Part 13

These birds are in some degree migratory; large flocks of them arriving in England from the northern regions of the Continent at the approach of winter, and returning in the spring. Many of them, however, remain in this country during the whole year, and only change their quarters to procure food. Similar, but much more extensive, flights of wild pigeons are observed in some parts of Italy, where great numbers of them are caught for sale as food.

They build their nests in the holes of rocks, in old castles, churches, and towers, and sometimes in the hollows of trees, but never on the boughs; and they lay two white eggs.

The name of Stock-dove has been given to these birds, from their being the stock or origin of our _domestic pigeon_. In a domesticated state artificial cavities are formed for them to breed in; and they are frequently known to have young ones eight or nine times in the year. Thus, although they have only two eggs for each brood, their increase is sometimes extremely rapid.

The uses of pigeons in cookery are well known. The young ones only are selected for this purpose; and they are generally taken just before they are fledged.

There is a mode of enticing pigeons to resort to and reside in any place, by putting there what is called a "salt cat." This is made of loam, old rubbish and salt, and is a substance they are so fond of that instances have been known of farmers having thus deprived their neighbours of their whole stock of pigeons. But, by act of parliament, this practice is now rendered illegal. The shooting of pigeons is also an offence against the law. With respect to the formation of pigeon-houses, it may not perhaps be generally known that, although a lord of a manor may build them on his own land parcel of the manor, and a freeholder on his own ground, yet a tenant cannot do this without his lord's license.

Pigeons are generally considered an injurious stock to the farmer, as they subsist almost wholly on grain, and devour, in the course of a year, infinitely more than would amount to their own value.

There are more than twenty different varieties of the domestic pigeon, of which those called carriers, tumblers, croppers, and powters, are perhaps the best known.

153. The CARRIER PIGEON, which is easily distinguished from others by a broad circle of naked white skin round each eye, and by the dark bluish colour of its plumage, is remarkable for the celerity and certainty with which it has been known to convey letters from distant parts. This arises from the natural attachment which the birds have for the places where they have been bred. The mode of employing them is to take them to the spot whence intelligence is to be brought, to tie the letter under their wing, and let them loose. They rise to a great height into the air; then, by an unaccountable instinct, they dart onward in a direct line to their home. The rapidity of their motion is such that they have been known to fly at the rate of near thirty miles an hour.

154. _The RING DOVE_ (Columba palumbus) _is a species of pigeon known by its cinereous plumage, the tail feathers being black on the hind part, the first quill feathers being whitish on the outer edge, and the neck white on each side._

_It is common in our woods, and is also found in most other parts of Europe._

These birds differ from the last in the habit of constructing their nests on the branches of trees, and particularly on those of the fir-tree, and not in holes of rocks and buildings. As they are of considerably larger size than the domestic pigeon, and, whilst young, are almost equally good for the table, several attempts have, at different times, been made to domesticate them, by hatching their eggs in dove-houses under pigeons; but it has always happened that as soon as they were able to fly, they have escaped to their natural haunts in the woods.

155. _The CROWNED PIGEON_ (Columba coronata, Fig. 33) _is a bird about the size of a turkey, of blueish colour, with a crest four or five inches high upon its head, and the shoulders somewhat rust-coloured._

_It is found in New Guinea, and some of the adjacent islands._

By the inhabitants of New Guinea crowned pigeons are killed for food; and, from their great size, they often afford a very important supply. As they are easily domesticated, they are frequently reared in poultry yards in the East Indies; and their appearance there is highly pleasing and ornamental.

156. _The PASSENGER PIGEON_ (Columba migratoria) _is known by its long tail, the circles round the eyes being naked and blood coloured, and the breast being of reddish colour._

_These birds are found in different parts of North America._

Some idea of the immense numbers of passenger pigeons may be formed by stating that one continued flight of them is calculated by Mr. Weld to have extended at least eighty miles; and that a person is known to have killed more than a hundred and twenty at one shot with a blunderbuss. They migrate, at certain seasons, from one part of the country to another in search of acorns, berries, and other food. During these migrations they are very fat, and are either killed with clubs and guns, or caught in nets extended upon the ground, into which they are allured by tame pigeons, of their own species.

Passenger pigeons are brought, for sale, in sacksful to Quebec, where they are eagerly purchased as food. Such numbers of them are killed by the American Indians that they prepare their fat so as to be eaten like butter. And we are informed that some years ago there was scarcely any Indian town in the interior of Carolina in which 100 gallons of this fat might not at any time have been purchased.

It will easily be imagined, that, in every part of the country where these pigeons feed, they must prove, beyond all calculation, injurious to the farmer, by devouring the fruits of the harvest.

ORDER IV.--GALLINÆ, OR GALLINACEOUS BIRDS.

157. _The TURKEY_ (Meleagris gallo-pavo) _is found wild in the woods of America, and is distinguished by its forehead and chin having a red and naked shin, and the breast of the male being tufted._

Wild turkeys are hunted with dogs by the inhabitants of those parts of America where they are found. As soon as their haunts are discovered, the hunters send into the flock a dog that has been trained to this pursuit. The turkeys do not attempt to escape by flight, but run before him until they become fatigued, when they seek for safety in the trees. The dog gives notice to his followers of the places where they are concealed, and they are then easily knocked off the branches with poles, and secured.

Such is the size of these birds that they frequently weigh more than forty pounds each. The Indians not only esteem them as food, but make an elegant clothing of the _feathers_. The webs of these they twist, into a double string, with hemp or the inner bark of the mulberry-tree, and work or weave them somewhat, like matting. The article thus produced is said to have a rich and glossy appearance, and to be as fine in texture as silk shag. The inhabitants of Louisiana make fans of the tails; and the French, in the American colonies, used formerly to construct parasols by joining four of these tails together.

It does not appear that turkeys were known in England anterior to the reign of Henry the Eighth; and it is supposed that the first of these birds which appeared in Europe were brought from Mexico, after the conquest of that country, in 1521.

These birds, in a domestic state, subsist on grain and insects, and breed early in the spring; the females, whenever they have opportunity, wander to a considerable distance from the poultry yards to construct their nests, and lay and hatch their eggs. These are from fourteen to seventeen in number, of large size, and white colour, marked with reddish or yellow freckles. Young turkeys are so tender as to require much attention in rearing them. The housewives of Sweden frequently plunge them into cold water the day they are hatched; and, after having forced each of them to swallow a pepper-corn, restore them to the care of the parent.

Few birds are more in request for the table than these. The principal countries in which they are fed are Norfolk and Suffolk; and, about Christmas, the demand for them in London is so great that the coaches are sometimes laden with them, even to the exclusion of living passengers. Occasionally turkeys are driven along the roads in flocks of several hundreds together, the drivers having no other implement for keeping them in order, than a long stick with a piece of scarlet rag tied at the end, to which colour they have a very extraordinary antipathy.

158. _The PEACOCK_ (Pavo cristatus) _is a well-known bird, a native of the woods of the East Indies and other parts of Asia, as well as of several parts of Africa._

_It is peculiarly distinguished by having on its head a crest of twenty-four feathers, and, a single hard spur at the back of each leg. The male has, over its tail, several feathers, sometimes four or five feet in length, and each marked, at the extremity, with an eye-like spot: the real tail consists of a range of short, brown, and stiff feathers, which are beneath these._

In some parts of the East Indies the shooting of wild peacocks is not an uncommon diversion, and the size and heavy flight of the birds are such that it does not require a good marksman to bring them down.

Peacocks are mentioned, in the Sacred Writings, as constituting part of the cargoes of the fleet which conveyed the various treasures of the East to the court of King Solomon. They were so much esteemed for the table, by the Romans, that one person, who had devised a mode of fattening them, obtained thereby alone an annual income equal to about 500l. of our money. In England these birds were formerly introduced at sumptuous dinners, and sometimes the skin and all the feathers, particularly those of the tail, were kept to serve them up in. The flesh of the old birds is coarse and unfit for food; but young pea-fowls are at this day much esteemed by epicures.

The _train feathers_ of the peacock are used among the Chinese for ornamental work of different kinds, and particularly for decorating the caps of the mandarins; and they are an article of traffic from the East Indies to that country. Peacocks' _crests_, in ancient times, were among the ornaments of the kings of England; and it appears from records that, in fines to the crown, these crests were sometimes among the articles to be paid.

Pea-fowls are fed in the same manner as turkeys (157); and the females, when allowed to range at liberty, always deposit their eggs in some sequestered place. These birds are very injurious in gardens, from their scratching up the ground in search of food. They love to perch on the highest trees; and their voice is a harsh scream in two notes, one of which is an octave of the other.

159. _The COMMON PHEASANT_ (Phasianus colchicus, Fig. 34) _is distinguished by the general reddish chesnut colour of its plumage, its head and neck being blue, and each eye being surrounded with a red, naked, and warty skin._

_There is a small and moveable tuft of feathers on each side of the head. The plumage of the female is much less brilliant and beautiful than that of the male._

_These birds, though now found wild in our woods, are supposed to have been originally brought into Europe from the banks of the Phasis, a river of Colchis, in Asia, situated to the East of the Black Sea. Pheasants are also found in other parts of Asia, and in Africa._

These birds constitute a rich and wholesome nutriment. They breed in woods and fields, forming their nests, upon the ground, in places where the herbage is thick and close; and laying from twelve to fifteen eggs. These are sometimes taken away and committed to the care of poultry hens, which will hatch them, and rear the young ones as their own. Pheasants feed on corn, wild berries, beech-mast, acorns, and other similar food. They roost on the branches of trees, and, in the short days of winter, generally fly into them for this purpose about sun-set; the male birds making a noise, which they repeat three or four times successively, called "cocketing," and the hens uttering one shrill whistle. Poachers, well acquainted with these sounds, easily discover the place, and either shoot them on their perch, bring them down by burning sulphur underneath, or catch them by a snare made of brass-wire, and fixed to the end of a long pole. They are also caught by snares placed in tracks through which they are known to run, towards the adjacent fields, to feed.

If noblemen and gentlemen of extensive landed property did not preserve the breed of pheasants by forbidding them, except under certain regulations, to be destroyed, the race would soon be extinct in this country.

160. _The ARGUS PHEASANT_ (Phasianus argus) _is a splendid bird, of pale yellow colour, spotted with black, the feathers of the wings grey, with eye-like spots; and the two middle feathers of the tail very long, with similar spots._

_It is a native of Chinese Tartary, the inland of Sumatra, and other parts of the East, and is about the size of a turkey._

The beauty of the plumage of the argus pheasants, but particularly of their wing feathers, and the two long feathers of the tail, has rendered them objects of considerable attention. These feathers were, some years ago, in considerable request in England as an ornament in female head-dress; but from their natural stiffness both of texture and appearance, they are at present but little regarded.

In their native country these birds are killed as food, their _flesh_ being as much esteemed as that of the common pheasant is with us.

161. _DOMESTIC POULTRY_ (Phasianus gallus, Fig. 35) _are birds of the pheasant tribe, and found in a wild state in some of the forests of India, and the Indian islands._

There are few birds so important to mankind as these. Whilst living, they supply us with eggs; and when dead, their bodies afford us food, and their feathers are useful for making beds.

It is said that hens will sometime lay as many as two hundred _eggs_ in twelve months. The chickens are naturally produced by the warmth of the parents sitting upon them, and generally in about three weeks after the operation has commenced. In Egypt, however, it is customary to hatch chickens in ovens by artificial heat. These ovens are sometimes so large as to contain from 40,000 to 80,000 eggs; and it has been calculated that more than 100,000,000 of chickens are annually brought to life in this manner. A similar mode of hatching them was, some years ago, introduced into France by M. de Reaumur; but the practice does not appear to have been much followed.

Some villages in Sussex are famous for poultry, which are fattened to a size and perfection not known elsewhere. They are fed on ground oats made into gruel, by a mixture with hog's grease, sugar, pot-liquor, and milk; or on ground oats, treacle, suet, &c. They are kept warm, and crammed for about a fortnight before they are sold to the higlers. The cramming is performed by rolling their food into pieces of sufficient size to be passed down their throats. When full grown these fowls weigh six or seven pounds, and are sold at four shillings and sixpence or five shillings each. What are called _Darking fowls_ are a very large breed which are also reared in Sussex.

To ascertain whether eggs are fresh, some persons hold them up against a strong light, to see that the white has not lost its transparency; others put their tongue to the large end, and if this feel warm they are considered to be good. If, on shaking them, they are heard to rattle, they are bad. It is said that eggs may be preserved, for many months, by being covered with a thin coat of mutton suet, or other fat substance; but perhaps a better mode than this would be to cover them with a cheap varnish, by which, as well as by the fat, the air would be prevented from penetrating the shells, and thereby rendering the eggs putrid.

Eggs are an agreeable and nourishing food, and are used in various ways in cookery. The whites are of use in medicine. They have been employed with advantage in burns, and have been recommended as a specific for the cure of jaundice. They are likewise used by gilders and artisans. The yolks are employed in medicine in several different ways, but most frequently in emulsions. The shells of eggs serve for various purposes, but chiefly as a white colour, in painting, which is considered preferable to that called flake white.

The _feathers_ of poultry are used, to considerable extent, for making beds, pillows, and bolsters; but they are by no means so excellent as those of geese.

162. _The GUINEA-FOWL, GALLINA, or PINTADO_ (Numidia meleagris), _is an African bird, which is now domesticated in most parts of Europe, and is known by the red or bluish wattles, under the throat, a naked protuberance on the head, their slender neck, and beautifully spotted plumage._

The flesh of Guinea fowls is tender and sweet, and, by some persons, is thought to resemble that of the pheasant. In Guinea and the adjacent parts of Africa, their native country, where they are not unfrequently seen in flocks of two or three hundred together, they are hunted and caught by dogs. These birds chiefly delight in marshy and morassy places, and subsist on insects, worms, and different kinds of seeds. Their eggs are a very delicate food.

Guinea fowls were originally introduced into England somewhat earlier than the year 1260, and they are now common in our poultry yards, the females always endeavour to lay their eggs in some concealed situation; and the chicks, when hatched, require warmth and quiet, and should, for some time, be fed on rice swelled with milk, or with bread soaked in milk.

These are restless and clamorous birds, and have a harsh and, to some persons, an unpleasant cry, which consists of two notes, sounding like "camac, camac, camac," frequently repeated.

163. _The RED GROUS, or RED GAME_ (Tetrao scoticus, Fig. 36), _is a species of feathered game from fifteen to nineteen ounces in weight, which has its plumage beautifully mottled with deep red and black, and the six outer tail feathers blackish._

_Over each eye is an arched and naked scarlet spot, and the feet are feathered to the claws._

_This bird inhabits the mountainous heaths of Derbyshire, Yorkshire, Wales, and Scotland._

It is generally supposed that red grous are peculiar to the British Islands. They are found in "packs," consisting sometimes of forty to fifty birds; and are an object of eager pursuit by sportsmen. They principally frequent high and heathy grounds, where they feed on mountain berries and the tops of heath; and they seldom descend into the valleys. The birds are eaten roasted, like most other game, but they are sometimes potted, and are in general much admired for the table.

Red grous have been bred, and successfully reared, in confinement, by supplying them almost every day with fresh pots of heath.

164. _BLACK GROUS, or BLACK GAME_ (Tetrao tetrix, Fig. 37), _is a species of feathered game of violet black colour, with the tail forked, and the secondary quill feathers white towards the base._

_Its weight is from two to four pounds. These birds are found in mountainous and woody parts of the north of England, and in the New Forest, Hampshire; in Scotland, and several countries of the Continent._

The pursuit of this and other species of grous is a much more important occupation in the northern parts of the Continent than it is in this country. In some parts of Russia they are caught in traps of wickerwork baited with corn. Huts full of loop-holes are sometimes formed in woods that are frequented by them, and upon the adjacent trees artificial decoy-birds are placed. The persons in the huts fire upon the grous as they alight, being careful to kill those first which are upon the lower branches; and, in this case, so long as the men are concealed, the report of the guns does not alarm the birds.

These birds feed on mountain fruits, and in winter on the tops of heath; and, although they always roost on trees, they form their nests on the ground. Each female lays six or eight eggs, of dull yellowish white colour, marked with numerous small rust-coloured specks, and towards the smaller end with some blotches of the same colour. The young male birds quit their parents in the beginning of winter, and usually associate in small packs until the spring. Black grous will live and thrive, but they have not been known to breed, in aviaries.

165. _The PTARMIGAN, or WHITE GAME_ (Tetrao lagopus, Fig. 38), _is a species of grous which, in summer, is of pale brown colour, elegantly mottled with small bars and dusky spots; and has the bill and the tail feathers black. In winter it is almost wholly while._

_These birds, which, are somewhat larger than a pigeon, are inhabitants of the extreme northern countries of the continents both of Europe and America. They are also found among the mountains of Scotland, and are sometimes seen in the alpine parts of Westmoreland and Cumberland._

By the inhabitants of Greenland not only the _flesh_ but even the intestines of these birds are much esteemed as food. The _skins_, with the feathers on, are made into clothing; and the black _tail feathers_ were formerly much in request among this people for female headdresses.

So numerous are these birds in the northern parts of America, as, at the commencement of winter, to assemble in flocks of 150 or 200 in number; and more than 10,000 have, in some years, been caught near Hudson's Bay, betwixt the months of November and May. They are killed in various ways; by snares, with nets, and with guns; and indeed so fearless are they of the approach of mankind that they may be knocked down with sticks or clubs, instances have occurred of their having been driven, almost like poultry, into nets or snares that have been laid for them.

In our own country these birds associate in small packs, and live among rocks, perching on the stones, and, when alarmed, taking shelter beneath them. They feed on mountain berries, the buds of trees, and the young shoots of the heath. The females form their nests on the ground, and lay in them from six to ten eggs, which are of a dusky colour with reddish brown spots.

It is a very extraordinary ordination of Providence, that these birds at the commencement of winter should assume a white plumage, by which, being incapable of defence, they are able, amidst the winter's snows, to elude the pursuit of their enemies. And not only this, but, as an additional protection against the cold, all the feathers except those of the wings and tail are now doubled.

As food, these birds are said very much to resemble the red grous in flavour.

166. _The WOOD GROUS, or CAPERCAILE_ (Tetrao urogallus), _is a bird nearly as large as a turkey, its plumage varied, but bay above, marked with blackish lines; the tail rounded, and the under parts at the base of the wings white._

_This bird is found in the northern parts of Europe and Asia; and (though very rarely) in the Highlands of Scotland north of Inverness._

There can be no doubt but, in ancient times, these birds were common in the mountainous parts of South Britain. In countries where pine forests are numerous, they feed on the buds of fir-trees, and on the young cones, so as sometimes to render the taste of their flesh extremely unpalatable. They are also partial to the berries of the juniper.

The females form their nests on the ground, and lay from eight to sixteen eggs, which are of a white colour spotted with yellow.