dinornis exists in the Middle
Island of New Zealand, which is very thinly inhabited
and almost quite unknown; perhaps also in Stewart's
Island, where it is said that the Cassowary (Moa?) is
to be found."
The latest intelligence is to be found in a recent
number of the " Sydney Herald," which observes, that
if Mr. Taylor can be relied on, this bird may probably
be still discovered alive as Europeans advance into the
368 THE LATEST NEWS. [CHAP. ix.
southern island of New Zealand. In the second num-
ber of the " New Zealand Magazine," and in a paper
by the Rev. R. Taylor, on the Geology of New Zealand,
is the following statement : " Mr. Meurant, employed
by the government as native interpreter, stated to me
that in the latter end of 1813 he saw the flesh of the
Moa in Molyneux Harbour ; since that period he has
seen feathers of the same kind in the natives' hair.
They were of a black or dark colour, with a purple
edge, having quills like those of the Albatross in size,
but much coarser. He saw a Moa bone which reached
four inches above his hip from the ground, and as thick
as his knee, with flesh and sinews upon it. The flesh
looked like bull beef. The slaves, who were from the
interior, said that it was still to be found inland. The
natives told him that the one whose flesh he had seen
was a dead one, which they had found accidentally ;
that they had often endeavoured to snare them, but
without success. A man, named George Pauley, now
living in Foveaux Straits, told him he had seen the
Moa, which he described as being an immense monster,
standing about twenty feet high. He saw it near a
lake in the interior. Tt ran from him, and he also ran
from it. He saw its foot-marks before he came to the
river Tairi and the mountains. Thomas Chasseland, the
man who interpreted for Meurah, was well acquainted
with the Maori language. He also saw the flesh, and,
at first, they thought it was human."*
Here is all the evidence of which we are at present
cognizant ; but is it not almost enough to start a party
for New Zealand in the hope of trapping, toiling, or
* Quoted in the Gardener's Chronicle, Nov. 23, 1850.
CHAP. ix.J EMEUS AT KNOWSLEY. 369
pitfalling, anything but shooting, the biggest bird in
the world, and bringing it alive to England, as the
crown of the Knowsley and the Regent's Park mena-
geries? As various countries have selected some animal
for their emblem, the new settlement of Canterbury
may perhaps choose to display the Dinornis on their
national banner, in which case we may hope that they
will also be able to imitate the example of the Bernese,
in keeping at the gates of their city living specimens
(when caught) of the creature which they have raised on
their standard and their coinage to heraldic honours.
Observations on the habits and propagation of the
Emeu in the menagerie of the London Zoological So-
ciety and at Knowsley, have been communicated by the
Earl of Derby to Mr. J. E. Gray, and incorporated in
the text of "the Knowsley Menagerie," a work which,
with the assistance of that gentleman, has been pub-
lished by his lordship. From these observations it cer^
tainly does not appear that there is much difficulty
attendant on the endeavour to breed these birds, pro-
vided at least that they can have a tolerable extent of
range, for they are fond of exercise, and seem to possess
a good deal of curiosity, which leads them to haunt very
much the borders of their inclosure, especially if any*
thing be going on which occasions people to be moving
about near to, but beyond its boundaries. On such
occasions they will often rush hastily up along the fence,
with outspread wings, and an eagerness and vehemence
of manner which may often (especially to persons of
timid dispositions and unaccustomed to the bird) seem
to threaten violent attack upon the observers ; but it
may really be believed that if not disturbed or teased,
they are of a very harmless, quiet, and gentle character,
B B
370 HABITS [CHAP, ix.,
though certainly, if irritated, they have an efficient and
powerful weapon of offence in their strong legs, which
are the parts they chiefly avail themselves of in any
combats they may be brought into. As to their con-
tinuance of propagation in this country, independent of
importation, the point which may be all important in
respect to their continued existence on the face of the
earth, no reason appears why, after the first few gene-
rations, it should not continue, with proper care and
attention to their habits. The reader may not be aware
that, in this species, and probably in the whole tribe
with some slight modifications in the different species,
the business of incubation is performed entirely by the
males ; but it is not yet quite clear whether the Emeu
is strictly monogamic, or whether, like some others of
the family, he is polygamous naturally. The opinion
Lord Derby is at this time most inclined to adopt is the
former ; at least, he is certain that they do better when
disposed of in separate pairs, distinct and removed from
others, than when kept in greater numbers together in
one and the same inclosure.
Early this year (1850) a curious circumstance oc-
curred with the Emeus at Knowsley, which, though not
a matter of very great importance, may be of some in-
terest to record, as giving us something more of insight
into the habits of a bird with which we have only
lately become tolerably acquainted. The pair began to
lay just before the frosty weather in January, and as by
the 19th of that month they had seven eggs, not having
been stopped by the severity of the season, it was feared
that the eggs might become injured, and inquiries were
made if the old ones paid any attention to them, when
it appeared that both sexes sat at night by the side of
. ix.j AND PROPAGATION. 371
the nest, but never on the eggs, and that this is the
mode of proceeding till the male chooses to assume his
office of nurse, after which the female pays no attention
to them at all. We may wonder how they decide be-
tween themselves when this process of real incubation
shall begin? Now, the remarkable fact of the Emeus
going through the preliminaries of incubation at such a
season, can only be accounted for by supposing that the
periodicity of the bird's constitution is unchanged,
though, by crossing the equator, they find a (to them)
reversed occurrence of summer and winter. Lord
Derby seems to concur in this view: he says, "Emeus
are not the only birds whose times of breeding remain
unchanged by their removal to this country. My black
Swans breed as often in the winter as at other times.
I have known them hatch their young on Christmas
day, and rear them quite well, but I believe they breed
twice a year at least in England."
A month subsequently the Emeus were still deter-
mined to persevere. "Feb. 12, 1850. My Emeus have
now eleven eggs, but I cannot help fearing the effects
of this horrid weather for them. It was very cold and
rained last evening, with the wind at south-east, but at
night the wind went down and shifted to westward or
to south-west ; but this morning the rain changed to a
heavy fall of snow, and it has been bitterly cold, but the
snow has now nearly if not quite vanished again, having
no foundation to rest on." Such sloppy miserable
weather must be more likely to extinguish the vitality of
eggs than a down-right hard clear frost. When incubation
was once commenced, the animal heat of so large a bird
would drive off all ordinary damp and cold. These un-
seasonable proceedings (for England), and their obstinate
B B 2
372 DIET. [CHAP, ix,
adherence to foreign fashions, call to mind Cowper's
fable " Pairing Time Anticipated," in which,
" The birds, conceiving a design
To forestall sweet St. Valentine,"
verified the proverb, " Marry in haste, and repent at
leisure," the moral of the whole being,
" Choose not alone a proper mate,
But proper time to marry."
The diet of Emeus co'nsists of grain and vegetables ;
cabbages and biscuits are much given to them, and it may
be suggested that barley-bread, or the rye-bread which
in some parts of Europe is the common food of man
and beast, would be an inexpensive and convenient form
in which to lay before them the farinaceous portion of
their daily mess. A couple of Emeus would cost much
about the same as a pair of small ponies to keep. The
eggs are of a uniform dark bottle-green. The new-
hatched young are elegantly striped with dark brown on
a fawn-coloured ground, like guinea-chicks on a very
large scale. A peculiarity in their plumage deserves
pointing out. Mr. Yarrell, speaking of feathers, in an
interesting paper in the first volume of the Transactions
of the Zoological Society* says, " The accessory plume
requires to be noticed. This is usually a small downy
tuft, which not only assumes a very different character
in the feathers of different species, but is even very
dissimilar in the feathers of different parts of the body
of the same bird The four species of Struthious
birds afford remarkable instances of the variety that
occurs in this accessory plume, even in subjects so
* Page 13.
CHAP. IX. I
PECULIAR PLUMAGE.
373
closely allied. In the Ostrich the feathers have no
accessory plume ; in the Rhe'a there is a tuft of down ;
in the Emeu the accessory plume is augmented to the
full size of the principal shaft and web, and the feather
of this bird is constantly and correctly represented as
having two plumes on one quill ; in the Cassowary, be-
sides the double shafts and webs from a single quill,
as in the Em.eu, there is still an accessory plume, thus
forming three distinct parts."
Body feather of the Australian Emeu*
~Egg of the Common Quail natural size
CHAPTER X.
THE COMMON OR DACTYL-SOUNDING QUAIL.
( Cetumix dactylisonans, GOULD.)
Emblem of mediocrity. Explanation of specific name. Call note. Their
migrations. Immense multitudes. Their destruction. Ancient history.
Identical with the Quail of Scripture. Do not universally migrate. Welcome
feasts afforded by their flight. Quails in captivity. Their fate in an aviary.
Distinction between Quails and Partridges. Unvarying plumage throughout
the Old World. Whether polygamous. Careless of their young. Their double
moult. Breeding in confinement. Diet. Subject to epilepsy. Estimation as
food. Modes of cooking and of fatting. Quail fights. Distinction of sex.
Pick-werwick. Quails in process of fatting. Necessaries of life.
" BIKDS, faithfully imaging the relations of this life,
offer to us, in the variety of their plumage, types of the
distinctions which exist in the state in which Man finds
himself placed. Many a one, puffed up with his wealth
or his knowledge, resemhles a Peacock, who, admiring
his own splendour, seems himself to enjoy the magnifi-
cence which he displays; whilst the Quail, modestly
clad, hiding itself from all eyes in its obscure retreat,
is a representative of humble mediocrity, which strives
CHAP, x.] SPECIFIC NAME. 375
to reject and abjure all parade of luxury and empty
splendour."*
The Quail is remarkable on many accounts, besides
that of having suggested a pleasing emblem to the
naturalist whom we have quoted for a motto. Its usual
specific name (to begin with that), though not quite
appropriate, is curious. The epithet "dactyl-sounding "
is given to describe the call of the male bird, which con-
sists of three notes repeated at short intervals in loud,
clear, and bell-like tones. As it is our natural wish
that these Essays should become popular, we shall, for
that reason, be relieved from the charge of pedantry in
stating that " dactyl " is a metrical foot originally used
in Greek and Latin versification consisting of three
syllables, one long and two short, denoted thus - ^ u in
the scanning of verses. The term is derived from the
Greek word $<x.x.ruXo;, dactylus (itself a dactyl), meaning
"finger," a member that has three joints, one longer
and two shorter. The words curricle, gloomily, bounti-
ful, are English dactyls. But the Quail does not sing
exactly in dactyls. The reader will perceive that in
the instances we have given the accent is always on the
first syllable ; but the Quail's call marks the second as
the strongest, and is easiest expressed by musical nota-
tion
fcjjfetfsga
and so on, keeping always to the same note in the scale.
It is generally, not always, preceded by two or three
frog-like croaks, and the whole strain may be taken to
* Temminck, Hist, des Pig. et Grail., torn. i. p. 2.
376 MIGRATIONS. [CHAP, x,
mean, "Mate! Mate! come hither! come hither!"
This dactyl-phrase might easily be made the ground-
work and leading idea of a new set of " Quail Waltzes,"
or " Valses des Cailles," containing less necessary dis-
cord and fewer noises than many modern compositions
favour our ears with. We recommend to this class of
composers the perusal of a really curious and clever
book, " The Music of Nature," by Mr. Gardiner of Lei-
cester, which will furnish them with many valuable
hints. The dactyl-song is strictly a call note, which
adds to its interest. We had kept Quails in our dining-
room for several months without hearing it, because
they lived in company ; but, on parting a couple, and
placing their cages in separate apartments, we were
soon favoured with a specimen of their vocal accom-
plishments.
The wonderful migrations of the Quail will occur to
every tyro. Their numbers are astounding. Millions
must quit their native home, never to return. They
are imported, for the table, by thousands into England
alone, besides the bevies that find their way hither not
in cages, and at their own travelling charges. The
numbers slaughtered at every halting-place during this
passage all the way from Africa must be quite incal-
culable. The marvel is partly explained by Colonel
Montagu*: " Dr. Latham remarks that he has known
two instances where twenty eggs have been found in the
nest of a Quail. This prolificacy is the occasion of the
immense flocks that are annually noticed on their
passage, spring and autumn, in various parts of the
south of Europe." In Great Britain their numbers are
* Dictionary, Ronnie's Edition, p. 395.
CHAP, x.] DESTRUCTION. 377
comparatively few, but still are greater in many dis-
tricts, Cambridgeshire for instance, than is commonly
suspected. They are little noticed, by reason of their
small size, their colour, which resembles loamy earth,
the circumstance of their never perching, their trick of
squatting when surprised, and, we suspect, their noc-
turnal habits when on the move. They really are not
rare birds here, but we have no notion how they swarm
at certain seasons on the Continent. " There is no part
of Great Britain where we can go regularly out for a
day's Quail shooting as in France (where these birds
abound in the month of August), or the more southern
parts up the Mediterranean, where they sometimes
cover the country for miles. The Quails are so far
plentiful on the left bank of the Tagus that many of the
officers, indifferent shots, while in winter quarters at
Vallada, thought nothing of going over, and returning
to their dinner with ten or twelve couple, although with
every disadvantage in point of guns and ammunition."*
Another sportsman of some repute, Colonel Napier,
tells us that "Malta is not a field where the sportsman
has a very extensive range, either in the quality or
quantity of his game, the Quail being the only bird
coming, properly speaking, under that denomination,
which is to be found in the island, and these only at
certain periods in the spring, on their passage from
Africa across the Mediterranean, and on their return
in autumn. They then make their appearance in great
numbers, but dreadful is the slaughter which takes
place in their serried ranks, as war is waged on them
by every ' Smitch cacciadore ' who can muster anything
* Colonel Hawker's Instructions, p. 218.
378 ANCIENT HISTORY. [CHAP. x.
in the shape of fire-arms, from a blunderbuss to a horse-
pistol. Quail, at the above seasons,' a few Rabbits,
Blue Pigeons, Turtle-Doves, Blackbirds, and Beccaficos
are almost the only living animals to be found here in
a wild state."* The same thing takes place on the
main land. " Like Malta, the country about Alexandria
is, in the spring and autumn, visited by large quantities
of Quail, in their periodical emigrations; and their ap-
pearance is always the signal for a greater variety of
' Cockney sportsmen ' than were ever mustered at Black-
heath or Epping. Mounted on donkeys, armed with all
manner of projectiles, duly rigged out in sporting cos-
tumes shooting-jackets and gaiters every merchant's
clerk here fancies himself a ' Cacciadore,' and proudly
sallies forth on a Sunday morning to the plains of Rain-
fall, where numerous sanguinary deeds are committed,
not only on the Quail tribe, but on every unoffending
Lark, Houpou, or unfortunate Dove whom these ardent
votaries of Nimrod can possibly get a pot-shot at ; and
towards evening, dozens of these gay foresters may be
seen returning through the Damietta gates, and proudly
displaying to the wondering Arabs whole strings of
these noble trophies of the chase ! " f
In reading these amusing accounts we can hardly
avoid more serious thoughts that call to mind historic
occurrences which took place ages ago. "At even ye
shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled
with bread : and ye shall know that I am the Lord your
God. And it came to pass, that at even the Quails
came up, and covered the camp : and in the morning
the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew
* Wild Sports in Europe, &c., vol. ii. p. 49.
t Idem, p. 348,
CHAP, x.] THE QUAIL OF SCRIPTURE. 379
that lay was gone up, behold upon the face of the wil-
derness there lay a small round thing, as small as the
hoar frost on the ground."-' The " small round thing "
has of late had a very remarkable and unlooked-for
illustration, for an account of which the reader is re-
ferred to the Gardener's Chronicle of September 29,
and to the Athenaeum of October 6, 1849. As to the
Quails, there have been various hypercritical cavils.
Scott's notes tell us that " there are different opinions
concerning the meaning of the word translated Quails.
Some imagine that they were a species of locusts ;
(others even fancy that they were flying fish ! ) but the
language of Scripture uniformly leads us to consider
them as wild fowl, of whatever species they might be."
But there seems no good reason to suspect any mis-
translation in those passages of the Old Testament
which relate to Quails : their great though partial
abundance continues to this day. It was left for the
sound knowledge of Colonel Sykes, who is quoted by
Mr. Yarrell to set the matter at rest in a very few
words. " There is another mode to connect the bird of
Scripture with the Coturnix dactylisonans, and this is
readily done by the simple fact of its being the only
species of Quail that migrates in multitudes ; indeed
we have not any satisfactory account that any other
species of Quail is migratory. Aristotle mentions the
habit ; and Pliny states they sometimes alight on
vessels in the Mediterranean, and sink them!"f The
joint weight of our own pair of Quails is seven and a
half ounces. We will therefore propose the following
sum to our arithmetical friends : given the number of
* Exodus xvi. 12, 13, 14. f British Birds, vol. ii. p. 359.
380 COLONEL SYKES'S REASONING. [CHAP. x.
tons burden of a trading vessel in Pliny's days, how
many Quails would it take to load it to the sinking
point ?
Colonel Sykes proceeds to adduce modern naturalists
and travellers as witnesses to the prodigious numbers of
these birds that are captured, one hundred thousand
being, on one occasion, taken in one day, and judiciously
adds, " With these facts before us, considering the
positive testimony of the Psalmist that the unexpected
supply of food to the Israelites was a bird, and that
bird agreeably to the Septuagint and Josephus a Quail,
that only one species of Quail migrates in prodigious
numbers, and that species the subject of the present
notice, we are authorized to pronounce the Coturnix
dactylisonans to be the identical species with which
the Israelites were fed. We have here proof of the
perpetuation of an instinct through 3300 years, not
pervading a whole species, but that part of a species
existing within certain geographical limits ; an instinct
characterised by a peculiarity which modern observers
have also noticed, of making their migratory flight by
night: 'at even the Quails came up.' As might be ex-
pected, we see the most ancient of all historical works
and natural history reflecting attesting lights on each
other."
Here is a small fragment out of infinity brought be-
fore our view, a minute portion from eternity, a
mere touch of Omnipotence ! A thousand years are as
one day ; the same now with us, as with the Israelites
of yore ; and the same onwards, till any new order of
nature shall be called forth by special intervention.
" He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust : and
feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea. He let it
CHAP. x.J DO NOT ALL MIGRATE. 381
fall among their tents : even round about their habita-
tion. So they did eat, and were well filled ; for he
gave them their desire : they were not disappointed of
their lust."* But what is so extraordinary in the
migrations of the Quail is, that all the birds do not
migrate, like Storks, and Cranes, and Swallows, and
Cuckoos, and so on, but in all the countries where
they are found considerable numbers remain to be the
parents of future swarms. Even in Great Britain some
continue all the year round, without feeling the mys-
terious impulse to return southwards!. When they do
stream forth to cover the land, it seems as if the lavish
bounty of Providence chose at those periods to scatter,
with open hand, an abundant supply of food throughout
the expectant nations a feast to the hungry. Who
can tell how many shipwrecked mariners, escaped with
their bare lives from the squalls of the Mediterranean,
how many famishing families, isolated in the Archi-
* Ps. Ixxviii. 28-30.
+ " We should be deceived in supposing that the emigrations of
these birds are determined by the cooling of the atmosphere : these
migrations, which are often performed by Partridges also, are deter-
mined by the locality and by the dearth of alimentary substances ;
for we know that even the Quail of Europe, that bird whose periodic
change of place seems an indispensable need, is stationary in some
countries of the> globe, where it never migrates." Temminck, Hist.
Nat. des Pig. et Grail., torn. iii. p. 463.
The following passage proves that they are sometimes settled in
their localities in India : " In a valley near Jangamar, there are
astonishing numbers of Quails and Partridges, for the maintenance of
which the Khan causes millet and other seeds to be sown, that they
may have plenty of food ; and a number of people are appointed to
take care that no person may catch any of these birds, which are so
tame, that they will flock around their keepers at a whistle, to re-
ceive food from their hands. There are also a great number of small
huts built in different parts of the valley, for shelter to these birds,
during the severity of winter, where they are regularly fed by the
keepers." Marco Polo : Kerr's Voyages.
382 C ACTIVE QUAILS. [CHAf.x,
pelago of the Levant, have, since the epoch of the
Exodus, been saved by the sudden flight of birds wafted
to their isle by some propitiously-shifting wind, and
have felt with thankful hearts that He who feeds the
Ravens has fed them ! In the case of the Israelites
we are referred to a miracle. Miracles we are told have
ceased. But a miracle cannot, to the minds of common-
sense people, be very clearly distinguished from the
action of a particular Providence, a series of ever-
working miracles. That the superintendence of a par-
ticular Providence has not yet been withdrawn from us,
working out good from evil, strength from weakness,
those feel most assured whose frail bark has been driven
through stormy waters, whether metaphorically, in the
pelting, crushing, sometimes foundering, troubles of life,
or literally, in the tempestuous seas, where there was
little but the compass, and a firm trust and faith, to
prevent all heart and courage from giving way. The
flight of Quails, and like unlooked-for aids, have been
the inspiring accompaniments on more than one Exodus
from heartbreaking sorrow and oppression.
Quails in captivity are of far inferior interest to what
they claim in a state of nature. A few solitary indivi-
duals are kept as cage birds, but more frequently on the
Continent than here, for the sake of their song, or call.
But they fail to excite much personal favour towards
themselves. We have had them more than a twelve-
month under our eye, without being able to call forth
any signs of attachment to ourselves ; they only become
a little less wild, but will still either squat, or flutter, if
suddenly intruded upon too closely. Few aviaries are,
or ought to be without them, for the sake of their his-
torical associations ; but in those places they are more
CHAP.X.] DISTINCTIVE PLUMAGE. 383
subject to suffer from adverse accidents than if kept in
a low cage. When disturbed, or impelled to migrate,
as during their evening restlessness, they mount almost
perpendicularly with a strong and sudden flight, and fall
either stunned by a hard roof, or rebounding from an
elastic one, often with severe injury. Thus Mr. Rayner
complains, " My Quails fed and lived as the Pheasants
did, but at night invariably took to flight in the aviary,
and I suppose beating themselves against the wirework
at the roof, fell eventually into a fountain of water which
was in the centre of the aviary, and were drowned. I
had several pair in succession, but this was the fate of
all."
Most persons on seeing our own caged Quails for the
first time, suppose them to be not adult birds, but the
growing young of Partridges or some other game bird
which they are less accustomed to behold : and Buffon
tells us that Theophrastus found so great a resemblance
between the Partridge and the Quail that he gave to
the latter the name of dwarf Partridge. " But," says
Temminck, " as the species of these two genera seem
to have considerable analogy, both in their carriage, and
in the form of their bill and feet, and as this appearance
of generic identity, if judged of at the first glance, is of
a nature to mislead and embarrass the classifier as to
the place which he ought to assign to those species, I
will point out preliminarily the surest mode of distin-
guishing a Quail from a Partridge. This marked cha-
racter is taken from the form of the wings. All the
birds which compose the genus Partridge have the three
outer quill feathers the shortest, regularly slanting one
beyond the other, the fourth and fifth being the longest;
whilst in all the species which compose the genus Quail,
384 WHETHER POLYGAMOUS. [CHAP. x.
Coturnix, the first species is that wherein the outer
quill feather is the longest. I have found this character
invariable in all the species; always coinciding with
other differences less easy to seize : in short, in con-
nection with the manner of life and the habits of the
different species of these two genera."*
Temminck, as is usual with him when he reasons
from his own observations and does not adopt the no-
tions suggested to him by others, makes the identity of
appearance of the common Quail throughout its wide
range over Europe, Asia, and Africa, an argument for
the permanency of the forms stamped upon organic
beings at their first creation. " In Europe," he says,
" we have but one single species of Quail, which equally
belongs to Africa and to Asia, two climates very dif-
ferent in temperature from the cold and temperate
countries of Europe, but under whose influence the
Quail has experienced no sort of alteration in the
colours of its plumage a fact which, supported by so
many others of the same nature that are often men-
tioned in this work, is a new incontestible proof that
the temperature of the atmosphere, and the combined
influences of air and light, do not operate with so much
efficacy upon the colours of the plumage of birds and of
the fur of animals, as Buffon and many other naturalists
pretend."
Most books tell us that the Common Quail is poly-
gamous, which may perhaps be correct. Temminck
says, " Bechstein seems not to believe in the polygamy
of this bird, but I believe that he is wrong." We, how-
ever, vote on the side of Bechstein, having been quite
* See also Col. Sykes's Paper on the Quails and Hemipodii of
India in the Transactions of the Zoological Society of London.
CHAP, x.] WANT OF AFFECTION. 885
unable to keep more than a pair associated together in
the same cage : the supernumerary birds, whether cocks
or hens, being soon worried to death by the others.
When our hen Quail accidentally broke her thigh, we
fancied that the male bird showed greater signs of at-
tachment and interest while his companion lay disabled
on the floor of the cage, than would have been exhibited
by most polygamous birds, and these little marks of at-
tention were continued till her recovery by the uniting
of the fractured bone. It may be that the hens are
jealous amongst themselves, and will not bear the pre-
sence of a rival. It is not every female that, like the
Domestic Hen, or the Wives of the Sultan, will quietly
allow their lord to bestow his attentions, with their
cognizance, upon other favourites : though how it is
managed at Constantinople we can hardly guess, unless
the internal arrangements of the seraglio are upon a
principle that has furnished a hint for the model prison
at Pentonville. From what can be learned of the wild
habits of the Quail, although he is at times so unreason-
ably troublesome to the hens, we should call him nei-
ther monogamic nor polygamic, but agamic, or not
marrying at all, from the very short and slight attach-
ment which subsists between the sexes. " The male,"
says Temminck, " abandons the female for ever, as soon
as she begins to sit, taking no interest in the brood ;
we may, therefore, without injury to the young family,
decoy and snare the males in the last days of July and
the beginning of August: the same sport carried on
with Partridges at the same time of year would de-
stroy whole coveys." Here is a lesson for improvident,
negligent, and spendthrift fathers of families : it mat-
ters not whether they be drawn for soldiers, transported,
c c
386 BREEDING IN CAPTIVITY. [CHAP. x.
or otherwise disposed of: what should be a loss to their
wives and children, becomes, in truth, a real gain ;
whereas the kind and faithful Partridge fulfils his duty,
and is respected accordingly. The little Quails take
after their parents ; as soon as they are strong enough,
they separate with perfect indifference, and it is rare
afterwards to find two together ; they prefer to pursue
each his or her solitary devices, till a spontaneous im-
pulse collects them in bands immediately preparatory
to their migratory movements. We have by observation
verified Temminck's assertion that the Quail moults
twice a year : the old ones moult in August, the time
when many (for we have seen that some are permanent
visitors) f would proceed southwards ; in the spring
both young and old moult a second time, before the
commencement of that flight which brings the great
body into Europe. The only case of the common Quail
breeding in confinement in England, that I have been
able to ascertain, is given in the subjoined note * ;
* In March, 1849, a pair of Quails which for two winters had
been kept in the house in a cage, were placed by Lady llowley in
one of the compartments of a small mew on the lawn at Tendring
Hall in Suffolk. The mew is bricked two feet from the ground,
wired in front and at the sides, closed at the back, and partly covered
overhead ; several pairs of Doves were kept in the other divisions of
the mew.
The weather was severe in the ensuing April, with sharp frosts
during several nights. The Qnails, however, did not appear to mind
the cold ; neither did they seem to care for the constant cooing of
the Doves. In May the hen laid ten eggs, and hatched nine of
them in June. Four of the young birds died during the first moult-
ing; the remaining five lived through the winter of 1849-50. In
the month of February the birds fought excessively, and one of them
was so much injured that it died. The others were immediately
separated in pairs ; but all the young birds have since died, either
from want of variety of food, or from some other cause unknown.
The old birds were fed on wheat, with a little hemp-seed, and
their young ones with Partridge food, and a little chalk was occasion-
CHAP.X.J DIET. 387
though, were more frequent success a point of any im-
portance, I do not think it impossible to attain it, by
allowing a pair of birds to have a large aviary to them-
selves, with a portion screened off so as to allow them
to retire to complete seclusion, and provided with earth,
turf, and growing corn, in imitation of their natural
haunts. The male had better be removed as soon as
the female is seen to be scratching out a nest*. The
hen with her tiny brood would be exceedingly pretty
and interesting objects could their wildness be conquered.
Temminck states the time of incubation to be three
weeks, and that the chicks run as soon as hatched.
Quails do not seem to care for green food, either in
the shape of unripe seeds, buds, or leaves, like many
other gallinaceous birds, but feed on ripe seeds, worms,
and insects. They drink frequently, and do not shell
their seeds like linnets and canaries, but swallow them
whole like Poultry. Our birds always have two small
turfs in their cage, one with the grass upwards, the
other reversed : the first attracts but little of their
attention, the latter is soon torn to pieces by their
search after grubs and their endeavours to dust them-
selves in the mould. They are very apt to become epi-
ally given to them. They delighted to hide themselves Tinder
boughs which had been placed for them in the mew. They are fond
of busking and rubbing their feathers in the sand, and seemed much
to enjoy fresh turf when given to them in their habitation. The
pair of old Quails were tolerably tame when first placed in the mew.
The two young hens laid thirteen eggs this summer ('50), but did
not sit.
* " The nest is made by the female, but, like the Partridges, the
eggs are deposited almost on the bare ground ; these also, unlike the
uniform tint which we find prevailing in those of the true Partridges,
are deeply blotched with oil-green, and, except in form, are somewhat
similar to those of the Snipe." Sir W. Jardine, Game Birds, p. 96,
C C 2
388 EPILEPTIC. [CHAP. x.
leptic, and suffer severely from the disease for months,
without being killed by it, as one would expect. It is
painful to see them with their head distorted, twisting
and pirouetting on one spot as the fit comes on. The
symptoms are well known to the London poulterers ;
better, perhaps, than to their customers ; for the lia-
bility of Quails to this disorder is stated by Pliny as one
reason for abstaining from their flesh :
" To Quails the seed of a poisonous plant (Hellebore)
is the most grateful food : for which cause they are
banished from our tables ; they are also usually rejected
with disgust on account of the epileptic fits which attack
them alone amongst animals, except man."*
These prejudices have long since passed away, and
the birds, with all their infirmities, are in high request.
It is a pity that the fashion does not in England extend
to the legions of small birds, which make such incal-
culable havoc on our grain and in our gardens, destroy-
ing our roofs, blighting our fruit crops in the bud, and
our esculent vegetables in the seed. The plague and
nuisance of them would be called intolerable, if it were
not inevitable. Let then some one set the example of
clearing them away by the aid of side dishes and third
courses. " Nothing is better," says Col. Hawker, p.
432, < than a dish of small birds fried, and eaten with
oil and lemon juice."
M. Ude, in his elaborate and thoroughly professional
work on Cookery, speaks, we think, more slightingly of
Quails than they deserve, if a judgment be pronounced
on their intrinsic merits without any reference to their
London price : "Young Quails are called Cailleteaux,
* Lib. x. 33.
CHAP. x.J MODES OF COOKING. 389
but, owing to their enormous price in England, they are
very seldom, if ever, to be procured at the poulterer's.
A dish of fillets of young Quails is never attempted ;
the expense would be extravagant, without any other
merit. Quails in my opinion have no flavour, and from
the circumstance of confinement and bad feeding are
never very fat ; it is only their rarity that makes them
fashionable." Nevertheless, he gives half a dozen re-
ceipts for cooking them, a request to have any one of
which executed would thunderstrike an old-fashioned
English cook, and make her give warning the moment
she had recovered from her amazement. We may
guess how she would look on being summoned into the
breakfast-room, and requested to listen attentively while
her mistress ordered a dish of Quails au Gratin, and
read to her the following easily understood directions
for preparing it : " Bone six quails, pick them nicely ;
take a little farce fine or quenelle, made in preference
with the flesh of young rabbits ; fill the bodies of the
quails with the farce : then raise a kind of dome on a
dish, and with a spoon make room for the birds : next
make an opening in the middle ; let it be either round or
square, according to the shape of the dish. Put a
sweet-meat pot within the opening; cover the birds
with layers of bacon, and put the dish into the oven for
about a quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes at most,
till the birds are done. Drain the fat carefully, take
out the pot ; then take six slices of bread cut in the
shape of cock's combs, which fry in the butter till they
are of a light brown, and put them one by one between
the birds. Serve a ragout a la financiere in the mid-
dle, and cover the birds and the gratin over with a good
Espagnole, well reduced."
390 QUAIL-FIGHTS. [CHAP. x.
The reader, having taken breath, shall now be sup-
plied with a less laborious mode of cooking them, for
which we are indebted to a high authority in such mat-
ters, and which is simply to roast them with a thin
piece of bacon tied over the breasts, the sauce the same
as for a roast pigeon, and with the accompaniment of fried
bread crumbs, as with a dish of Larks. The London
Quails are usually fatted on hemp-seed ; but rice, not too
much boiled, is the best food for them, as it makes their
flesh more delicate and less oily. The town-fed Quails
are probably better for the table than those taken wild,
except at certain seasons. Those we have eaten on the
Continent soon after their migration have been decidedly
dry. Such countless legions moving together must half-
starve each other, but when dispersed amidst an abund-
ance of any favourite food, they improve correspondingly
in condition; witness Captain Mundy in his amusing
Sketches in India : " In the cool of the afternoon we
strolled for an hour in the grain-fields, and shot several
brace of Quails, which, at this season, are like little
flying pats of butter! I have heard it averred that
these delicate bonnes- benches are sometimes so fat in
the grain-season, that, when they are shot, they burst,
from their own weight, as they fall on the parched
ground."*
This excursion to the East brings us to the subject of
Quail-fighting, in which we are likely to be perplexed
by the circumstance that three species are made use of
by the Orientals to engage in single combat, viz. our
own common Quail; the Caille /raise, Coturnix excal/ac-
toria, or Hand-warming Quail, of Temminck, a small
* Vol. i. p. 148.
CHAP, x.] DISTINCTION OF SEX. 391
species, the total length of which does not exceed four
inches ; and the Hvmipvdius pugnax, or Pugnacious
Hemipod, or Half-foot, so called because, having no
hind toe, the back half of the foot may be said to be
wanting. The last seems to be the favourite gladiator,
the females even engaging in the set-to ; and the pro-
bability is that when Quail-fights* are mentioned, as in
the following extract, the Hemipod is the bird to which
the anecdote applies.
" On our return from the beast fight, a breakfast
awaited us at the Royal Palace of Lucknow, and the
white table-cloth being removed, Quails, trained for the
purpose, were placed upon the green cloth, and fought
most gamely, after the manner of the English cockpit.
This is an amusement much in fashion among the
natives of rank, and they bet large sums on their birds,
as they lounge luxuriously round, smoking their
houkahs."f
For aviary purposes the hen of the common Quail is
much more difficult to obtain in England than the cock.
A simple rule for those who are not learned ornitho-
logists is, that the hen has a decidedly speckled breast,
and that if a bird when placed alone, especially in a
darkened room, utters the cry which foreigners have
aptly spelt pick-werwick, pick-werwick, instead of Pick-
erwick, as given by English naturalists, it is a male."
* In allusion to Quail-fighting, Shakspeare thus makes Antony
acknowledge the ascendant fortunes of Caesar :
" The very dice obey him ;
And, in our sports, my better cunning faints
Under his chance : if we draw lots, he speeds :
His cocks do win the battle still of mine,
When it is all to nought ; and his quails ever
Beat mine, inhoop'd at odds."
Antony and Cleopatra, Act II., Scene III.
f Mundy's Sketches in India, vol. i. p. 39.
392 PROCESS OF FATTING. [CHAP. x.
Mr. Yarrell, Col. Montague, and their plagiarists,
have written pickerwick; thus throwing back the accent,
and making a real dactyl of it, but losing all re-
semblance to the bird's cry, which pick-werwick retains
if accented in the same manner as the English words
" precisely," " moreover," " morosely," and such like.
The price of Quails in London may be stated at about
55. the couple ; fewer than three couple can hardly be
set upon a table, and these, when trussed for the spit,
will perhaps altogether weigh 1 Ib. At the end of the
London season, the purveyors of dinner-parties would
give anything for a new dish to stimulate the cloyed
appetite and the jaded eye; we strongly recommend
them to vary the entrees of Quails with various prepara-
tions of Sparrows, or any other of our winged nuisances,
before the fruit season and the harvest comes on ; they
would answer the purpose just as well, and the innovation
would be a real benefit to the country.
Quails for the table are kept crowded in small low
cages. Mr. Baily, of Mount Street, Grosvenor Square,
informs us " The remarks which I made with regard
to the influence of season in fatting the Ortolan, apply
equally to the Quail, although belonging to a different
genus. I have had very many thousands of them, wild*
greedy birds. A timid bird, if looked at, will hide in a
corner of its cage, and take no notice of food ; not so the
Quail : he eats readily the moment food is offered, and
thrusts his head boldly between the bars, although
strangers are looking on; yet I never saw two fight,
[because they had not room to do so ; it would have been
different had three or four been placed by themselves
in a cage inclosing sufficient sjpace for tilting ground.]
I have hundreds of times seen them scrambling over
CHAP, x.j ILLUSIVE DISHES. 393
each other to reach food, but I never saw so much as a
peck or a blow given. They are very chilly in a cage,
and are liable to blindness. [From this it has been
supposed by some, that the French used purposely to
put out the eyes of the hens before exporting them.]
Their beaks sometimes grow till they become cross-bills,
and their plumage becomes very dark. In France they
are strict birds of passage ; but in Cambridgeshire, in
parts of Hampshire, and in Ireland, they remain all the
year ; there are many in Ireland. We formerly got all
our Quails from France, but in that self-called free
country they have recently passed game-laws, and among
other most preposterous enactments they have forbidden
the exportation of Quails ; we therefore now get them
from Sicily, Holland, and Belgium."
Never mind if we cease to get them at all ; let us
encourage native productions instead. If we must have
such tit-bits, there are plenty of small deer in the shape
of Larks, Wheat-ears, &c., on our downs ; and even if
all these should fail us utterly, let us be thankful to be
able to fall back upon roast beef. An English lady, on
her first visit to Italy, saw with some surprise a dish
of very very little birds produced at a table d'hote, and
inquired what they were; "Madam," replied a hungry
Frenchman, with truth, "ces sont des illusions!"
CHAPTER XI
THE ORTOLAN,
The fatting of wild birds largely practised by the ancients. Good old-
fashioned fare. Mock and true Ortolans. Not native Britons. Merits as cage
birds. Their song, plumage, and diet. Variable states of fatness. Effects of
revolutions. Beau Tibbs and his Ortolan.
THE Quail and the Ortolan are, in England, about
the last remaining instances of a practice which has
obtained to a much greater extent in other coun-
tries than it ever has in this, and which has been
systematically pursued from a very remote anti-
quity. Wild birds have, from the earliest ages, been
taken alive by various means, and fatted for the table,
CHAP. xi.J FATTING BY THE ANCIENTS. 395
according to an established regimen. The creatures
subjected to this process form an entirely distinct class
from those known as Game Birds, as well as from those
that are reared in a domestic state for the sake of their
flesh ; so that the poulterer's list, in days of yore, was
much more rich than it now is. It would comprise
three different descriptions of birds ; viz., those bred at
home, or true poultry ; those killed, in their season, in
a condition fit for table, and our ancestors were much
more comprehensive in their tastes, in this respect,
than we are, for even Bittern might be unmentionable,
after a first trial, to palates polite ; and those taken
wild, and subsequently fed up in captivity, or " fatted
fowl." There is little doubt that the fatted fowl men
tioned at 1 Kings iv. 23, were of this last class, and not
fat cocks and hens, as is usually supposed ; for in the
Septuagint, the words thus rendered in our version are,
literally, " birds, select fatted ones from the select."
The repeated and appropriate allusions in the books of
Psalms and Proverbs to the net of the fowler, and the
escape of the bird from the snare, will occur to every
reader.
Oato, about 200 years before Christ, gives directions*
for the fatting of fresh-caught Wood-pigeons on roasted
beans, bean-meal, &c. His treatise is sternly brief, or
he. doubtless would have told us how to bring other
birds also into good order ; but Varro and Columella,
writing at the commencement of the Christian sera,
much extend the list. Varro attaches great importance
to the fatting (on account of the high price they
fetched) of Thrushes, MUiaria (our Ortolans, as likely
as not), Quails, Wood-pigeons, and Turtles. In like
manner TeaL Pintail Ducks, Mallard, &c., were fat-
* Cap. xc.
396 OLD FASHIONED FAKE. [CHAP. xi.
tened, he tells us, in the " Nessotropheion," or Duckery.
Columella gives similar instructions in almost the same
words, and mentions besides the sylvestres gallince,
Wood-hens, called Rustics (qua rustica appellantur) :
these, he says, will not breed in servitude, and therefore
he gives no more directions about them, except that
they be fed to repletion, in order to make them more fit
(aptiores) for convivial banquets. What species of bird
is meant by them I cannot even guess.
Ruffs and Reeves were, years ago, snared in large
numbers on their strutting hillocks, during their season
of pugnacity, by men who then fatted them on bread
and milk, and made a trade of carrying them to great
provincial feasts. But the practice is now obsolete ;
and, except Quails and Ortolans, "fatted fowl" are
pretty nearly obliterated from our bills of fare. Cyg-
nets, however, hopped in August and ponded till No-
vember, may be truly, though they are not popularly,
referred to the same class.
Fatted fowl belong so completely to good old times,
that the few worthy old-fashioned folks whom one meets
with now and then ladies and gentlemen who con-
trive to abstain from the use of envelopes and railway
carriages, so long as a sheet 'of letter-Tpa.per or a post-
chaise is to be found in archaeological warehouses,
they, to be consistent, ought never to be without. a
supply of these dainties for the third course of their
dinners of state. And, at such tables, medieval dishes
would be sure to be assisted by good port and claret, of
a respectable antiquity. The eater might safely confide
in wine likely to cheer man's heart, not upset his
stomach. The revival of an entree of Ruffs and
Reeves, not such as are imported from Holland and
to be had for ninepence a-piece in Hungerford Market
CHAP. XI. J THE TEUE OETOLAN. 397
at the end of May, but birds traditionally caught with
horse hair, and bread-and-milked for a fortnight, would
be worthy of a true-hearted young England dinner-
party. Ortolans are become cheap, and may soon be
vulgar, unless M. Soyer can elevate them to their
former station. Unfortunately, during the London
season, they, the multitude of them, are out of season.
But the papers record that at the dinner given by the
Lord Mayor of York to Prince Albert and the assembled
mayors of the kingdom, on November 1, 1850, one
dish, to which Turtle, Ortolans, and other rich denizens
of land arid sea, had contributed, cost not less than
WOL Fashion may again make "the Hortulon " for
autumnal feasts what it was when Albin, writing of it
more than a hundred years ago, says, "These birds
are accounted a great rarity in banquets, and bear a
high price in France and other countries."
But it will be as well for cooks, who are ambitious of
reproducing antique messes, to make sure that they
have got the right species to work upon, and are not put
off with Starlings, and other lean, mouse-flavoured birds,
instead of the genuine morsel of fat. For Buffon has
stated, surely in error, that " about the end of summer
the Wryneck grows very fat, and is then excellent meat ;
so that in many countries it goes by the name of Or-
tolan." A mock Ortolan, we suppose ; just as Theodore
Hook called the Brill a Workhouse Turbot. The dis-
arrangement of a few loose notes may cause sad con-
fusion in cookery, as well as in Natural History.
The true bird is the Emberiza chlorocephala, or
green-headed Bunting of Montague's " Ornithological
Dictionary," and the Emberiza hortulana, or Ortolan, of
Selby, Jenyns, and Gould. It has the palatine knob
characteristic of the Buntings, and is but rarely found
398 THE1B SONG. [CHAP. xi.
wild in Great Britain. We may believe that all the in-
dividuals so taken at large have escaped from some
cagefull of imported captives, and have managed to
slip through the poulterer's fingers, just as he was
about to prepare half-a-dozen of them for a nice little
roast : and as we have kept a pair of these poor little
creatures incaged for some months, not to eat them
when a hungry fit came on, but to see how they would
behave themselves, we will recommend any one in
search of a harmless quiet pet, to look in at the Lon-
don poulterers' shops, and rescue from butchery a pair
or two of Ortolans. They have no stunning song, to
convert them into parlour nuisances whenever a nerv-
ous friend drops in ; all that we have heard from them
is a low monotonous song, which may be thus expressed
in musical notation :
rt '
J ^ ^
/
-V *} 1 -
V
1
* r II
rL ^ 1
J 9 tf
V ,
Grft-z4 I-XI
h-XJ
i i i
J
r
They are so little quarrelsome, that they may be
admitted harmlessly into a general aviary, or even into
a large cage occupied by a variety of small birds.
Mine have lived in happy companionship with a
pair of Siskins, birds much smaller and weaker than
themselves, in quite a small space. Although their
plumage is quietly russet-coloured, the light yellowish
marks under the chin, and the dark brown patches on
the back, give it some variety ; and the brownish
pink-tinted bill during their fat phase, and the
naked yellow skin round the large, mild eye, quite
save them from any cock-sparrow-like vulgarity of ap-
pearance. Sleek good nature is their principal charac-
teristic ; they look fat, and are fat. Their obesity of
CHAP, xi.j THETE DIET. 399
body seems a necessary consequence of their equanimity
of temper.
The Ortolan is as easy in its diet as in everything
else ; give it but enough canary-seed and fresh water,
and it is content. It does not seem in the least to
crave for groundsel, plantain-seed, fresh turfs, or any
other cage indulgence. A secret, communicated by
Lord Brougham to a West-End poulterer, is, that for a
day or two before killing them, a few pieces of suet
may be advantageously administered. This is much
the same thing as Mr. Huxtable's pig-secret. When
canary-seed is not at hand, other grain will suffice.
" These birds, taken in great numbers in nets with
decoy- birds, and fattened for the table, are," Booth's
Analytical Dictionary tells us, " fed up with oats and
millet-seed till they become lumps of fat three ounces in
weight, some of which are potted or otherwise pre-
served, and so exported to foreign countries."
For a few commercial particulars respecting Ortolans
I have to thank Mr. Baily, the respectable and well-
known poulterer of Mount Street, Grosvenor Square.
" I was the first importer," he writes, " of Ortolans
into this country, as a matter of trade; some years
since I used to get them one or two at a time, and then
sold them easily at a guinea each." This price is almost
classical ; for in Goldsmith's Essay on " The Frailty of
Man," in describing Mr. Th. Gibber, he says, " He would
eat an Ortolan, though he begged the guinea that
bought it;" and again, "As he grew old, he did not
grow better, but loved Ortolans and green peas, as be-
fore." Mr. Baily continues, " We now have them by
hundreds, and fat them for the table. They are Bunt-
ings, breaking their seed against a small projection from
the roof of the mouth. They are cheerful, greedy,
400 VARIABLE FATNESS. [CHAP. xi.
bold, with enough song to constitute a warbler ; they
live happily in confinement, neither loving nor fearing
man. No bird becomes so fat as the Ortolan*; when
in perfection, nothing is seen but fat, and the meat of
the bird is invisible. But in fatting them we have the
same intimation that nature will vindicate her sway, as
we find in other cases when we attempt to alter her
laws. It is our endeavour to fat them in April, May,
and June, when we receive them in large numbers ; but
that is their breeding time, and it is not natural for
them to get fat then. Whether they feel their captivity
at a time when they should be propagating their species,
I cannot pretend to say ; but it is certain that during
that time a fat Ortolan is a rarity, and to find six
such, it is often necessary to handle as many fifties ;
whereas in July and August, especially the latter month,
they are all fat : a cage containing twenty may be taken
down, and found to have none but fat birds in it. Yet
it is only nature makes the difference ; the captivity,
food, care, are all the same ; and lest it should be said
the bird has by the end of the season become reconciled
to his lot, I have tried the experiment of keeping them
on till another year, and have then found that birds
caught in the previous year, and kept in cages for
eighteen months, are identical in habits and constitution
with those whose incarceration is more recent.
'* In former times it was almost necessary to go to
Paris to eat Ortolans; now (March, 1850) they are of
* Mr. Baily probably means " no captive or fatted bird," for the
Landrail would often rival the Ortolan in fatness. Mr. St. John
(Tour in Sutherlandshire, &c.) tells us that, " Sometimes during the
shooting season a Landrail rises in some very unexpected place, and
they are then as fat as it is possible for a bird to be. The latest
Landrail that I killed in 1847 was on the 6th of October, and a
fatter bird of any description I never saw."
CHAP, xi.] BEAU TIBBS' ORTOLAN. 401
little value : Is. 6d. each. It would at first seem strange
that their worth should be affected by political revolu-
tions; but it was so. In 1848, owing to the commo-
tions and troubles in France, there was no sale for them
in that country, which, till then, was the chief market
for them, and the whole quantity was brought here,
causing a glut, and reducing their price two- thirds."
But even with all this tremendous sacrifice they are
not cheap food. Ortolans weighing three ounces each,
at only Is. M. the bird, give meat at exactly 8s. the lb.,
not reckoning the offal. This, however, is very different
to a guinea each, or 5Z. 12s. the lb. Goldsmith, there-
fore, only the more bitterly ridicules the braggadocio of
Beau Tibbs, when he makes him say, " But I hope, my
dear, you have given orders for dinner ; you need make
no great preparations neither, there are but three of
us ; something elegant and little will do ; a turbot, an
Ortolan, or a " no matter what costly viand ; and sets
him down finally to feast on cow-heel.
Roasted Ortolan natural size.
D D
CHAPTER XII.
GULLS IN CAPTIVITY, AND GULLERIES.
Desirable pets. Longevity. Discipline of new-caught birds. Reconciliations
and confidences. Good-natured, not stupid. Hardy and accommodating, but
not ascetic. Requisites for a Gullery. Voracity of Gulls. Black-headed Gull.
Its mode of nesting. Its eggs. Domesticability of Gulls. Their capture.
Application of the method to Geese. The birds kept in Dr. Neill's Gullery.
Docility of Cormorants. Chinese Fishing Cormorants. Albatrosses. Their
capture. Nesting-places. Battues. Dangers of a calm. Principle of flight.
To residents in the Midland Counties of England
and in the central regions of continental Europe, it may
be suggested that Gulls and their near relations would
supply a novel, amusing, and easily-procured set of
ornamental occupants of their pleasure-grounds. The
birds of this group, though varying greatly in size, and
considerably in colouring, have still so much that is
common to all of them, that as far as our present ob-
ject is concerned, they may be spoken of in general
terms. They are all very tameable and attachable, very
full of fun and good-nature, very hardy, and very de-
structive of some things which it is not always con-
venient that they should be permitte d to destroy.
Gulls, where they are free from accidents, no doubt
live to a great age. When rambling along the west
coast of Scotland, or steaming among its adjacent islands,
I have seen individuals standing on ledges of the rocks,
or launching out heavily into mid air if too near an
approach is made to them, which were perfect patriarchs,
shaming, both by their solid bulk, and plumage of more
CHAP. xn.J DISCIPLINE OF NEW PUPILS. 403
than adult completeness, any Gulls that one has the
honour of becoming acquainted with in South British
sea-side excursions. How these venerable gentlemen
and ladies would behave if caught and deprived of flight,
we cannot say ; as they are seldom to be got at without
first sending a rifle-ball through them, and not always
then. But the young birds of the year, which are so
easily to be had along our coasts from the time of the
herring fishery till a little after Christmas, show a most
cheerful and praiseworthy mode of encountering what
can't be cured. Their discipline with us has been this.
They come home packed in a hamper and half-starved.
When taken out, they try hard to bite the fingers of
whoever has the first handling of them, and would give
a sharp gripe, if allowed. This is avoided by grasping
them round the neck just at the back of the head. But
this alone will not save the operator, as their claws are
made for scratching as well as for swimming and running,
and so they must be secured below as well as above.
Some one else then takes the wing, and amputates all
beyond the elbow joint, if it is wished really to prevent
the bird from flying away. It is then put under a hen-
coop, to collect its thoughts. By-and-by pieces of fish
are given it : it will not look at them. Next morning,
however, some have disappeared. A pan of water is
introduced into the coop, and thankfully accepted,
both for drinking and washing. Do Gulls drink
salt water when they are out at sea for weeks and
weeks together ? In confinement they drink fresh water
plentifully and with enjoyment. Then, when the slave-
owner's back is turned, the other pieces of fish vanish.
Gully will do : he may wait an hour or two, or half a
day. He is now hungry. Some bits of fish are thrown
D D 2
404 GOOD-NATURED, NOT STUPID. [CHAP, xii.
in to him. He looks first at the fish, then at the cruel
donor, the kidnapper and pinioner of birds ; his eye is
distrustful, eager, angry, amicable, all in quick succes-
sion. Down goes a morsel, then another. He glances
at his enslaver, who stands looking on ; no further harm
is done, so he takes his next piece of fish and washes
it in the water before swallowing it. Another is served
in the same way ; still no more harm from the horrid
tyrannical man. He looks at him confidently, and
would, if he could, say, " Well ! here I am in prison :
you 're my turnkey ; let us shake hands ; quarrelling
will only make bad worse ; let 's be comfortable to-
gether;" the kidnapper then throws the hen-coop on
its back, and dismisses M. Gull on his parole d'honneur.
And he is wiser than Smith O'Brien; he accepts his
ticket of leave, and makes the best of a bad bargain.
It is the innate good-nature of Gulls, I believe, and
not any folly or stupidity that can be deservedly attri-
buted to them, which has raised the outcry arid charge
of Gullibility. They are bons in a sort of French
sense ; what the Norfolk rustics call silly-good-tempered.
The ridiculous, laughing twinkle in the eye of a Gull
who feels himself at home must be seen to be appre-
ciated. A Gull of mine was missing, we knew not how.
Some workmen on the place had their job stopped, and
were sent about their business. In about a week comes
a boy, " Sir, my father bought a Gull of a man that
stood at such and such a crossways, and he thought you
might like to have it." The basket was a loose twisted
one ; and through the sticks, and especially when the
lid was just raised, I saw a bright eye peeping at me
with a " How d' ye do ? All right ! "
" Halloo ! my boy ! " said I, " this is my Gull back
CHAP, xii.] ACCOMMODATING APPETITE. 405
again ! Open the basket, and turn him out into the
courtyard, and tell your father to come and talk to me
about it."
A bird that is no fresh-water sailor, but can revel in
our gales as they blow hardest on their respectively
most exposed coast, easterly, sou' westerly, nor' wes-
terly, or north-easterly, will not suffer from the in-
clemencies of a nobleman's park, a lady's pleasure-
ground, a farmer's kitchen-garden, or a clergyman's
paddock with a gold and silver fish-pond at one corner.
Sweet are the uses of adversity. To one inured to
storms, every port is a paradise. Great, too, is the force
of philosophy. As to Aristippus, so to the Gull, all
sorts of fare, and lodging, and company, are convenient.
Fish falls short : never mind ; rats, mice, frogs, dead
sparrows, snails, worms, and beetles will do. Ani-
mal food is scarce for a time. " Well," he says, " I
will not be above the other fowls ; I will take my bread,
and a bit of cheese, if you can spare it, and my barley-
meal and water, and my boiled rice, and be thankful
too. Of even water I can bear a short allowance, though
in water I am in one of my elements. You remember
how John Hunter has preserved the stomach of an
ancestor of mine, who dined for some time on this sort
of diet. Why should I be more fastidious than my
forefathers ? Beach me the porringer, and see how I
will peck."*
* " I have observed that the Black-headed Gull eats a great deal
of corn in the newly-sown fields ; and I now find that the lesser
Black-backed Gull does the same, as I shot one which had a handful
of corn (oats and barley) in its crop, mixed up with worms, grubs,
&c." St. John's Tour in Sutherland, vol. i., p. 224. Aldrovandi
says that in Liguria (the Riviera di Genoa) Gulls are (or were) very
destructive of olives.
406 THE GULLERV. [CHAP.XII.
"Not but what," loquitur Gull, "I like red-letter
days, when we may eat meat in plenty, and even ab-
stinence days, when we are confined to fish and
laitage, better than a pure farinaceous penance, such
as this. Yet if we have only water-gruel, we will have
patience also. Water-gruel is better than even the
purest of air to innate the stomach. I shall still be a
Gull, and not quite degraded to a Chameleon. But it
is no matter of conscience with me ; so do not expect
from me more than I profess. I am a ravenous Pro-
testant amidst a convent of Carthusians ; and animal
food I will not scruple to eat, if it come in my way,
under whatever disguise. Therefore if your chickens,
your ducklings, your turkey-poults, and yourfaisandeaux,
disappear while they are taking their walks abroad in
my presence, do not blame me, but the force of appetite
which is in me."
Dropping cur report of Mr. Gull's apology, it may
be stated that all Gulls, little and big, will, as soon as
they arrive at nearly a twelvemonth's age, kill and eat
any weaker creature that comes in their way. On this
account they cannot be allowed to associate with other
birds smaller than themselves in the aviary, but, if
they are not the only feathered members of the esta-
blishment, must have a place to themselves. And they
are so easily pleased that a Gullery is not hard to con-
trive. A pool of water, a little rockwork, a bed of
sand and shingle, and a few yards of turf to repose on,
surrounded by a light fence, and the thing is done.
Grotto-work is an appropriate addition to the scene,
and unwieldy geological specimens, or bits of ruins,
may be grouped in the Gullery with good effect. A
cave, the termination of which shall not be visible, may
CHAP. xii.J A VORACIOUS INDIVIDUAL. 407
be made to contain at its entrance the bathing-pond of
the birds. If the stream which supplies this can be
made to trickle done some overhanging rockwork planted
with ferns, heaths, mosses, &c., the materials for a little
bit of landscape are collected in a tableau vivant, which
taste of average goodness can hardly help making
pretty.
But though all Gulls are destructive, I do not know
that they are quite cannibals ; it is hard to prove that
the large ones will eat the smaller individuals, as among
fishes, or the wives their husbands, as among certain
hawks and insects ; but otherwise they are not parti-
cular. All swallowable vermin, whether quadruped,
winged, or reptile, are soon made away with. A
Shoveller Duck turned into a pond where a large Gull
was established was shortly disposed of. And a large
Black-backed Gull of my acquaintance, discovering that
his master's cat had a fine grown litter of kittens, took
one a-day, and only one a-day, from their mother as
long as they lasted, in spite of her tiger-like maternal
fierceness. The last remaining meal at the end of this
series of kittens was in such prime condition, that it
was swallowed with difficulty ; and Gully was obliged
first to break and crunch every bone in its body, before
it could be got down. For fear this anecdote should
not be credited, I will state that the fact occurred in
the gardens of Lord (Baron) Stafford, Cossey Park,
near Norwich. Other people's misfortunes are so easy
to bear, that the poor cat got very little pity or help
during her daily bereavements : indeed the kittens
might as well be swallowed as drowned. But one day
the gardener's daughter was washing a rabbit, already
skinned, for dinner. Gully stood by watching the
408 THE BLACK-HEADED GULL. [CHAP. XII.
process ; he waited till the young woman stepped aside
for some household duty, and then dipped his head in
the pail and made off with the prize. This was a dif-
ferent case from that of the kittens ; so the girls and
boys had a chase round the gardens, to see whether
Gully or they should have to go without a meal.
The smaller Gulls make the prettiest inmates of a
pleasure-ground, but they are all equally mischievous
according to their ability. About the most pleasing of
them is the Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus,
known in East Anglia as the Sea Cob *. The term,
though provincial, is not a vulgarism, being used by
Shakspeare. This species still breeds in the few
localities in Norfolk in which they are strictly pre-
served; otherwise they would soon be expelled from
the county. They mostly make their nests on the
ground, in low flat swamps; but a relative, now no
more, once took me to see his colony of Sea Cobs on
Martham Broad, and all the nests which I there saw
were not on land at all, but on the water. We rowed
to the spot in a boat ; the birds were on the nests, it
being then sitting time. As we approached, they rose
in a little cloud, hovering over our heads with anxious
screams. The nests were each attached to four or five
stiff reeds and rushes, and so supported just above the
surface of the water, which here was five or six feet
deep. Those nests that had not been robbed contained
the regular number of four eggs. We did not remain
long, in order to avoid annoying the birds unnecessarily ;
and, as we departed, they gradually descended from
above, and soon settled on their eggs again. We did
* " Larus Marinus ; Anglice, ut Turnerus interpretatur, Seecob.
vel Seegul." Aldrovandi.
CHAP, xii.] ITS EGGS. 409
not take any, as they were then useless for food, accord-
ing to English, though not to Icelandic tastes. But
before incubation has commenced, they are excellent
eating, and are sold largely for that purpose during their
short season, which lasts for about three weeks at the
end of April and the beginning of May. Thirty or forty
years ago they were sold in Norwich fish-market at the
rate of four a penny, and even cheaper; but they have
now risen to hen's-egg price, and even dearer. They
are brought in much fewer numbers, and are appreciated
accordingly. The fragility and thinness of their shell
is a bar to their travelling long distances ; but many
are boiled, and sent away in that more secure state.
These eggs are mostly covered with dark irregular
blotches, on a brown, or olive, or sea-green ground ;
and it is curious that no two eggs are alike. A person
unacquainted with them might suppose them to be laid
by different species of birds.
When the first laying of four eggs is taken from a
nest, the birds soon lay again ; but the second laying is
marked with much fainter colours, and sometimes is
without any blotches, being all over of a pale sea-green,
as if the colouring matter, secreted in the ovaries of the
bird, had been exhausted by the unusual drain upon its
powers. These Gulls return year after year to the same
breeding-places ; and, by the annual supply of eggs
which they furnish, may almost be considered as part
of the proprietor's live stock. If any set of circum-
stances should arise to make the true domestication of
Gulls desirable (which with their natural diet, unsavori-
ness of flesh, and small annual increase, we can hardly
conceive), I am not inclined to include the accomplish-
ment of such an attempt in the list of impossibilities.
410 CAPTUBE OF GULLS. [CHAP. xii.
Many facts favour the scheme. Dr. Neill's Gull, which
went off every year to breed, and then came back to his
master again, shows a strong capacity for attachment to
home. In spring Gulls with us will follow the plough
in search of worms and grubs, as closely as Rooks do,
and indeed in company with them. This year (1850) a
a pair of (I think) Herring Gulls have bred in the
Regent's Park Gardens, and two young were reared.
Such instances are probably not more frequently met
with only because Gulls are mostly solitary captives.
The Herring season is, on the south-east coast, the
grand season for catching live Gulls. Birds of the
previous spring for old ones are but seldom taken
get entangled in the nets, are made prisoners by the
fishermen, and are brought ashore when the boats re-
turn. The boys also, who accompany their fathers, and
are indulged with a fishing jaunt on the German Ocean,
are very fond of angling for Gulls. A .hook, or even a
large bent pin, is baited with a piece of fish, and if the
bird which takes it is dexterously struck before the bait
is quite swallowed, little serious injury is done to the
creature*. It is kept alive on board as a plaything,
and, when the party lands, produces an addition of six-
pence or a shilling to its ravisher's pocket-money. All
live Gulls, in such hands, have, of course, the same
market value. The rarest of the rare would go for the
same money, or be bartered for the same value in kind,
* Mr. St. John was very nearly successful in fly-fishing for Gulls :
" Once away from the rocks, we were safe enough, and rigging out a
couple of strong lines with large white flies, we caught as many fish
of different kinds as we could pull in during our way over to" Cro-
marty. A large Grull made two swoops at one of the* flies, and had
not a fish forestalled him, we should probably have hooked him also."
Wild Sports of the Highlands, p. 125.
CHAP. xii.J BOYISH TEICKS. 411
as the Kittiwake and the Herring Gull ; and as the
birds are in immature plumage, quite unlike what they
will be three or four years hence, some ornithological
knowledge is requisite to distinguish choice from vulgar
birds. And the reader may be here reminded, that one
great point of interest in a Gullery is to watch the pro-
gressive changes of the plumage, year by year, as the
young newly-introduced birds advance towards matu-
rity.
These sea-faring urchins, on their return from their
cruise after herring, do not quite forget the tricks they
have learned while afloat. Great Yarmouth is a famous
place for geese as well as for bloaters. Most of the
rope-walks that lie on the sandy plain between the
town and the beach are closely pastured by those useful
birds : and the boys, looking down from the windows
of the adjacent fish-offices or sail -lofts, have sometimes
fancied that they were again on board of the boats.
Mistaking the Geese for the Gulls they had been used
to see, they have baited a hook with bread for want of
fish, and have hauled up a Gander or a Goose from the
company of their wondering Goslings. But as the
neighbours, perhaps the mothers of the boys, have
generally been the proprietors of the ponderous game
thus poached, such striking and heavy arguments have
been employed to put an end to the practice, that it has
never been persevered in. But a little frolic may be
allowed to the youngsters. They are to be the future
beach-men, who, winter after winter, are to risk their
own lives for the rescuing of shipwrecked human beings
and perilled property. A large proportion of them are
sure not to die in their beds, but, fearless of danger to
themselves, will sink eventually in the struggle with
412 DR. NEILL'S BIRDS. [CHAP. xu.
death impending over others. So we will leave their
grandmothers to give them a lecture which they can
do on the crime of mistaking Geese for Gulls.
A Gullery may be made to contain other birds which
are not exactly contained in the same genus, but are
nearly allied in habits and disposition. Dr. Neill has
kindly favoured me with notes of a few that have lived
under his own eye :
" The Solan Goose (Pelecanus Bassanus) I got from
the Bass when not fully fledged. It became quite tame,
and was allowed to frequent the Loch, and lived ten or
twelve years with me. It took three or four herrings
at a feed, but could subsist quite well on bullock's
liver.
" The Fulmar (Procellaria glacialis) was brought me
by Mr. Allan, from the island of Stibbild, but it would
not tame, and survived only for one season.
" The Coulterneb (Fratercula arctica) 1 repeatedly got
from the Bass ; but I could not keep it over winter.
" The Eider Duck (Somateria mollissima) I had one
opportunity of trying; but I did not succeed, although
I know that others have been more fortunate." [The
Eider has bred and been reared at Knowsley.]
" At present (February, 1849) I have several species
of Gulls, quite tame, including the Iceland Gull and the
Skua, which are rare.
" The Icelandic Gull (Larus Islandicus) was caught
when in its first year on the coast of Uist, and was pre-
sented to me by Thomas Edmonstone, Esq. of Burness.
It has proved very tame and familiar, catching any food
thrown to it, and following for more. The wings are
very little longer than the tail, which is large and broad,
and very pure white. The whole plumage of the bird
CHAP, xii.] THEIR HABITS AND PLUMAGE. 413
was at first streaked and clouded with brownish and
greyish spots ; but it is now of nearly a uniform bluish
white colour above, the belly and tail white, the tail
particularly so. It has now been three years at Canon-
mills, and seems in its perfect plumage. It is, I believe,
the only specimen ever tamed, for Mr. Gould and Sir
William Jardine, who lately saw it, were of that
opinion.
"A pair of Skuas (Catarractes) were sent to me by
Mr. Laurence Edmonstone of Balta Sound (the brother of
Burness). They have become quite tame, approaching
and taking a bit of meat or cheese from the hand. They
were so bold, and so ready to give battle, that I have
been obliged to keep them in a fenced-off place with
access to a portion of the pond.
" Two Herring Gulls (Larm argentatus) I got from
Orkney in the state of scories, or young speckled birds.
They are quite tame, have been two years at Canon-
mills, and have already undergone a considerable change
of plumage ; but the final dress has yet to be assumed.
" Two specimens of the lesser Black-backed Gull (L.
fuscus] I procured from Brenay in Shetland. They are
equally as tame as the Herring Gulls, and associate
with them. They are also undergoing a change of
plumage.
"I ought to mention that above six years ago an
abominable railway was forced through my little pro-
perty here, and drained off my pond and my spring
wells. After a tedious litigation, in which every award
was in my favour, the railway company were compelled
to form a new pond two feet deep, and to keep it sup-
plied with water. Meantime, nearly all my aquatic
birds perished, and my present stock are therefore
recent acquisitions.
414 COBMOBANTS. [CHAP, xn
" On the pond I have three Cormorants (Pelecanus
carbo) whose diving and traversing the bottom of the
pond often amuse my visitors. In default of fish, they
thrive well on bullock's liver. They sit much on a
perch erected for them on the margin of the pond, and
in the middle of it I have placed two genuine joints of
the columnar basalt of the Giant's Causeway, rising
above the water, where one of the birds delights to
perch and makes rather a picturesque appearance.
" I see that I had omitted to mention that soon after
the loss of my breeding Herons, I obtained a hen bird,
which survived all the devastations of the railway, and
about five years ago I got a cock Heron. Both are now
perfectly domesticated, but have shown no indications
of pairing." P.N.
Dr. Neill's mention of his Cormorants suggests an-
other great fund of interest to be derived from the
inmates of a Gullery ; namely, that this genus of birds
are not merely tameable but docile. The difference of
disposition that exists between different sea-fowl is
immense. We might at first believe them to be all
equally wild and irreclaimable, but young full-grown
Guillemots are so stupid as to allow themselves to be
taken out of the water by hand. Once, when standing
on Yarmouth jetty, I saw an individual of this species
drifting along with the tide, and by descending some
steps in the direction of which it was floating, I lifted it
out of the sea without its attempting to escape. And
yet it would not eat under its new circumstances, and I
was obliged to turn it loose again at the end of two or
three days' starvation. The bird is generally so sulky
when caught, as to be difficult to keep alive in captivity.
Whereas Cormorants, wary and cunning in a wild state,
are, when made prisoners, soon at home, and even
CHAP, xii.] THE CHINESE SPECIES. 415
capable of being trained to aid in the capture of fish.
The Chinese Cormorant, which is specifically different
both from our own and from the common Shag, is emi-
nently teachable. The importation of a few couple, and
the exhibition of their performances, would surely be
an exciting event among the lovers of Natural History,
after the public were cloyed with the Hippopotamus
and the Snake charmers. And a recent clever traveller
gives such a wonderful account of the manner in which
they are kept and used, that I take the liberty of ex-
tracting it from the "Wanderings in China," for the
sake of, perhaps, drawing more attention to the employ-
ment of these feathered fishermen. A swim of Cormo-
rants, attached to a gentleman's establishment, would,
in these days, afford more likely and practicable sport
than a flight of Hawks and Falcons.
"The most singular of all the methods of catching fish
in China," writes Mr. Fortune, " is that of training and
employing a large species of Cormorant for this purpose,
generally called the Fishing Cormorant. These are cer-
tainly wonderful birds. I have frequently met with
them on the canals and lakes in the interior, and, had
I not seen with my own eyes their extraordinary docility,
I should have had great difficulty in bringing my mind
to believe what authors have said about them. The
first time I saw them was on a canal a few miles from
Ning-po. I was then on my way to a celebrated tem-
ple in that quarter, where I intended to remain for
some time, in order to make collections of objects of
natural history in the neighbourhood. When the birds
came in sight, I immediately made my boatmen take in
our sail, and we remained stationary for some time to
observe their proceedings. There were two small boats,
416 DOCILITY AND CLEVERNESS. [CHAP. xii.
containing one man and about ten or twelve birds in
each. The birds were standing perched on the sides of
the little boat, and apparently had just arrived at the
fishing ground, and were about to commence operations.
They were now ordered out of the boats by their
masters, and so well trained were they that they went
on the water immediately, scattered themselves over
the canal, and began to look for fish. They have a
beautiful sea-green eye, and quick as lightning they
see and dive upon the finny tribe, which, once caught
in the sharp notched bill of the bird, never by any pos-
sibility can escape. The Cormorant now rises to the
surface with the fish in its bill, and the moment he is
seen by the Chinaman, he is called back to the boat.
As docile as a dog, he swims after his master, and
allows himself to be pulled into the San-pan (boat),
where he disgorges his prey, and again resumes his
labours. And, what is more wonderful still, if one of
the Cormorants gets hold of a fish of large size, so large
that he would have some difficulty in taking it to the
boat, some of the others, seeing his dilemma, hasten to
his assistance, and, with their efforts united, capture
the animal and haul him off to the boat. Sometimes a
bird seemed to get lazy or playful, and swam about
without attending to his business ; and then the China-
man, with a long bamboo, which he used for propelling
the boat, struck the water near where the bird was,
without, however, hurting him, calling out to him at
the same time in an angry tone. Immediately, like
the truant school-boy who neglects his lessons and is
found out, the Cormorant gives up his play and resumes
his labours. A small string is put round the neck of
the bird to prevent him from swallowing the fish which
CHAP, xli.] ATTEMPT TO IMPORT THEM. 417
he catches, and great care is taken that this string is
placed and fastened so that it will not slip farther down
his neck and choke him, which otherwise it would be
veiy apt to do.
" Since I first saw these birds on the Ning-po Canal,
I have had opportunities of inspecting them, and their
operations in many other parts of China, more particu-
larly in the country between the towns of Hang-chow-
foo and Shanghae. I also saw great numbers of them
on the river Min, near Foo-chow-foo. I was most
anxious to get some living specimens that I might take
them home to England. Having great difficulty in in-
ducing the Chinese to part with them, or, indeed, to
speak at all on the subject, when I met them in the
country, owing to our place of meeting being generally
in those parts of the interior where the English are
never seen, I applied to her Majesty's consul at Shang-
hae (Captain Balfour), who very kindly sent one of the
Chinese connected with the Consulate into the country,
and procured two pairs for me. The difficulty now was
to provide food for them on the voyage from Shanghae
to Hong-kong. We procured a large quantity of live
eels, this being a principal part of their food, and put
them into a jar of mud and fresh water. These they
eat in a most voracious manner, swallowing them whole,
and in many instances vomiting them afterwards. If
one bird was unlucky enough to vomit his eel, he was
fortunate indeed if he caught it again, for another, as
voracious as himself, would instantly seize it, and
swallow it in a moment. Often they would fight stoutly
for the fish, and then it either became the property of
one, or, as often happened, their sharp bills divided the
prey, and each ran off and devoured the half which fell
E E
4J8 THEIR VALUE, DIET, [CHAP. xii.
to his share. During the passage we encountered a
heavy gale at sea. and as the vessel was one of those
small clipper schooners, she pitched and rolled very
much, shipping seas from bow to stern, which set every-
thing on her decks swimming. I put my head out of
the cabin door when the gale was at its height, and the
first thing I saw was the Cormorants devouring the eels,
which were floating all over the decks. I then knew
that the jar must have been turned over or smashed to
pieces, and that of course all the eels which escaped the
bills of the Cormorants were now swimming in the
ocean. After this I was obliged to feed them upon any-
thing on board which I could find, but when I arrived
at Hong-kong they were not in very good condition :
two of them died soon after, and as there was no hope
of taking the others home alive, I was obliged to kill
them and preserve their skins.
"The Chinaman from whom I bought these birds
has a large establishment for fishing and breeding the
birds about thirty or forty miles from Shanghae, and
between that town and Chapoo. They sell at a high price
even amongst the Chinese themselves : I believe from
six to eight dollars per pair; that is, from 30s. to 40s.
As I was anxious to learn something of their food and
habits, Mr. Medhurst, Jun., interpreter to the British
Consulate at Shanghae, kindly undertook to put some
questions to the man who brought them, and sent me
the following notes connected with this subject :
" 'The fish-catching birds eat small fish, yellow eels,
and pulse-jelly. At 5 P.M. every day each bird will
eat six taels (eight ounces) of eels or fish, and a catty
of pulse-jelly. They lay eggs after three years, and in
the fourth or fifth month ; hens are used to incubate
CHAP. xn.J AND MANAGEMENT. 419
the eggs. When about to lay, their faces turn red, and
then a good hen must be prepared. The date must be
clearly written upon the shells of the eggs laid, and
they will hatch in twenty-five days. When hatched, take
the young and put them upon cotton spread upon some
warm water, and feed them with eel's blood for five
days ; after five days they can be fed with eel's flesh
chopped fine, and great care must be taken in watching
them.
" 'When fishing, a straw tie must be put upon their
necks, to prevent them from swallowing the fish when
they catch them. In the eighth or ninth month of the
year they will daily descend into the water at ten o'clock
in the morning, and catch fish until five in the after-
noon, when they will come on shore. They will con-
tinue to go on in this way until the third month, after
which time they cannot fish until the eighth month
comes round again. The male is easily known from
the female, in being generally a larger bird, and in hav-
ing a darker and more glossy feather, but more particu-
larly in the size of the head, the head of the male being
large, and that of the female small.'
" Such are the habits of this extraordinary bird. As
the months named in the note just quoted refer to the
Chinese calendar, it follows that these birds do not fish
in the summer months, but commence in autumn, about
October, and end about May, periods agreeing nearly
with the eighth and third month of the Chinese year."-'-'
But the king of the Gullery has yet to pay us a visit,
and when he does come, he will at once take the same
pre-eminent rank as the Emeu in the paddock and the
* Fortune's China, p. 109.
E E 2
420 THE KING OF THE GULLERY. [CHAP. xii.
Swan on the lake. No living Albatross, that I can
learn, has ever reached this country ; but the distance
from the Cape is not so great but what we may entertain
hopes of receiving his Oceanic Majesty, and, by all
means, his imperial consort likewise, with a party of
their royal offspring and relatives. Which is the king
of the Albatrosses, among the numerous rival claimants
to the throne (Mr. Gould says there are at least forty
different species peculiar to the seas of the southern
hemisphere), naturalists have not yet been able to
decide. Any of them would be welcome, whether the
expanse of their extended wings reached to the regal
breadth of 1& or 15 feet, or only to the aristocratical
measure of 9 or 10. With such instruments of loco-
motion, we may believe Mr. Gould when he tells us,
that " The powers of flight with which these birds are
endowed, are perfectly astonishing, and they appear to
be constantly performing migrations round the globe
from west to east ; and Australia lying in their track, all
the species may be found near its shores at one or other
season of the year."* The globe, it may be re-
membered, is not quite so thick round in those parts as
at the equator, but still it is a very tolerable circuit for
them to make. They are very easily taken prisoners,
and do not give quite the same trouble to catch as did
the king and queen of the Auks to Mr. Bullock and his
boat's company of stout rowers. " In February, one of
the Albatrosses was brought to me, upon which I could
not discover the slightest wound. On inquiring how
it was caught, I was answered, by the hand. Upon a
further investigation into the matter, I was assured by
* Introduction to the Birds of Australia, p. 114.
CHAP, xii.] HOW CAUGHT. 421
the Albutians unanimously, that in the calms, which
commonly succeed to a violent gale of wind, they cannot
fly ; if pursued by land they will run to the water, en-
deavouring to escape by swimming, but then it is easy
to follow them with the boidarkas, when they may be
taken with the hand, or killed by a spear or the stroke
of an oar."* But the modern mode of catching Alba-
trosses is exactly the same, except in being on a larger
scale, as that practised by the Yarmouth fishing boys
upon the unwary Gulls.
" Another amusement was the catching of Albatross,
when the ship was hove to ; this was done by attaching
a line to a sail hook, fastening on a piece of fat, and
causing both to float by lashing it to a bit of wood. This
splendid, but fool of a bird, would pick it up ; when he
discovered his mistake, he would endeavour to raise
himself out of the water, but all his exertions to free
himself from the hook were unsuccessful, and he was
hauled on board. When on the deck, he could not get
up for want of wind under his wings, and with his
enormous web feet he could scarcely stand. The Alba-
tross is a magnificent bird, generally from 10 to 15
feet from the tip to tip of wing, a long powerful curbed
upper bill, and the plumage snow white ; you see them
several hundred miles from land, in high southern
latitudes, but scarcely ever find this bird within the
tropics."!
A friend also writes an original account to a similar
effect.
" I have succeeded in capturing the captor of the
Albatross, literally a wild young man.
* Langsdorff, in Southey's Common Place Book, 2nd Series,
p. 577.
f Coulter's Adventures in the Pacific, p. 26.
422 THEIE NESTING-PLACES. [CHAP. xii.
"It seems that these birds are almost always taken by
hook and line, as was the case with the one you saw
(stuffed). The hook is baited with pork, and the
feathered monsters are quickly attracted by it.
told me, to my surprise, that the hook itself is never
swallowed, but that it catches in the curve of the beak,
and the bird is drawn up by that means. But he after-
wards explained it by saying that, after taking the bait,
they keep their wings extended at length, of course
pulling backwards at the same time, which would give
a fair hold to the hook. He had never known a case of
their being kept on deck and fed, but said they had
frequently had ten or eleven caught and on deck at the
same time, so that they must take the bait as voraciously
as sharks, and probably without so much cunning.
When once on deck they are totally unable to rise in
the air, not being able to gather sufficient wind beneath
their gigantic pinions for that purpose. If the Alba-
tross once contrives to rise from the water after taking
the bait, which sometimes but not often happens, the
game is lost at once. The specimen you saw at
was a young bird in immature plumage, that of the
adult being white or very nearly so. I am sorry I could
not obtain a more complete account for you, and also
something of their habits and breeding-places; are
not the Falkland Islands their chief haunts for this
purpose ? " H . H.
That the Falkland Islands are thus used as Albatross
nurseries, will appear from the following curious de-
scription of the nesting arrangements there :
" The Geese, Penguins, Albatross, &c., who have colo-
nized this place (the Falkland Islands), have very con-
siderately for any ship's crew, and perhaps for them-
selves too, built their nests in streets of about two or
CHAP. xii.J ALBATROSS BATTUES. 423
three miles in length, and three to six feet wide. This
arrangement is very convenient in every respect. The
birds can easily hold a conversation across this street,
and the sailors can walk up the centre of it, beat them
out of their nests, and march off with the good eggs,
thoughtfully leaving behind two or three bad ones, as
an inducement for the inhabitants to return to their
homes after the invasion.
" After we procured about six or seven tons of eggs,
killed a good many seal, shot a number of rabbits, and
strung our rigging with Geese, we fired a twelve-pounder
carronade for curiosity, to see how many birds would
rise in sight. We got up our anchor, and left this
decidedly capital place for food and fun."*
Our next quotation is even more graphic.
"During the voyage, an occasional battue of the
Albatrosses and other marine birds, which abound in
the high latitudes between the Cape of Good Hope and
Van Diemen's Land, beguiled the leisure time. These
battues partook of shooting and fishing, for sometimes
we baited large hooks with bits of pork, and caught the
gigantic birds by the beak. I remember one day seeing
twenty -eight live Albatrosses on the deck together, many
of them measuring twelve feet from tip to tip of the
wings. Once on the deck, they cannot escape, as they
have great difficulty in first rising on the wing. Some
of us stored the white feathers, supposing from Nayti's
(a native) account that they would be highly valuable
in New Zealand; others made tobacco-pouches of the
web feet, or pipe stems of the wing bones ; the naturalist
made preparations of skeletons and skins to keep his
* Coulter's Adventures in the Pacific, p 23.
424 DANGERS OF A CALM. [CHAP. xii.
band in, and the sailors prepared the carcasses in a dish
called 'sea-pie.'"*
The Albatross, it appears, is safe in the storm, but
helpless when becalmed ; a fact bearing the same moral
application as Hannibal's Capuan defeat and the fable
of the Sun and the North Wind. When our Albatrosses
shall have been surprised in their moments of ease and
indolence, Mr. Gould points out the kind of sustenance
they require, though any sort of fish diet would pro-
bably suit them. " It is but natural to suppose that
this great group of birds has been created for some especial
purpose, and may we not infer that they have been
placed in the Southern Ocean to prevent an undue in-
crease of the myriads of mollusks and other low marine
animals with which those seas abound, and upon which
all the Procellarida mainly subsist ? "
That the Albatross with its great wings should be
less able to rise from a level surface than a Pheasant
or a Partridge with their short ones, is a paradox of
easy explanation. All those birds that sail in the air
with little or no visible motion of the pinions are sus-
tained on high upon exactly the same principle as a
boy's kite (whence in fact its name). Short-winged
birds, such as the Gallinacea, are utterly incapable of this
sort of kite-like floating upon the waves of the atmo-
sphere ; the wind drops, and down comes the kite, and
so would the long-winged bird, if it did not alter its
usual mode of flying. The horizontal force of the wind
(represented by w K) resisted indirectly by the tension
of the string KS, is resolved into a perpendicular force
s w, which supports the weight of the kite, and keeps it
* Wakefield's Adventure in New Zealand, p. 20.
CHAP. xn.J PRINCIPLE OF FLIGHT.
425
from falling. With the hovering and drifting Albatross,
part of the resolved force of the wind is employed in
causing the onward motion of the bird, and part in
keeping it from sinking, parachute-wise to the earth,
and gravity, or the attraction of the earth, answers to
the tension of the string of the kite ; but still the string
exists to all intents and purposes, as actually as if it
were made of hemp or iron wire.
There is at work in the universe many an agent that
is little suspected. A power is not the less potent and
real because it happens to be unseen, nor even if it be
included amongst the things that are absolutely in-
visible.
Sandwich Island Bernicle (Bernicla * Sandvicensis).
CHAPTER XIII.
THE SANDWICH ISLAND GOOSE.
Stay-at-home travellers. Home of the Sandwich Bern icle. Natural dispo-
sition. Its claims on our patronage. Natural perfume. Voice. First his-
torical notice. Erroneous nomenclature. Obstinate pugnacity. A parallel.
Diet. Weight. Plumage. Increase.
ONE great charm in Natural History is that it leads
the student through such an ever-changing panorama of
* Cuvier says, "The Bernicles are distinguishable from the com-
mon Geese by a shorter, smaller bill, whose edges are not apparent
beyond the extremities of the laminae."
CHAP, xiii.] ITS NATIVE HOME. 427
contrasted scenery, amidst landscapes and water
scapes, from polar ghastliness, through tropical bril-
liancy, to equatorial oppressiveness, to those regions
where the fable of a man's losing his shadow is actually
verified once every day. We are made to wonder how
the Arctic Fox and the Musk Ox manage, not to bear
with comfort, for that seems quite out of the question,
but at all to get through their interminable winter of
existence. Taking our notions from the fire-side, we
are much better able to understand the enjoyments of
those creatures even which delight to bask in any de-
gree of heat, short of what will set them on fire, in
climates where dead bodies feel hot to the touch, and
where birds, if they incubate, would seem to do so prin-
cipally for the sake of keeping their eggs cool, and pre-
venting them from being roasted in the sun.
We now take a dashing sweep from the embowered
rivulets, where we left the little glancing Kingfisher,
from the marshes, the meadows, and the shores of
England, where we found the Bittern, the Quail, the
Heron, and the Gull ; and after a long, long flight
without sight of land, set foot at last upon a group of
islands that arise in the midst of the Pacific Ocean.
We then mark our prey in this remote solitude flitting
over the uplands ; just below the region of the mud-
volcanoes, a few diminutive Geese are perceived, with
bright black eye, nimble irritable gait, voice like the
creaking of a rusty wheel, and bold and graceful power
of wing. They are an inviting quarry, and must be
added to our collection. We have them at last safe and
alive in Great Britain ; and we may as well confess an
anxiety to interest our readers in this little-known and
unpretending species, which, it may be feared, after
428 CLAIMS TO PATRONAGE. [CHAP. xiu.
lying hid for ages amongst the unknown hills of Hawaii,
seems destined to be discovered, to be apparent in life
for a brief space, and then to vanish before the de-
structiveness of Man, leaving skeletons, stuffed-skins,
preparations, and drawings, as the only record of its
existence on earth. True lovers of Natural History
have still an opportunity of protecting and preserving
here a race of beings which, but for them, may soon
pass into the catalogue of the extinct.
In March, 1850, the Earl of Derby having three
supernumerary males of the Sandwich Bernicle, most
obligingly forwarded one of them to me. He was a
charming little fellow, apparently so tame and gentle
that, after the first day or two, it was resolved to trust
him with the free use of his wings, as soon as the next
moult should be completed. The quills of one wing
had been clipped for security's sake ; but we may lay it
down as almost an axiom that there is not, in the wide
world a Goose which is not domesticable in the strict
sense, while there does not exist, that we know of, a
Pheasant which is. All Geese are therefore peculiarly
interesting to those who are anxious to increase the
feathered occupants of their pleasure-grounds, on account
of this innate docility of disposition ; and this species
claims especial notice, as it must probably before long
suffer complete extermination, now that the Sandwich
Islands are likely to become a sort of watering-place to
California, unless it be patronised by the proprietors of
menageries, and survive by propagation in a domestic
state. A party of half-a-dozen convalescent gold-finders,
steaming over to Hawaii, rifle in hand, for a month's
recreation, with powder and shot in one belt, and plenty
of dollars in another, would make sad havoc among the
CHAP, xiii.] NATURAL PERFUME. 429
native game. Add to these dangers the onslaught of
imported brute animals, such as rats, cats, dogs, &c.,
and the perspective view lying before the Sandwich
Bernicle approaches to a vanishing point faster than a
humane artist might desire. Only Oceanic birds and
domestic poultry can, at the end of twenty years, be
expected to have escaped the fangs of such a fierce
army of immigrants.
We were surprised to discover, on handling our little
Sandwich islander, that his whole plumage was agree-
ably perfumed with musk. It was as if some one in the
room had suddenly displayed a scented handkerchief.
The question arose whether this odour was peculiar to
the male bird only, and whether it was constantly per-
ceptible, or only seasonal. I am informed that both
birds manifest it at all times of the year ; but in a
female, which Mr. Baily, of Mount Street, has obliged
me by procuring, it is scarcely, if at all to be perceived ;
from a stuffed male, in the Norwich Museum, it has
entirely evaporated, a proof that the source of the per-
fume is more deep seated than the skin and feathers.
Although I have kept Musk Ducks for years, I cannot
say that I ever was conscious of the scent from which
they derive their name, not caring unnecessarily to
handle such disgusting birds ; you cannot touch Musk
Ducks any more than you can handle pitch, without
being defiled, and perhaps well scratched besides. But
the Sandwich Bernicle is a cleanly creature, as well as
an odoriferous one. Its corporeal emanations remind
us of those proceeding from many of Mr. Gordon Cum-
ming's victims during his murderous visit to the African
Antelopes ; their skin emitting a most delicious and
430 FIEST HISTORICAL NOTICE. [CHAP. xni.
powerful perfume of flowers, trees, and sweet-smelling
herbs.
Our poor solitary bird soon settled in his new home.
He wanted much to make friends and enter into society
with the common Geese ; but they, having goslings,
would scarcely allow him, and his disappointment was
expressed by uttering sounds very like those proceeding
from a rusty sign swinging in the wind ; for another
merit of these birds is that they are not noisy, like
most Geese. What voice they have, though not melo-
dious, is too weak to give annoyance by its discordance.
We soon, however, had occasion to change our opinion
as to the mildness and peacefulness of disposition in
our little Sandwicher. They are certainly sociable
creatures, like the generality of the Anserine, but no
disposition has ever been observed in them to mix with
any but their own kind.
The first recorded notice, by civilized man, of the
Bernicla Sandvicensis, is given by Capt. James Cook a
few weeks before he received his death- wound at Owhy-
hee. He had only a little while previously lost Mr.
Anderson, the amiable and observant naturalist and
surgeon to his ship, by a lingering consumption ; other-
wise fuller details might have reached us. But brief
as it is, it is worth transcribing. Its date is December
22, 1778. " While we lay, as it were, becalmed, seve-
ral of the islanders came off with hogs, fowls, fruit, and
roots. Out of one canoe we got a Goose, which was
about the size of a Muscovy Duck. Its plumage was
dark grey, and the bill and legs black."
In ornithological books the earliest trace of the
Sandwich Bernicle occurs in Dr. Latham, 1785. De-
CHAP, xiii.] ERRONEOUS NOMENCLATURE. 431
scribing the China Goose, he says, " Our last voyagers
met also with this, or one very like it, at Owhyhee," and
quotes " A Goose, like the China Goose, at Karacakooa
Bay, in Owhyhee, quite tame, called there Na-na." *
In Gray's edition of Cuvier (1829) the error is still
continued. " Other Geese have been named, but are
doubtful, as Anas Cana, Cape of Good Hope," con-
founding Dr. Latham's confusion of the China Goose
with some bird native of South Africa.
The Sandwich Bernicle, in truth, has been but little
observed by voyagers, and a description of its habitat
in great measure accounts for the omission. " On our
visit to the sulphur banks we saw two flocks of wild
Geese, which came down from the mountains, and
settled among the Ohelo bushes, near the pools of water.
They were smaller than the common Goose, had brown
necks, and [the feathers of] their wings were tipped
with the same colour. The natives informed us there
were vast flocks in the interior, although they were
never seen near the sea."f
It is hardly irrelevant to append to this Mr. Williams 's
remarks on Natural History in general. "It is to me a
matter of regret, that scientific men, when writing upon
these subjects, do not avail themselves of the facts which
Missionaries might supply ; for, while we make no
pretensions to great scientific attainments, we do not
hesitate to assert that it is in our power to furnish more
substantial data on which to philosophize than could be
obtained by any transient visitor, however profound in
knowledge, or diligent in research." J
* Ellis's Narr., ii. p. 143.
f Ellis's Missionary Tour through Hawaii.
J Missionary Enterprises, p. 203.
432 OBSTINATE PUGNACITY. [CHAP. xin.
The male Sandwich Bernicle, although so much
smaller than the common Gander, displays towards him,
if allowed to join his family party, an implacable and
unceasing enmity, jealousy, or aversion, which is ex-
hibited by a continued course of persecution and annoy-
ance, rather than by any violent and decisive attack.
This offensive conduct is returned, though with some-
what less pertinacity, by the Gander, who seems as if
he would be heartily glad to be relieved from the end-
less pushes, feather pluckings, and grinning insults (if
a bird can grin) of the swarthy foreign dwarf. The one
stares with his bright black eyes ; opens his red lined
mouth to its utmost gape, sticking out his tongue ; con-
torts his fleecy little neck into snake-like curves, and
creaks defiance with such feeble voice as he has ; for
it more resembles the noise of a long unused wheel-
barrow, or of a dilapidated pump-handle, than the sound
emitted by any English living creature. He seems in-
clined to patronise the Goslings, though it is doubtful
whether he would pay the slightest polite attention to
the Geese: but the Gander he worries from morning
till night, and perhaps all night long too, if he has the
opportunity. He is careless of being occasionally
" floored " by his more weighty adversary, and of
having his shoulders half-stripped of feathers by the
rebuffetings he so well deserves ; and it would thus
appear impossible that the two species should live
amicably together, and increase their kind, in the same
inclosure.
Birds in their little nests agree [Cuckoos excepted] ;
And 't is a shameful sight
That Gander should with Gander be
So much inclined to fight.
CHAP. xm.J A PARALLEL. 433
It is neither size nor strength exactly which gives
the supremacy in these struggles, but unyieldingness.
Chi dura vince, says the Italian proverb. Constant
dropping will wear out the most adamantine heart of
the bravest Gander ; the everlasting nuisance grows to
be insupportable ; and it is thus that, without actual
slaughter committed, one species of bird or beast will
succeed in dislodging another from its rightful locality.
Thus the Norway Rat seems likely to exterminate the
old black British kind ; the Red - legged Guernsey
Partridge would, if permitted, establish itself on the
grounds of the genuine gray old-fashioned sort; and
the Silver Pheasant would act the same part, where it
had the chance, towards the established species of our
preserves. A parallel may be found in human life.
The meaning of most speech uttered by the arrogant,
the overbearing, and the grasping, is, " Depart ; make
room for me ; emigrate ! You see how crowded we are ;
seek space for yourself elsewhere ; this place is mine,
I cannot share it with you ; seek yours in some other
spot, where I care not, or with what success, that is
^your affair, my foot is planted here ! " So the weaker
body, yields to the collision of the more persevering and
powerful : the poor rolling stone goes on, too often
gathering no moss, but is battered from pillar to post,
drifted from shoal to rapid, till it sinks at last into some
quiet earthy bed, to be rolled to and fro and ground
to dust no longer. A little vis inertia, or immov-
ability, or spirit of resistance to the assumptions of
impudence, is now and then quite necessary for self-
preservation, and, as a consequence, for the preservation
of those dependent on us. Squeezeableness is not a
fortunate quality to be gifted with.
F F
434 DIET, WEIGHT. [CHAP. xiil.
May it not be suspected that some species of the
brute creation have thus been driven into domestication
by their stronger comrades, and have taken refuge under
the protection of Man, to escape the persecutions of
their more nearly allied kindred, just as the Hare and
the Dove have been known to throw themselves into
our very arms, to avoid immediate death from the
Hound and the Falcon ?
Gosling of Sandwich Bcrnicle.
The diet of the Sandwich Bernicle resembles that of
its near relatives in every respect, i. e. grain and herbage.
I have observed no sign of its eating worms or insects
at any time. The male weighs 4 J Ibs. Bill black ;
irides dark brown ; pupil black. Front of head black,
extending behind the eye, and in a stripe down the back
of the neck. Fore part of neck fawn colour, down to
its junction with the body, where it is terminated by a
CHAP, xili.] PLUMAGE AND INCREASE. 435
dark ring. Feathers of neck woolly, and clustered in
tufts. Quill feathers blackish gray, darker towards the
tips. Feathers of back and scapulars gray, each one
having a dirty white band at the tip, giving somewhat
of a barred character to the plumage. Belly dirty
gray. A blunt spur at the elbow-joint. Tail black;
under tail-coverts and parts about the vent pure white.
Legs and feet black, with the webs much cut out. The
female quite resembles the male, but is smaller ; her
weight is four pounds. They never have large nests,
sometimes in this country sitting on as few as two
eggs. The gosling is smoke-cloured. For the op-
portunity of figuring the one on the opposite page I am
indebted to the Earl of Derby.
CHAPTER XIV.
CONCLUDING DIALOGUE. THE NIGHTINGALE.
INTERLOCUTORS : CAMBRIAN, EA3T- ANGLIAN, BIRD-CATCHER.
A country walk. Local curiosities. An agreeable surprise. Limits of the
Nightingale's migrations. Topographical caprice. The ravisher of Nightin-
gales. Particulars of capture. Subsequent management. Touching song and
wakefulness of the bird, Antique notions. Effects of a Nightingale diet.
Enter bird-catcher. Rural simplicity. Diamond cut diamond. The bird is
caught. Amount of its accomplishments. Modes of causing their exhibition.
Au revoir.
CAMBRIAN. How I do enjoy this ramble ! It is the
very day for a walk. The delicate freshness of the
green leaves is a most luxurious contrast to the naked
twigs that for so long have been laden only with hoar-
frost and snow-flakes. It is cheering to see the spring
flowers once more spread out upon that shady bank
the lovely mixture of primroses and dog-violets telling
us, by signs on earth, how far the sun has advanced
through the signs of the zodiac. The air is bright here,
and clear ; but I think it is colder, I had almost said
keener, than we should feel it, if you were at this
moment paying me a visit, and we were taking a stroll
together on our Welsh coast, instead of through an in-
land Norfolk lane.
EAST-ANGLIAN. You expected such a climate when
you came, did you not ? I hope, too, you remembered it
in packing your portmanteau, and included winter
flannels as well as clean shirts in your travelling ward-
robe. When the wind blows direct from the north, we
have it genuine as imported ; for there is not a bit of
CHAP, xiv.] LOCAL CUEIOSITIES. 437
land between us and the north pole to screen us and
take off the chill from it.
C. Well, there is a sort of polar sharpness in the
breeze : it feels almost as if one were in the extreme
north of Scotland, except that they have no oak and
hazel copses like this. Here you are without high hills
to condense the mists (if mists can be floating in that
bright blue sky), and so soften the air ; and your sur-
face water oozes down through the gravelly, craggy
subsoil that has been thrown together somehow for,
you know, geologists say that Norfolk is only a heap of
rubbish ; your land is like the well-drained earth in a
flower-pot half full of crocks ; and I must confess that
the effect is very invigorating to one so accustomed to
the west of England as I am.
E.-A. Obliged to you for the rubbish ! but you forget
the chalk, which, where it replaces the gravel, equally
renders the soil dry and the air pure. How healthy is
the climate of the Wiltshire and the Sussex Downs !
C. This plantation looks as if it retained a little
moisture, as far as one can see through the thick bram-
bles and sloe-bushes. I should guess you would have
glow-worms here, though they would hardly yet make
themselves visible at night. It is too early at present
for the Johanniswurm, or St. John's worm, to shine. It
does sometimes begin to work its little lighthouse before
St. John's day. but not often in England.
E.-A. Oh yes ! Those transient earth-stars are to be
seen glimmering here in due season; but, as you
observe, the time is not yet come for them to compare
their own ephemeral rays with the perennial stars of
heaven. But we may perhaps meet with something of
equal interest.
438 AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE. [CHAP. xiv.
C. I suppose you mean the rare plants which you
still have in Norfolk, the Parnassia, or the insect- orchids
the Bee-flower, the Spider-flower, and so on. But
stop! Hark! What bird was that? so loud, so
clear, so sweet, and so close to us ?
E.-A. They are come ! Keep still and speak low, or
it will stop.
C. I never heard the like before. This is something
quite new to me. Exquisite ! Most touching ! The
sweetest sounds, expressing what ? sorrow? or is it joy?
or is it love ? I should like to see the creature.
E.-A. You may, but you will then lose your treat for
a while. There, look ! on that leafless oak-twig, just
above the entangled undenvood, sits your charmer.
C. What! that dark, graceful, taper, little thing? It
must be THE NIGHTINGALE ! It darts away, and is
gone !
E.-A. Never mind. You will soon hear either that
again, or another. I thought I should give you a plea-
sant surprise, and am glad not to have been disappointed.
It is very curious that you should not have Night-
ingales in your plantations as well as we in ours. There
is no apparently valid reason to the contrary, but the
range of the Nightingale in this country has its stated
limits. Mr. Yarrell has denned them with considerable
precision, namely, that it is not heard in the extreme
west, in Cornwall, Wales, or Ireland; and he also gives
Carlisle, and five miles beyond York, as the points of
its furthest migrations on the western and eastern parts
of England respectively. Mr. Blyth fixes the third
degree of western longitude as its European boundary.
C. Can you in the least account for this invisible
barrier between us at home and the Nightingale?
CHAP, xiv.j LIMITS OF MIGRATION 439
E.-A. Not at all. One can only guess that there
may exist some unknown peculiarity in its constitution
which makes it thrive on the chalk and the geological
rubbish, and not do well on the granite and other
ancient rocks. But the Nightingale is not only thus in-
explicably bounded in its distant pilgrimages ; even within
those limits it is apparently capricious and local in its
haunts.
C. Ah ! That I was not aware of.
E.-A. We are now not more than two or three miles
from my house, and you will expect, when we return
there, that by throwing open the windows or stepping
into the garden, we can hear the same sweet music that
your curiosity just now put a stop to. But you will be
disappointed. My grounds and meadows lie in a nook
of land contiguous to two parishes which are consolidated
into one living, but is not in either parish. In these
two parishes Nightingales are sufficiently abundant,
and are regular visitants ; but, during the whole time
that I have lived where I do, they have never crossed
the boundary to me, to favour us with a song. During
the season we can hear them singing lustily about half
a mile off. The only natural line of demarcation between
the locality they affect and that they avoid, is a shallow
brook about two yards wide ; and we have on this side
of the stream everything which is supposed usually to
attract them, namely, plenty of wood, water, red-ants,
glow-worms, and quiet.
C. There must surely be some explanation of this last
fact.
E.-A. Doubtless. The prime cause I imagine to be,
that I am not far from a large city, and am therefore
within such easy reach of the bird-catchers. Nightin-
440 SOME EXPLANATION. [CHAP. xiv.
gales appear to have so fixed an attachment to their old
breeding-places, that they, and I suppose their succes-
sors, will annually return to the same haunts, and to no
other. My hypothesis is, that the Nightingale family
originally settled in my grove have all been caught off,
to the last descendant, and no others can yet be induced
to occupy the premises that are to be let on the easy
terms of an occasional song. An enthusiastic fancier,
Mr. James Wait, of the Hotel, Portishead, near Bristol,
to whom I communicated the circumstance, suggests
the same solution as the probable one. Shall I read
you a portion of his letter ?
C. By all means : it will while the way homewards.
E.-A. " I can readily account for the reason why the
Nightingales did not cross the boundary of the parish
in which you reside, although you have them so near.
T know, from experience, that the birds will frequently
build on the same spot, year after year, even although
their nest be continually disturbed. When I was a boy
at school in Middlesex, I was particularly fond (as most
boys are) of birds- nesting ; and although twenty years
have passed, I feel positive that it would be no difficult
matter for me to march to the very spot (if time has
not removed it) where, year after year, I ahvays found a
Nightingale's nest. It was built in the remnant of an
old stump of a thorn with a cavity shallowly hollowed
out at the bottom. It was always a very conspicuous
position where the habitation of this lonely bird was
fixed, and too often disturbed by the molestation of cruel
schoolboys like myself: still the Nightingales would
come again the following year, and commence and re-
commence their hopeless task ; and though continually
doomed to disappointment, they never seem to be tired
CHAP, xiv.] THE EAVISHEE OF NIGHTINGALES. 441
in persevering to accomplish the object they had in view.
I have found the Nightingale's nest in the woods near
this house frequently, and if not on the very same spot,
it seldom exceeded half-a-dozen yards off. About two
miles from this place is a beautifully sheltered valley,
in a part of a wooded plantation (it is called ' Nightin-
gale Valley '), and the bird seems to be surrounded with
more companions than in any other spot in the neigh-
bourhood, although they may be heard in several places
adjacent. About four or five years ago, a poor shoe-
maker in Bristol, who makes an annual journey thither-
wards, was induced, through some deplorable fatality, to
extend his art of Nightingale-catching to the woods
adjoining this house. Previous to his coming, the bird
was a regular yearly visitor with us, and always inhabited
one particular tree, and from a window belonging to
this hotel I have often watched the thrilling and throb-
bing movements of the songster's little throat. But
the bird-catching shoemaker came and secured the
bird, and I think two others that season. The next
year we had no Nightingale's song to listen to, nor have
had ever since.
" Accidentally, one of my healthy male birds escaped
from his cage, and though the season of his song was
over, still, more than once, as I passed, his reply to my
call-note convinced me it was a convenient place of re-
sidence for him till the migratory season. I expected
he would have returned again the following spring with
a female companion, so as to make up for the depriva-
tion occasioned by the shoemaker : but no such realiz-
ation of my wishes took place the woods here are as
desolate of the Nightingale s song as though the echo
of its silver tones had never been heard in Portishead.
442 PARTICULARS OF CAPTURE. [CHAP. xiv.
One would have thought the young birds of previous
broods, season after season, would have shown some-
thing like an attachment for the old spot; but, un-
accountably, such was not the case. In vain do I stroll
around the woods during the last fortnight in April and
throughout the month of May, to listen to the song of
the many kinds of birds that are always with us at that
period of the year, but never since have been able to
single out the stirring thrill of the Nightingale."
C. He writes in earnest ; and it was a vexing shame.
I should have been almost as much enraged with the
spoiler as poor Macduff was at Macbeth's savage
slaughter
" All my pretty ones !
Did you say all 1 What, all 1 base catcher ! all 1"
Revenge is tempting ; but to try whether the shoemaker
could flounder out of a horse-pond after being assisted
into it, on his next predatory perambulation, would be
only shutting the stable-door after the steed is clean
stolen.
E.-A. We shall soon see some shoemakers of the
same sort at work hereabouts. They can do me no
harm now. This is the time they are so anxious to
make the most of, just after the first arrival of the birds.
You are no doubt aware that the males of many of our
migratory birds precede the females by several days; in
the case of Nightingales, by about five or six. The
males, on their arrival, are, I take it, in a state of single
blessedness, and if captured in this condition, I believe
they may in general be easily tamed and fed off ; but if
a male bird be taken after he has mated, he becomes
exceedingly impatient of restraint, and either beats him-
self to death against his prison walls, or becomes sulky,
CHAP. xiv.J SUBSEQUENT MANAGEMENT. 443
and dies of starvation. This at least may be relied on ;
a captured bird has been known to become quite tame
in four or five days, if taken before the arrival of the
females. But they seem, like their kidnappers, to vary
very much in temperament. Two birds caught on the
same day have shown very different dispositions, one
becoming quite tame almost at once, the other continuing
shy and intractable for many months. A new-caught
bird is generally placed in a large cage and covered over
with green baize, which is gradually removed as he
acquires confidence. To induce him to eat, hard-boiled
egg and lean beef are minced together quite fine, and in
the midst of the mess a wire worm is fastened to attract
his attention. A little bruised hemp-seed may now
and then be mixed with his meat and egg.
C. You seem to think I am going to take a Nightin-
gale home with me by the minute instructions you are
giving. Why do you not keep one yourself ?
E.-A. They are too troublesome for me. I have
known several people attempt to keep them, but from
the great attention requisite, they have seldom been
maintained in life longer than a single season. They
require the utmost nicety in feeding and cleaning; living
as they do on animal food, they soon become very offen-
sive if not regularly attended to. Their food must be
chopped fresh every day, and every other day at least
the sliding bottom of the cage must be scraped and
strewed with fresh sand. I do not want one here, be-
cause any time during the season I can go and listen
to one : but you may, perhaps, like to gratify your
countrymen with the sight and sound of the foreign
vocalist.
C. Not a bad idea. I almost wish one of your ex-
444 ANTIQUE NOTIONS. [CHAP. xiv.
pected bird-catchers would make his appearance. Let
us halt a moment on this green wayside. From the
hawthorn thicket there bursts another full, liquid gush
of melody, powerful and yet plaintive. It is the wailing
tone which is so new to me. Virgil may well say of
him, " flet noctem," (he weeps the night through,) and
then add the " amissos fcetus," (the lost young ones,)
to make the picture consistent. It is a more imagina-
tive way of accounting for a mournful strain, than the
bodily suffering implied by the idea of the bird's lean-
ing against a thorn during his vocal performance.
E.-A. Virgil is more sentimental than my fellow
townsman, Sir Thomas Browne. The Philosopher is
often a bit of a sceptic ; that is, he fears falling into cre-
dulity. He is bold enough to say, " Whether the
Nightingale's sitting with her breast against a thorn, be
any more than that she placeth some prickles on the
outside of her nest, or roosteth in thorny prickly places,
where serpents may least approach her, experience hath
made us doubt."
C. I can now appreciate all that has been said about
the touching quality of the tone of voice. What has
most surprised me in my classical readings about this
bird, is its alleged sleeplessness. But I suppose it is
all fabulous. According to ^Elian*, "Hesiod says,
that of all birds the Nightingale alone abstains from
sleep and holds a perpetual vigil." He adds that
" the Swallow does not keep constantly awake, but
loses of its sleep the half ; and that they both pay this
forfeit in expiation of the crime perpetrated in Thrace,
that, namely, which occurred at their unhallowed meal."
* Varia Historia, xii. 20.
CHAP, xiv.] WAKEFULNESS OF THE BIRD. 445
Procne and Philomela, like the modern Cenci, puzzle
one to say whether they were justifiable or not. It
was hard for Itys to have his Goose cooked in that
fashion ; otherwise, Tereus deserves no pity. But, I
presume, Philomel's rest is not so entirely broken now-
a-days, and the pagans merely meant to give us their
idea of the incompatibility between peace of mind and
a heavy weight of guilt. The ancient myth shadows
forth the unquietness of an evil conscience, and warns
us of what we learn from Scripture : " There is no peace,
saith my God, to the wicked."
E.-A. Nightingales, during the period of their song,
are most untiring watchers, and it is difficult to know
when they do sleep at that time. Regular and periodic
rest they seem to have none. Their slumbers, if any,
must be snatches of a few brief intervals. The live-
long day, as well as the live-long night, do they pour
forth their intermitting bursts of song. If they make
any pause of longer duration, it seems to be towards
the close of the afternoon. The night's performance
does not weaken the display at early dawn. A just
emancipated schoolboy told, with high glee, how one of
his masters, an exiled Pole, used to rise early in the
morning to enjoy the song of the Nightingales in the
nursery gardens at Leamington Spa; and that the jest
of his going to hear a Morningale was sufficiently
good to create mirth amongst the youngsters for a
whole summer.
C. It certainly illustrates the minute amount of wit
that suffices for schoolboys. Pliny, however, you may
remember, makes the Nightingale's punishment much
less severe than that assigned by Hesiod. " Lusciniis
diebus ac noctibus continuis quindecim garrulus sine
446 A NIGHTINGALE DIET. [CHAP. xiv.
intermissu cantus." (Fifteen continual nights and days
are different to a whole life of unrest.) ^Elian, in his
gossip on the nature of animals *, makes the wakeful-
ness of the Nightingale communicable to those who are
guilty of eating its flesh, and so leads us to infer that
inability to rest is an infectious disorder. " Aiyova-i 31
xa.1 ra xgeoc, avr^? sl<; oiy^vjrvioin XlWTfAltV." (And they
say that the flesh of it tends to sleeplessness.) But he
seems to think that such epicures are punished no worse
than they deserve. " Iiov*j^&< pn oi/v ol TCHU,VTY>S T^offiq
^aTy^o^, xa atpaOits &*{." (Wretched are those
that feast on such a viand, and untaught, dreadfully
so!)
E.-A. I am told that the Nightingale is an ill-fla-
voured bird, and that the taste, once known, is not
easily forgotten. The last kind of pleasure we should
now think of deriving from Nightingales is that of
eating them. The idea never enters our thoughts, or,
if it do, is at once rejected ; the notion is as obsolete and
extravagant as the Twelve Caesars. Heliogabalus, and a
few other worthies of his set, are almost the only
epicures of the kind whom I remember.
C. They had some excuse ; they believed that a dish
of Nightingales, with their tongues and brains, was a
sovereign remedy against that terrible disease, epilepsy,
with which several of their family were afflicted.
E.-A. We must not boast our entire rejection of these
absurd and superstitious medicaments ; fried mice are
still eaten in many parts of England, as an antidote to
"fits; " snails as a cure for consumption; viper-broth is
much out of fashion, but you know how highly it was
* Vol. i. p. 43.
CHAP, xiv.] ENTER BIRD-CATCHER. 447
esteemed. Perhaps, in abstaining from Nightingale
feasts, we may be neglecting to take the goods the gods
provide us ; for, says Aldrovandi, " Although Joannes
Bruyerinus asserts that Nightingales are not used as
food by polite persons in our days, yet to myself at
least, who formerly used often to eat them (esitavi), they
have afforded neither an unsavoury nor unhealthy,
although scanty dish." Were they to become the
fashion at London dinners, they could be supplied
during their season by the poulterers, at a rate not
dearer than is paid for many delicacies, especially those
out of season. I will not too strongly advocate their
introduction to table, but it would be a good thing if
M. Soyer, or some other philanthropic cook, could bring
entrees of small birds more into vogue.
C. What! singing birds ?
E.-A. Yes, singing birds; the mischievous creatures!
You ought to know how good Larks are ; and many a
time when in Rome I have supped admirably after the
opera off roasted Thrushes.
C. "It were a goot motion if we were to leave our
pribbles and prabbles," as Sir Hugh Evans would tell
you rather sharply ; but you will have your swing.
E.-A. I have done, for here comes a bird-catcher;
I know the cut of his gib well ; he must be the son of
the man of whom, years ago, I used to buy twopenny
Linnets and threepenny Goldfinches, with their wings
tied behind them, to save them from fluttering to
death.
BIRD-CATCHER. Fine da', gen'lemin. Sarvint, Sar.
E.-A. How dy'e do, Mr. Coyham ? Can you manage
to catch us this Nightingale ?
B.-C. Think I can, Sar, in about ten minutes.
448 KUEAL SIMPLICITY. [CHAP. xiv.
C. Ah ! You 're a Norfolk man too, I find.
B.-C. In coose, Sar. Sullingim's my native. Glad
you know my name and my trade, Sar. Sometimes
they take me for one o' them there poachin fellers, that
slink about arter Pheasant's eggs; but I niver go a
water-creasing, and then come home with a rare big
basketful, greens a' top, Sar, and ducks at the bottom.
Folks that don't know me, warn me off their primmises
now and then, and I 'm 'bliged to hide up in a deek for
a da' or so, to git a ba'd that I wull have. But here, ye
know, Sar, I Ve the Governor's leave, ever since the
Rural sarved me that there trick. I don't mean the
Dean, Sar, I mean the Police. He s gone now, but
they ha' got another. He used to live in one o' them
there housen, up o' the loke up yinder, next door to
m' aunt and m' uncle. They put me up to him.
E.-A. Ah ! They 're a neat set.
B.-C. Very nate indeed, Sar, with ther rosy faces
and ther bootiful whiskers. They shave twice a week
regular ; three times, if they want to git a poor feller's
secrets out o' the gal he keep company with.
C. You seem to have a high opinion of them.
B.-C. Yis, Sar, and well I ma'. One da', when I was
here all alone arter some Draw-waters, up come the
Rural, lookin very knowin. " I sa', bor," ses he, " I
want a hare very bad ; can't yow happen o' one?" " I
do n' know," ses T, " I '11 see what I can du. Per'aps
yow '11 be here agin to-morrer." So away he walk, as if
the lane was his property, instid o' the Governor's. The
Governor was 't 'ome, so I went and told 'im the good-
ookin Rural with the bootiful whiskers wanted a hare.
Law, Sar! how he did bl t and swear! He called
'era a set of Jinnizerries. " Coyham, bor," ses he, " I '11
CHAP. xiv.J DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND. 449
tell ye what to du. Here 's half-a-crown : du yow go
to the citty, and buy a nice hare, and git a bill for it,
and ha' the bill reseated ; be sure, bor, yow take care o'
that." Next da', up come the Police, kind o' smilin'.
" I 'a got a hare for ye," ses I. " How much is it, bor ? "
ses he. " Two shillins," ses I. " Tha 's tu much," ses
he. " Don't sin golderin about no sech nonsense," ses
I ; " there 's the hare, and I 'on't take no less. If you
don't like it, you may lump it." So off he go, right over
that there midder, with the hare in his pocket.
In a da' or two, he come agin, with his hat cocked o'
one side, and sa', "Yow must go along o' me to the
Magistrate's Setten, about that there hare. Yow '11
hear futher about that." " Very well," ses I, "I ha'n't
no objections. Other folks can see jest as far into a
millstone as yow, with all your know." So when the
gen'lemin were a goin to hear my case, I pulled out the
bill riddy reseated, and pruvved that I 'd sold the hare
agin at a loss, all to oblige the nice-lookin Police.
And this was what I got by it ! I only wish, Sar, you 'd
'a seen how white the feller turned ; the duzzy fule !
C. Well, but of course he was punished for tempting
you to break the law. What did they do to him ?
B.-C. Du, Sar? Change o' air, Sar, tha's all. He 'd
a right to foller his trade, same as I have to foller mine.
He 's now walking about arter other hares ten miles off.
Some folks said he owt to be discharged ; but they niver
do that; per'aps they dussen't. When rogues fall out,
Sar, you know the rest. The Governor up yinder sa'
the Rurals may du anything, except murder, and they '11
soon take out a licence for that.
C. I hope they won't, though, till I get back to Wales
G 6
450 THE BIRD IS CAUGHT. ,CHAP. xiv.
again. I did not like to interrupt the story, but what
does he mean by " I say, bor?"
E.-A. " Bor," in our dialect, is a defective noun mas-
culine of address, used only in the vocative case ; " mor,"
is the corresponding feminine. If I were to give orders
to two of my servants, " John, bor, do this; Mary, mor,
do that," they would quite understand the phrase,
though they might smile at my using it. " Mor," how-
ever, has a nominative case, which is "mawther," a
country girl. But we shall lose the Nightingale.
B.-C. Niver fear, Sar; I Ve baited my trap better
than the bootiful Police did his. Yow 'd 'a thowt he 'd
a slumped into a pritty mess, wouldn't ye, Sar? No
sech a thing in the book! This here, gen'lemin, is
a lively meal-wurrum, an' '11 be sartin to take. Keep
yow still ! (Bird-catcher steals into the copse where the
bird is singing, places the trap upon the ground, steals
further on, and whistles a low plaintive note; Night-
ingale hears, and follows in the same direction, sees the
meal-worm, marches deliberately up to it, tugs at the bait,
causes the trap to fall, and is caught.) There, Sar, he 's
a nice 'un, and I Ve got him good tidily quick.
C. Simple creature ! How his little heart beats !
But will he be a good bird when I get him home ?
B.-C. Can't answer for that, Sar, as yit; we didn't
hear enough on him. " They 'on't all on 'em turn out
alike. Some ba'ds sing like Jenny Lind, and other
some no better 'an a mawther.
E.-A. You remember Pliny makes their singing a
matter of skill. " Ac ne quis dubitet artis esse, plures
singulis sunt cantus, nee iidem omnibus, sed sui cuique. " *
* Lib. x. 43.
CHAP, xiv.] ITS PEKFOBMANCE AND FEEDING. 451
C. But if you were to rear one from the nest, or to
catch one as soon as it began to shift for itself, how
would that turn out ?
B.-C. Good for nothin at all, Sar. It might have
a few natural notes, and besides them, a bit of a whistle,
or a chirp of a Sparrow, or anything else it could catch
up, but very little o' the Nightingale. Yow 'd best let
me bring you a good ba'd a fortnight hence, when he 's
fed off and got tame. You know he '11 always be a little
shy, and you must be careful not to let him be much
looked at and frightened. Towards September, when
he ought to be goin away, he '11 be very restless, and
hop about the cage nearly all the night, and flutter'
violently. You must have a proper Nightingale's cage,
with the top to take off, and you can put a piece of
green baize there instead.* This will go on for two
or three weeks, and at Christmas time he '11 begin sing-
ing again.
C. How long may I expect to keep him, do you
think?
B.-C. I know a man that had one for ten years, but
he was very careful and tended it hisself. That 's the
only way to be sure. You may give him German paste
if you like, but mutton or beef well scalded, and cut up
with hard-boiled egg every morning, is the chief food of
caged ba'ds, and they soon become very fond of it. You
* The cage generally used is made of thin mahogany, having the
appearance of a box. The front is composed of brass wire, and a
broad strip of wood runs across it, both at top and bottom, so that the
place of confinement is made very dark, in accordance with the habits
of the bird. It is not uncommon to have the front of the cage (which
is the only part left open) covered with thin green baize, and the
darker the habitation the bird resides in, the longer and the louder
he will sing. So treated, he escapes the gaze of curious persons,
which at times causes great excitement and timidity.
G G 2
452 CONCLUSION. [CHAP. xiv.
must keep the bottom of the cage very clean, and when
you can get it, strow it with mould full o' little red ants.
The Nightingales here almost live on 'em. If you want
him to sing when he is quiet, some particular noise will
often make him. In my hack 'us there 's a water pipe,
and three times out o' four I could make a ha'd sing
by turning the cock and letting the water run ; or if a
ba'd is alone in a room, and a person choose to leave
the door a little open, and rub his foot on the floor and
make a scraping noise, he will mostly begin to sing
directly.
E.-A. That is very like our Sedge- warblers at home.
They will often sing if we call to them, and even if we
throw a stick amongst the reeds where they are hidden.
B.-C. I don't know that there is anything more that
I need tell you, Sar. If you give me an order, I pro-
mise ye yow shall have a good 'un.
C. If you please ; I will depend on your bringing it
ten days hence. So now good afternoon to you.
B.-C. Good arternune, Sar.
E.-A. We must walk briskly, after having lingered
so long. You have seen my Dovecote and my Aviary,
and to-day you have caught a Nightingale. I hope we
shall be back in good time for dinner ; an ichthyological
study awaits you there, a dish of Smelts. I think you
will say they bear comparison with Trout.
INDEX.
N on Pigeons, 19, 61 ; the lean
poet of Cos, 91.
ALBATROSS, 420; battues of, 423;
mode of catching, 421 ; its mode of
flying, 424.
ALDROVANDI on the Halcyon, 298;
Pigeons, 82 ; Storks, 339 ; Water
Hens, 289.
ALMOND TUMBLERS, 115.
ALEXANDRINE PIGEONS, 17-
AMERICA, Curassqws in, 239, 242;
Pigeon-fanciers in, 15; Passenger
Pigeons of, 215; natural produc-
tions of, not suited to the English
climate, 259; Crested Turkey in,
276.
ANACREON'S Ode to a Dove, 20.
ANCIENT Authors on Pigeons, 18 ;
use of Pigeons as letter-carriers,
19; pigeon-houses, 26; charms for
Doves, 31.
ANECDOTES of a Bantam Cock, 95;
Bitterns, 332; Blue Rock Pigeons,
153; Collared Turtle, 177; Domes-
tic Pigeons, 142, 148; Fantail, 89;
Guans, 263; Herons, 308, 321; Ja-
cobine, 106; Kingfishers, 300,305;
Passenger Pigeon, 216; Powter,
124; Quails, 386; Water Hens, 284,
288, 291.
ANIMAL DEVELOPMENT, Theory of,
68, 167, 176.
ANTWERP breed of Carrier Pigeons,
127.
APOCRYPHAL ANIMALS, 274.
ARABIAN LEGEND, 11.
ARCHANGEL PIGEONS, 99.
ARISTOTLE on Pigeons, 17.
AUSTRALIA, abundance of Pigeons
in, 14 ; heat in, 201 ; Leipoa of, 65;
peace-tokens in, 10.
AUSTRALIAN Kingfishers, 202, 310;
Emeus, 354.
AUSTRALIAN PIGEONS, 190; none
yet domesticated, 192; Bronze
Winged, 194; hopes for their be-
coming domesticated, 199; Crested
Marsh Pigeons, 200, 211 ; migratory
habits of, 201 ; Graceful Ground
Dove, 209; Ground Doves, 205;
reared in England, 208, 212 ; Harle-
quin Bronze Wing, 205; Speckled
Dove, 209; ventriloquism of, 204;
Wonga-Wonga, 192.
AVIARY of various birds, 304.
BAGDAD, Carrier Pigeons at, 127.
BALDPATES, 119.
BARBS, 111
BASKET for Pigeon nests, 40.
BEAU TIBBS'S Ortolan, 401.
BEAUTY of the works of nature, 7-
BELGIAN PIGEON RACES, 136.
BERNICLE, SANDWICH, 428; men-
tioned by Capt. Cook, 430; diet,
434; odour, 429; plumage, 434;
violent temper, 432.
BIRDS in captivity, 303.
BIRD-CATCHER, 447.
BITTKRNS, 325; cry, 326; in captivity,
331 ; in the Marram Banks, 328.
BLUE ROCK Pigeons, 10, 150; anec-
dote of, 153; value of a colony of,
157; crossed with Carriers, 156;
gregarious, 155 ; haunt the sea-side,
157; of India, 163; at Malta, 158;
plumage of, 161; in Sutherland-
shire, 159; unchanged by taming,
15 ; Varro's description of, 151.
BLYTH'S account of Blue Rock
Pigeons, 163.
SORROW'S Bible in Spain, 48.
BOYS' Pigeon-houses, 3.
BRAZIL, Curasspws in, 242.
BREEDING of Pigeons, 55.
BREEDING-PLACES for Pigeons, 39.
BRONZE-WINGED PIGEONS, 194;
guides to water, 196; beautiful
plumage of, 196; ventriloquism of,
BRUTUS, use of Carrier Pigeons by,
24.
BUFFON: theory of the domestic
animals, 73 ; on Storks, 315.
BUILDINGS resorted to by wild birds,
27.
BYAM on the Crested Turkey, 276.
CAPUCHINS, 103.
CARRIER PIGEONS, 19, 126; Antwerp
breed, 127, 137; of Bagdad, 127;
employment of, 127; English breed,
139 ; experiments with, 131 ; organ
of locality in, 130; their Oriental
origin, 140; races with, in Belgium,
136; given to Sir John Ross, 134;.
travel by sight, 133; used as agents
of superstition, 2] ; in Turkey, 133;
used in warfare, 24.
CASSOWARY, 354.
CATO, on fatting Pigeons, 28.
454
INDEX.
CHARACTERISTICS of the Colum-
bidae, 1.
CHARMS for the protection of Doves,
31.
CHINESE CORMORANTS, 415.
CHRISTIAN VIRTUES, typified by
Doves, 2.
CLASSIFICATION of Pigeons, 70, 85.
CLERICAL Pigeon breeder, 48.
CLIMATE of Norfolk, 436.
COLLARED TURTLE, 12, 174; afford
excellent eating, 175; anecdotes,
177; habits, 179; time of incuba-
tion, 184.
COLUMBA affinis, or Dovehouse Pi-
geon, 153; livia, or Blue Rock Pi-
geon, 152; risoria, or Laughing
Pigeon, 174; turtur, or Turtle
Dove, 174, 189.
COLUMBIDJE, characteristics of, 1.
COLUMELLA, on Pigeons, 18; on
Dovecotes, 31
CORMORANTS, 414; Chinese, 415.
CORRESO, or Curassow, 223.
CORT-BEKE, 107.
Cos, Poet of, 91.
COURTSHIP of Pigeons, 55.
CRACID^E, 223.
CRANES, 320.
CRAVATE Pigeon, 107.
CRAVAT of the Jacobines, 105.
CREATION BY MAN disproved, 74, 230.
CRESTED MARSH PIGEONS, 200, 211 ;
reared in England, 212.
CRESTED TURKEY, 274; a freak of
nature, 275 ; discovered in Central
America, 276.
CROPPERS, 121 ; known to Pliny, 123.
CROSS-BREEDS, not new creations,
78; follow the father, 88.
CRUELTY to animals reprobated, 316.
CURASSOWS, 223; Dampier's account
of, 223; want of information re-
garding, 224 ; high prices of, 225 ;
can they be domesticated in Eng-
land ? 224 ; stated to have been do-
mesticated in Holland, 233, 242;
their introduction into England de-
sirable, 233 ; but not probable, 239,
244 ; tamed, but not domesticated,
240, 244; long known in Europe,
235; in America, 239; in Brazil,
242; eggs, 241, 244; habits, 234,
238; nests, 240; plumage, 241.
DACELO, or Laughing Jackass, 311.
DACTYL-SOUNDING QUAIL, 374.
DE BERANGER'S Satire on Pigeons,
138.
DEVELOPMENT, animal, theory of,
68, 167, 176.
DIFFICULTY of retaining Pigeons, 52.
DINORNIS, or Wonder Bird, 362.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS are distinct
races, 72, 167.
DOMESTIC PIGEONS, 86.
DOMESTIC AND WILD PIGEONS, 150.
DOMESTICATION of Pigeons its an-
tiquity, 11; sorts incapable of, 187.
DOVE, characteristics of the, 1 ; Blue
Rock, 10 ; of Mahomet, 23 ; ode to
a, 20; presented to the Queen at
Dublin, 185; Rock, 13; Turtle,
13.
DOVECOTES, in ancient times, 31;
various kinds of, 36 ; as described
by Varro, 50.
DOVEHOUSE PIGEONS, 152 ; distinct
from the Blue Rock Pigeons, 166;
employed as nurses, 173; used in
Pigeon matches, 168; nesting
places, 163.
DUFFERS, or Dovehouse Pigeons,! 66.
DUTCH PIGEON FANCIERS, 33.
EARLY domestication of Pigeons, 11 ;
use of Fancy Pigeons, 16.
EGGS of Curassows, 240; Gulls, 409;
Pigeons, 5, 63, 142, 214; Water Hen,
296.
EMIGRANTS, value of a dovecote to,
14.
EMEUS, 352 ; mode of capturing, 356;
diet, 372; probable extinction of,
354; habits, 370; incubation by the
male, 370; at Knowsley, 369;
plumage, 372 ; lameness, 359.
EXPERIMENTS with Carrier Pigeons,
131.
EXTINCTION of native animals, 354,
360.
FANCY PIGEONS, 16; ancient use of,
16.
FANTAILS, 86; not much sought
after, 91; peculiar motions, 89;
powers of flight, 87; tails, 87, 90;
Peacock Pigeons, 90 ; Shakers, 89.
FATTING of birds, 28, 394.
FEATHERS, growth of, in Pigeons,
59.
FERAL PIGEONS, 15.
FIDELITY of Pigeons to their mates,
56.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF PIGEONS, 53.
FLOCKS of Pigeons their enormous
extent, 5; in India, 14; of Quails,
376.
FLOOR OF DOVECOTE, how to be
covered, 42.
FOOD of Domestic Pigeons, 146 ; of
young Pigeons, 36 ; of foreign Pi-
geons, 220.
FOREIGN PIGEONS, care of, 220.
FORTUNE'S " China," 415.
FREAK OF NATURE, 275.
FRIENDSHIP OF PIGEONS for the
Kestrel Hawk, 30.
FRIZZLED PIGEONS, 141.
FULLER'S " Holy State," 56, 62.
INDEX.
455
GALL, DR., on animal instinct, 130.
GALLINACB.>E, characteristics of, 1.
GALLINULE, or Water Hen, 282.
GEOPELIA, or Ground Dove, 205, 209.
GEOPHAPS Plumifera, 211.
GLOW-WORMS, 437.
GOOSE, Sandwich Island, 426.
GOULD'S Birds of Australia quoted,
192, 195, 210, 229.
GRACEFUL GROUND DOVE, 209; the
smallest Pigeon existing, 210.
GRALLATORES, or Waders, 313; of
India, 315.
GRATITUDE of Storks, 337.
GROUND DOVES of Australia, 198,
205 ; of Jamaica, 220.
GROWTH of young Pigeons very
rapid, 109.
GUANS, 245; can they be domesti-
cated in England? 251,256; reared
in Holland, 254; repeated attempts
to rear them in England, 258, 266 ;
at Knowsley, 255 ; at the Zoological
Gardens, 261 ; food, 262, 271 ;
habits, 263, 268 ; singularity of their
windpipes, 248.
GUINEA FOWL, 72.
GULLS, 402; great age, 403; good
nature, 402 ; management of in cap-
tivity, 403; eggs, 409; food, 405;
tameable and docile, 414; voracity,
406; Herring, 410; Icelandic, 412;
Skuas, 413.
GULLERY, 406.
HABITATIONS of Fancy Pigeons in
ancient times, 26.
HALCYONS, 298; nest, 299.
HARDINESS of young Pigeons, 7-
HARLEM, siege of, 26.
HARLEQUIN Bronze-winged Pigeon,
203, 205; discovery of, 206 ; bred in
England, 208.
HAWK, friendship of Pigeons for the,
30.
HELMETS, 119.
HELPLESSNESS of newly-hatched
Pigeons, 58, 64.
HEN PIGEONS will pair together, 60 ;
widowed, 61.
HERONS, 320; anecdote of, 308; in
captivity, 321.
Hoccos, 257.
HOLLAND, Curassows in, 233, 242;
Guans in, 2">4
HONEYMOON of Pigeons, 55.
HORSKMEN, 126.
HOUSES for Pigeons, 37.
HUMMING-BIRDS, beauty of, 8.
HYBRID PIGEONS, 184.
ICELANDIC GULL, 412.
INCREASE of Pigeons, 5, 35, 57.
INCUBATION of Pigeons, 56.
INDIA, wild Pigeons in, 14.
INSTINCT in Carrier Pigeons, 129.
ISPIDA, or Kingfisher, 298.
JACKASS, Laughing, 311.
JACKS, 103,
JACOBINES, 103; unproductive and
unsteady, 103 ; description, 105 ;
picture of, 106.
JAMAICA PIGEONS, 220.
JERUSALEM, siege of, 24.
KANGAROOS, 67, 355.
KESTREL HAWK, 30.
KINGFISHER, 297; the Halcyon of the
ancients, 297; anecdotes, 305; aviary,
303; beauty of their plumage, 300;
in captivity, 302; cry, 311; food,
301, 305, 306; habits, 300; pug-
nacity, 307; selfishness, 308; exist
without water, 310; African, 310;
Australian, 202, 310; Laughing
Jackass, 311.
KITES, a species of Tumbler Pigeons,
115.
KNOWSLEY, aviaries at, 237; Aus-
tralian Pigeons, 212; Cranes, 320;
Curassows, 238; Emeus, 369; Guans,
255, 272-; Sandwich Bernicle, 428.
LACE PIGEONS, 141.
LAPWINGS, 317.
LARUS or Gull, 402.
LAUGHING DOVES, 180.
LAW for protection of Pigeons, 48.
LEGHORN RUNT, 147.
LKIPOA ocellata, 65.
LETTER CARRIERS, Pigeons used as,
19, 127.
LETTER DOVES of Bagdad, 128.
LIFE, a progress, 4.
LOCALITY, bump of, in Pigeons, 130.
LONG-TAILED SENEGAL DOVE, 218.
LUMACHELLE PIGEONS, 197-
MAHOMET'S DOVE, 23.
MARABOUS, 315.
MARRAM BANKS, 328.
MATCHES Pigeon shooting, 168; at
Paris, 171.
MIGRATIONS of Quails, partial, 381.
MOAS of New Zealand, 364.
MOORE'S Ode to a Dove, 20.
MOSAIC of Doves, 29.
Music of Nature, 376.
MUTUNS, or Curassows, 239.
NAPIER, on Pigeon shooting in Malta,
158; on Quail shooting, 377.
NATURALISTS, absurd theories of, 314.
NESTS of the Curassow, 240; Halcyon,
299; Pigeons, 62; Water Hen, 295.
NESTING-PLACES for Pigeons, 38.
NEW ZEALAND, Wonder-Birds of,
32.
NIGHTINGALES, 43ft; cage for, 451.
456
INDEX,
NOAH The Pigeon sent out of the
ark by him, 9.
NUNS, 100; beautiful plumage of, 102.
OLIVE BRANCH Universal token of
peace, 10.
ORACLES, use of Pigeons for, 22.
ORNITHOLOGY, small results of its
study, 227.
ORTOLANS, 394 ; diet, 399; fatted for
table, 396, 400 ; plumage, 398 ;
prices, 399 ; York dish of, 397.
OWEN'S (Professor) Notes on the Moa,
or Dinornis, 362.
OWLS, 108.
PAIRING OF PIGEONS, 60; mode of
inducing, 144.
PAN for nests, 40.
PARADOXICAL INCREASE of Pigeons,
5.
PARAGUAY GUAN, 249.
PARIS, Pigeon matches at, 171.
PASSENGER PIGEONS, 215; nests, 5.
PEACE, tokens of, 10.
PEACOCK PIGEONS, 90.
PEEWITS, 319.
PENALTIES for destroying Pigeons,
49.
PENELOPES, or Guans, 245.
PER FORMANCES of Tumbler Pigeons,
114.
PERUVIAN BARK, 361.
PETRE'S (Colonel) Pigeon-house, 46.
PHAPS, a genus of Pigeons, 195.
PIGEONS, ancient mode of fatting, 27;
Arabian legend regarding, 11; at-
tachment to their home, 145 ; breed-
ing, 55; chick, 58; classification,
70,85; courtship, 55; crosses, 125;
different kinds of houses for, 36;
difficulty of settling, 52; domesti-
cated in the earliest times,! 1 ; eggs,
5,63, 142, 214; favoritism towards
their young, 142; usual food, 36, 146;
friendship of, for the Kestrel Hawk,
30; guides to water in Australia,
196, 204; habitations of, in ancient
times, 26; newly hatched, 58; not
found in the hieroglyphics, 16 ; high
prices, 18; must have a home, 35;
incubation, 56; instinct, 128 ; used
in the Jewish sacrifices, 12 ; laws re-
garding, 49 ; used as letter carriers,
19; localities, 14; management, 34;
used in medicine, 173; misuse of
the name, 71 ; mode of feeding, 41 ;
may be reared by the mouth, 174 ;
nests, 62 ; sent by Noah out of the
ark, 9; pairing, 60; paradoxical in-
crease, 5; feeding-places for, 38;
pleasure of keeping, 2; plumage,
8; quarrels, 142; red feet of, 11;
salt and water for, 42; mentioned
in Scripture, 9; best sort to keep,
147; thirstiness, 145; tithes of, 47;
value of, as provision, 13; ventrilo-
quism, 204; used in warfare, 24;
warmth, 172; worship of, 22;
young, 36; young of, 7; feed their
own young, 35 ; helplessness of their
young, 64 ; rapid growth of young,
109.
PIGEONS, Almond Tumbler, 115;
American, 15, 215 ; Archangels, 99 ;
Australian, 190; Bald-Pates, 119;
Barbs/lll ; Blue Rock, 152; Bronze-
winged, 194 ; Capuchins, 103 ; Car-
riers, 126; Collared Turtle, 174;
Crested Marsh, 200, 211 ; Croppers,
121; Domestic, 86; Domestic and
Wild, 150; Dovehouse, 15; Dra-
goons, 125; Fancy, 16; Fantails.86;
Feral, 15; Foreign, 220; Frizzled,
141; Graceful Ground, 209; Harle-
quin Bronze-winged, 203, 205 ; Hel-
mets, 119; Horsemen, 126; Jaco-
bines, 103; Jamaica, 220; Lace, 141 ;
Laughing, 180; Long-tailed Sene-
gal, 218; Lumachelle, 197; Mon-
dains,92; Nuns, 100; Owl, 108; Pas-
senger, 215; Peacock, 90; Powters,
120; Ring Doves, 188; Rock, 13,
152; Runts, 92; Russian, 94; Sene-
gal, 218; Shakers, 92; Spanish, 48;
Speckled Dove, 209 ; Stock Doves,
187; Trumpeters, 98; Tumblers,
112; Turbits, 106; Turtle Doves,
189; Wild, 187; Wonga-Wonga,
192 ; Wood, 28.
PIGEON-FANCIERS in ancient times,
16; and Pigeon-keepers, 104.
PIGEON-FLESH apreventive of plague,
162.
PIGEON-HOUSES, 3, 36, 44.
PIGEON-LOFTS, 37.
PIGEON-MATCHES defended, 168; at
Paris, 171.
PIGEON-RACES in Belgium, 136.
PINTADO, or Guinea-fowl, 72.
PLEASURE of keeping Pigeons, 2.
PLINY on Pigeons, 17, 18.
PLINY'S DOVES, 29.
PLOVERS, 318.
PLUMAGE, of Curassows, 241 ; Emeu,
372; Humming-birds, 8; Pigeons,
8; Water Hen', 287.
POLE-HOUSE for Pigeons, 44.
POWTERS, 120 ; called Croppers, 121 ;
inflation of the crops of, 121 ; co-
lours of, 123; anecdote of, 124;
treatment of, when sick, 124;
crosses of, 125.
PRICES given for Fancy Pigeons, 18.
PROPERTY in Pigeons protected, 48.
PRUSSIAN GRENADIERS, 117-
QUAILS, 374; anecdote, 386; in cap-
tivity, 382; mode of cooking, 390;
immense flocks, 377 > food, 387;
INDEX.
457
migration, 376 ; monogamous, 384 ;
note of, 375 ; supplied to the Israel-
ites, 378 ; for the table, 392.
QUAIL-FIGHTS, 390; mentioned by
Shakspeare, 391.
QUARRELS of Pigeons, 142.
QUEEN, Dove presented to the, at
Dublin, 185.
RACES with Pigeons in Belgium , 136.
RATS destroyed by Storks, 344.
RED FEET OF PIGEONS, cause of, 11.
RING DOVES, 188; migrations of, 189.
ROCK PIGEONS, 13; not changed by
being tamed, 15.
ROGERS' lines on the Pigeon, 26.
ROMAN Pigeon-fanciers, 18 ; mode of
fatting Pigeons, 27.
Ross, SIR JOHN, 134.
RUFFS, 103.
RUNTS, 92; largest of domestic Pi-
geons, 92; termed Pigeons Mon-
oains, 92 ; their weight, 93 ; their an-
tiquity, 94; why called Russia-Pi-
geons, 94 ; the Campania Pigeons of
Pliny, 94; peculiarities of, 96; ex-
cellence for the table, 96; crosses
with, 97 ; Leghorn, 147.
RURAL POLICE, 448.
RUSSIA-PIGEONS, 94.
RUSSIAN veneration for Pigeons, 23.
SALT, supply of, in the Dovecote, 42.
SALT-CAT, recipe for, 42.
SANDWICH ISLAND Goose, 426; Ber-
nicle, 428.
SEA-SIDE, haunts of the Blue Rock
Pigeon, 157.
SENEGAL DOVE, 218; song of, 219.
SHAKERS, 89.
SHAKSPEARE on Pigeons, 142, 145,
180.
SICK POWTERS, treatment of, 124.
SIEGE of Jerusalem, 25; of Harlem,26.
SMITERS, 122.
SNIPES, 319.
SPANISH Pigeon-breeder, 48.
SPECKLED DOVE, 209; the smallest
Pigeon existing, 210.
SPOONBILLS, 320.
SQUABS, newly hatched, 35, 58.
ST. JOHN'S Tour in Sutherlandshire,
159.
STOCK DOVES, 187.
STORK, White, 314, 335; Indian, 315.
STRAW BASKET, or pan, 40.
STRUTHIOUS BIRDS, 362; plumage,
372.
STURT'S (Capt.) Expedition in Aus-
tralia, 201, 203, 206, 311.
SWEDEN, Storks in, 349.
SYKES (Col.) on Quails, 379.
SYLVIADJE in captivity, 304.
TEMMINCK on Blue Rock Pigeons,
160; Bronze-winged Pigeons, 196;
Crested Turkey, 275; Curassows,
242 ; domestic races of animals, 73 ;
Fancy Pigeons, 75; Fantails, 90;
Guans, 250, 254, 257; Pigeon-
houses, 32; Quails, 374, 383.
TENACITY OF LIFE in Pigeons, 89.
THEORIES of French Naturalists, 73.
TINUNCULUS, or Kestrel Hawk, 30.
TITHES of Pigeons, 47.
TRAP for Pigeon-loft, 37.
TRASH, 104.
TREATISE on Domestic Pigeons
quoted, 40, 43, 98, 101, 107, 116,
119, 124, 133, 144.
TRICKS of Tumbler Pigeons, 112.
TRUMPETERS, 98, 149.
TUMBLERS, 112; Almond, 115; ex-
cellence, 112; high prices, 112;
Kites, 115; tricks, 112; perform-
ances, 114; practice tumbling, 118.
TURBITS, 77, 106; termed Pigeon
Cravate, 77, 107; colour, 108.
TURKEY, Carrier Pigeons in, 133.
TURTLE, collared, 174.
TURTLE DOVES, 12, 189; Roman
mode of fatting, 27.
UDE, on Quails, 388.
VARRO, on Carrier Pigeons, 19; on
Dovecotes, 50; on Domestic Pi-
geons, 151.
VENETIAN Pigeon-fanciers, 33.
VENTRILOQUISM of Pigeons, 204
WADERS, in captivity, 313; their
strange aspect, 316.
WARFARE, use of Pigeons in, 24.
WATER, supply of, in the Dovecote,42.
WATER BOTTLE, 43.
WATER GUIDES in Australia, 196, 204.
WATER-HENS, 280; anecdotes, 284,
288,291; eggs, 296; in captivity, 291;
mode of diving, 285 ; mode of run-
ning on the water, 285,294; nesting-
places, 295; paradoxical habits, 281 ;
plumage, 2b7 ; post-mortem exa-
mination , 285 ; self-willed, 284.
WATER RAIL, 319.
WEIGHT of Pigeons, 93, 161.
WHITE STORK, 314, 335; anecdote,
337; gratitude, 337; habits, 342;
haunts, 348 ; virtues, 335.
WIDOWED HEN PIGEON, 61.
WILD PIGEONS, 187.
WILD AND DOMESTIC PIGEONS, 150.
WILLUGHBY on Fancy Pigeons, 89,
92, 103, 106, 115, 120, 121, 162, 173.
WINDPIPES of the Guans, 248.
WINGLESS BIRDS, 362.
WISE PROVISIONS OF THE CREATOR,
64.
WOND F.R-BIRDS of New Zealand, 362 ;
may yet be extant, 366.
H H
458
JNDEX.
WONGA-WONGA PlGBON, 192.
WOOD PIGEONS, 28.
WORSHIP of Doves and Pigeons,
YARMOUTH sailors, great Pigeon-fan-
ciers, 95; boys, tricks of, 411.
YARRKLL, on Curassows in England,
236; feathers, 59; Pigeons, 79.
YOUNG of domestic birds, 34; of
Pigeons, 35; of all animals wisely
provided for, 64.
ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS (Surrey), 261.
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY, expected re-
sults of, 225 ; small practical utility
of, 226 ; Curassows in the garden of,
236; Emeus, 369; Laughing Jack-
ass, 312.
ERRATUM.
Page 77, last line but four, for orgin, read origin.
364, omit line 2.
G. Woodfall and Son, Printers, Angel Court, Skinner Street, London.
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