entirely divided, one toe. behind. Wings, of moderate lerigtl#rather pointed*;
the first quill-feather rather shorter than the secpnd, which is theJpJisest in'th,e
wing. Tail of twelve feathers, nearly even at the end.
W e have now arrived at-the third Order, efe Birds^the
Rasores oFfptematic- authors^^p&sfc; pf the lu E d s® this
order obtain the principal part ohtheir,-. food- upon the ground.
The Pigeonsi<have.B,ee%plaeed^ som^OrnithoiOgists- among
the InsesSdres or Perching Birds, andSh^rothers among the
'Rasores- or the Gallinaceousj Birdsy Mr# Thomas Allis of.
York has shown, in-a paper published %,-the second volume
of the Naturalist, page, 57* in how man^instance^' some of
the Pigeons' resemble the Perching^Birds^.liifeoifee of tijk
Pigeons (not o f our-British species) in-their habits..an(^e^
n§my; also very closely resemble the Gallinae^^s-rBirds^nd
th&&olumbida, a family very^ ifumerous"ims^^|es,’ are tlhr^V
fere arranged at one- esteemity offficr Rasores, and- .Ite ed i-
ately in connection, with the Insessores*
Our Ring Dove# so- called from the -whitpfea'fehers which
form a portion of a ring, round its neck*.. well’ known
bird which is also called a Wood- Pigeon ih^many parts- of
England, is the largest-wild Pigeon in^ this Country^iand
.even in Europe, I t' is a~cf>nstan€;.resident in 'th e warm and
temperate districts .-of .The - C ontinent*.^: well as*, in’ all the:
wooded and encloSeckpaxts of the British^||khd^;l but-its
numbers diminish in the; Higher 'northern'^re^on's where, this
species appear only as visiters during summer.-.,
In this country the. Ring Dove, or Wood Pigeon, is,»also
called the. Cushat and the* Queest:* the last name having
reference, to a tone: of sadness which pervades their notes.
Brockett, in his Glossary of North-country words, considers
Cushat to be derived from the Saxon cusce&te, from cus.c,
chaste, in allusion to the conjugal fidelity of the* b ird ; and
Mr. Booth in his Analytical Dictionary, says, ^ JPigebus
of all kinds are understood; to be particularly faithful -in their
* Queest, or Quist, fort^, a querula voce.— Nare^s Glossary.
loves* In courtship they saint© with their bills, and murmur,;
or [cdoy 'their', notes,! o$ pleasure. The male and female
sit by turns while hatching and alternately feed their young,
The^ane not th®jlirds of a.busy and turbulent world, they
h ^ ’MOflgalbbladdey,' and, therefore, the secretions of the
liver; gtfeddjt. asy:smppoRe<L never#eon verted into black b i l e a
fluid which has,An dll^ages, been associated with the irritable
pasrio$sf lphnkind. , RSves were/: sacred among the priests
Thejflt.e^v of the-celestial Venus, and
^«Mthe,mb^eng^|B|lhbeuwill of the gods. It was a Dove
« sacred, tesfephace) that1 brought the*:blave branch
4 4% ! .ark b^Nnah^flor which vshe hag her place*.among the
-rQWRtalJgin^,; and ti^Ghristian ‘world fstill > personate the
, Jao^fjSpirif.under the mystic emblem: of a Rove.” ,*
T Wmp% to||*thisj|E) #®es may be- b%d;'almost incessantly
through fthe months«:©!“ March andjiApril in most of our
thTck'Woods- ,and plantations, particularly those of closely set
•fils»??in wMhh||th%p.deiight fpdsuild ;■ the nest consists ^of a
.jfc.j\^tic'k-,,)aid aorlss'/ions-rilbting a platfdrm; surface, ;but so
thin in s^slah-ce, that thd-e^sV.ufeyoung may. sometimes be
^dis|»gW,shed^| This - 1 structure us usually «sixteen ;or twenty
Aethbo'Ye%hevground, andcsufficiently broad to afford room
fonbothiparents. and ^their; young. Two eggs-are laid, which
arc aval- and whitf,, measuring one'. inch eight lines.in length,
. by fenelihch • two. lines in breadth ; : these are hatched in sixteen
o r ^ ^ n t e e n days.; ythe, young are ..supplied with food
reproduced horn the,crops of the parenb birds, who, insert-
dngstheirioyn tbeak between, the mandibles of the young bird,
.ffchus: f e e d themrwith a soft and pulpy mass which is' already
•half.fiigesie>a^t'h,'TM old birds prodncfbtwo and sometimes
-three.broods in the season; and it is a practice amonglhoys,
in j Some countries, when . .thdy $nd a pair of newly hatched
-ifeprds, too young and smallsjon a prize, to tie each bird by
one leg to a branch under the nest, passing the string through
* See also page 258’. ’.'