The ornithology of Francis Willughby of Middleton in the county of Warwick Esq, fellow of the Royal Society in three books : wherein all the birds hitherto known, being reduced into a method sutable to their natures, are accurately described : the descriptions illustrated by most elegant figures, nearly resembling the live birds, engraven in LXXVII copper plates : translated into English, and enlarged with many additions throughout the whole work : to which are added, Three considerable discourses, I. of the art of fowling, with a description of several nets in two large copper plates, II. of the ordering of singing birds, III. of falconry / by John Ray ...

CHAP. XV. Of the several kinds of Pigeons.

§. I. The common wild Dove or Pigeon. Columba vulgaris.

A Female, which we described, weighed thirteen ounces: Was in length from Bill to Tail thirteen inches; in breadth twenty six.

Its Bill was slender, sharp-pointed, and indifferently long, like to that of a Lapwing or Plover, above the Nosthrils soft, and white by the aspersion of a kind of furfuraceous substance, else dusky. The Tongue neither hard, nor cloven, but sharp and soft. The Irides of the Eyes of a yellowish red. The Legs on the forepart feathered almost to the Toes: The Feet and Toes red; the Talons black.

The Head was of a pale blue; the Neck as it was diversly objected to the light did exhibite to the Beholder various and shining colours. The Crop was reddish, the rest of the Breast and Belly ash-coloured. The Back beneath, a little above the Rump, was white, (which is a note common to most wild Pigeons) about the shoulders ci∣nereous, else black, yet with some mixture of cinereous.

The number of prime feathers in each Wing was about twenty three or twenty four. Of these the outmost were dusky, of the rest as much as was exposed to sight black, what was covered with the incumbent feathers cinereous. The covert-fea∣thers of the ten first Remiges were of a dark cinereous: Of the rest of the covert-feathers (almost to the body) the tips and interiour Webs, as far as the shafts were cinereous, the exteriour black. The covert-feathers of the underside of the Wings purely white.

The Tail is made up of twelve feathers, four inches and an half long, the middle being somewhat longer than the extremes. The tips of all were black: The two outmost below the black on the outside the shaft were white; all the rest wholly cinereous, the lower part being the darker. The feathers incumbent on the Tail were cinereous.

It had a great Craw, full of Gromil seed. The blind Guts were very short, scarce exceeding a quarter of an inch. It hath (as we said of Pigeons in general) no Gall∣bladder, and lays but two Eggs at a time.

This kind varies mumch in colour; there are found of them ordinarily milk-white.

Aldrovandus describes and figures many sorts of tame Pigeons, which he thus distinguishes:

Tame or house Doves are ei∣ther

• Of our Country, which have their Feet either
  • Naked
    • The greater called Tronfi, and in English Runts, whose description and figure you have, t. 2. pag. 462.
    • The lesser or most common, t. 2. pag. 463.
  • Rough
    • The greater, t. 2. pag. 466
    • The lesser
      • Crested, t. 2. pag. 469.
      • Smooth-crown'd, t. 2. pag. 467.
• Outlandish, to wit,
  • Frisled Pigeons, t. 2. pag. 470.
  • Cyprus Pigeons
    • Hooded, with their Feet
      • Rough, t. 2. pag. 471.
      • Bare, of which there are several kinds set forth, p. 472, 473, 474
    • Smooth-crowned, called Indian Pige∣ons, t. 2. pag. 477.
  • Candy Pigeons, having in the Bill, above where it is joyn∣ed to the Head a white Tubercle or Wattle, p. 478.
  • ... Persian or Turkey Pigeons of a dark colour, p. 481.
  • ... Varro's Stone or Rock Pigeon.

Under the title of Domestic, which I have Englished tame or house Doves, he com∣prehends the common wild Pigeon kept in Dove-cotes, which is of a middle nature be∣tween tame and wild.

§. II. Divers sorts of tame Pigeons.

1. THe greater tame Pigeon, called in Italian, Tronfo & Asturnellato; in English, a * 1.1 Runt; 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 Columbae Rus∣sicae, 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. In respect of magnitude they are divided into the biggest and the lesser kind. The greater are more sluggish birds, and of slower flight; the same perchance with those Gesner saith he observed at Venice, which were almost as big as Hens. The lesser are better breeders, more nimble, and of swifter flight. Perchance these may be the same with those, which * 1.2 Aldrovandus tells us are called by his Country men Colombe sotto banche, that is, Pigeons under Forms or Benches, from their place; of various colours, and bigger than the common wild Pigeons inhabiting Dove-cotes.

2. 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. A certain * 1.3 Hollander informed Aldrovandus, that these Kroppers Duve, as they call them, are twice as big as the common Domestic Pigeons, 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. Those that I saw at Mr. Copes, a Citizen of London, living in Jewin Street, seemed to me nothing bigger, but rather less than Runts, and somewhat more slender and long-bodied. These dif∣fer no less one from another in colour than the precedent.

3. Broad-tail'd Shakers, called Shakers because they do almost constantly shake or wag their Heads and Necks up and down: Broad-tail'd, 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 Tur∣key-Cock. These also vary much in colour.

4. Narrow-tail'd Shakers. These agree with the precedent in shaking, but differ in the narrowness of their Tails, as the name imports. They are said also to vary in colour. This kind we have not as yet seen, nor have we more to say of it.

5. Carriers. These are of equal bigness with common Pigeons, or somewhat less, of a dark blue or blackish colour. They are easily distinguished from all others, 1. By their colour. 2. In that their Eyes are compassed about with a broad circle of naked, tuberous, white, furfuraceous skin. 3. That the upper Chap of the Bill is covered above half way from the Head with a double crust of the like naked fungous skin. The Bill is not short, but of a moderate length. They make use of these birds to convey Letters to and fro, chiefly in the Turkish Empire. Perchance these may be the Persian and Turkish Pigeons of Aldrovand, all over of a dusky or dark brown co∣lour, excepting the Eyes which are scarlet, the Feet which are of a pale red, and the Bill, which (as he saith) is yellow; wherein they differ from ours, whose Bills are black. The nature of these birds is such, that though carried far away they will re∣turn speedily thither, where either themselves were bred or brought up, or where they had hatcht and brought up Young. Of this kind we saw in the Kings Aviary in St. James's Park, and at Mr. Copes, an Embroiderer in Jewin Street, London. More∣over, we read that the Ancients sometimes made use of Pigeons in sending Letters, as for example, Hirtius and Brutus in the Siege of Modena, Hirtius sending a Dove to Brutus, and Brutus back again to Hirtius, having, by meat laid in some high places, in∣structed these Pigeons, before shut up in a dark place, and kept very hungry, to fly from one to another.

6. Jacobines, called by the Low Dutch, Cappers, because in the hinder part of the Head or Nape of the Neck certain feathers reflected upward encompass the Head be∣hind, almost after the fashion of a Monks 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.

7. 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, tom. 2. pag. 477. 478. the Low Dutch Cortbeke.

8. Barbary-Pigeons, perchance the Candy-Dove of Aldrovand. The Bill is like that of the precedent. A broad circle of naked, tuberous, white flesh compasses the Eyes, as in the Carriers. The Irides of the Eyes are white. My worthy Friend Mr. Philip Skippon, in a Letter to me concerning tame Pigeons, writes, that the Eyes of this kind are red. Perchance the colour may vary in several birds.

9. Smiters. I take these to be those, which the fore-mentioned Hollander told Aldrovandus, that his Country-men called Draiiers. These do not only shake their Wings as they fly: But also flying round about in a ring, especially over their Fe∣males, 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 quil∣feathers are almost always broken and shattered; and sometimes so bad, that they cannot fly. Our Country-men distinguish between Tumblers and Smiters.

10. Tumblers, these are small, and of divers colours. They have strange motions, turning themselves backward over their Heads, and shew like footbals in the Air.

11. Helmets. In these the Head, Tail, and quil-feathers of the Wings are always of one colour, sometimes white, sometimes black, red, yellow, or blue; the rest of the body of another, different from that, whatever it be. These are also called Helme by the Low Dutch, as Aldrovandus writes from the relation of the fore-menti∣oned Dutchman.

12. Light-horsemen. This is a bastard kind, of one Parent a Cropper, 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 accustomed.

13. Bastard-bills. Which name why it is imposed upon them I know not, unless perchance because their Bills are neither long nor short, so that it is not certain to what Species they ought to be referred. They are bigger than Barbaries, have a short Bill and red Eyes; but are not all of the same colour.

14. Turners, having a tuft hanging down backward from their Head, parted like a horses Main.

15. Finikins, like the precedent, but less.

16. Mawmets, called (as I take it) from Mahomet; perchance because brought out of Turkey, notable for their great black Eyes, else like to the Barbaries.

17. Spots, because they have each in their forehead, above their Bill a spot: Their Tail is of the same colour with the spot, the rest of the body being white.

The Younger Pigeons never tread the Females, but they * 1.4 bill them first, and that as often as they tread them. The elder Doves bill only the first time, the second they couple without billing. Aldrov. Ornithol. tom. 2. pag. 363.

The Sex, especially of the tame Pigeons, is easily known by their note or murmur, which in the Hens is very small, in the Males much deeper.

Aristotle, and out of him Pliny and Athenaeus write that it is proper or peculiar to Pigeons not to hold up their heads as they drink, like other birds, but to drink like Kine or Horses by sucking without intermission.

Albertus sets the twentieth year for the term of a Pigeons life. As for tame Pigeons (saith Aldrovandus) a certain man of good credit told me, that he had heard from his * 1.5 Father, who was much delighted in Pigeons, and other Birds, that he had kept a Pi∣geon two and twenty years, and that all that time it constantly bred, excepting the last six months, which time, having left its Mate, it had chosen a single life. Aristotle assigns forty years to the life of a Pigeon. Aldrov. Ornithol. tom. 2. pag. 370.

Pigeons are far harder to concoct than Chickens, and yield a melancholy juyce. They say that the eating of Doves 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 * 1.6 dim-sighted. The flesh of young

Pigeons is restorative, and useful to recruit 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.

A live Pigeon cut asunder along the back-bone, and clapt hot upon the Head, mi∣tigates fierce humours and discusses melancholy sadness. Hence it is a most proper medicine in the phrensie, headach, melancholy, and gout, Schrod. Some add also in the Apoplexy. Our Physicians 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 bloud, do through the pores of the skin insinuate themselves into the bloud of the sick person now dis-spirited and ready to stagnate, and induing it with new life and vigour, en∣able it to perform its solemn and necessary circuits.

The hot bloud dropt into the Eyes allays pain, and cures blear eyes, and discusseth suffusions and bloud-shot, and cures green wounds. It properly stops bloud that flows from the membranes of the brain; and mitigates the pains of the gout.

Note 1. The bloud of the Cock-Pigeon is best, and that taken from under the right Wing, (because it is of a hotter nature.)

Note 2. The bloudy juyce from the feathers of the Wings may be used for the other bloud, and it is best from the young Pigeon.

The coat of the stomach dried and powdered is good against Dysenteries.

The Dung is very hot from the nitrous faculty (wherewith it is indued) and there∣fore burns, discusses, and makes the skin red by attracting the bloud.

Hence it is of common use in Cataplasms and Plasters that rubifie. Beaten, and sifted, and laid on with Water-cress Seeds, it is good against old diseases: Such as are the Gout, Megrim, * 1.7 Turn-sick, old Headach, and pains in the Sides, Colics, Apoplexies, Lethargy, &c. It discusseth Strumaes, and other Tumours (laid on with Barley-flour and Vinegar) and cures the falling of the hair (anointed) and Colic (in Clysters) and discusseth defluxions on the knees (applied with salt and oyl.)

Inwardly, it breaks the Stone, and expels Urine. Give from a scruple to two scru∣ples. Schrod. out of Galen and Fernelius.

Doves dung (as Crescentiensis saith) is best of all others for Plants and Seeds, and may be scattered when any thing is sown together with the Seed, or at any time afterwards: One Basket-ful thereof is worth a Cart-load of Sheeps dung. Our Country-men also are wont to sow Doves dung together with their grain.

§. III. * A wild Pigeon of St. Thomas his Island, Marggrav.

IT is of the bigness and figure of our Country Pigeon, but its upper Bill hooked, the foremost half being of a blue colour mixt with a little white and yellow; the hindmost of a sanguine. The Eyes are black, with a circle of blue. The whole bo∣dy is covered with green feathers like a Parrot. The prime feathers of the Wings are duskish, as is also the end of the Tail. Under the vent it hath yellow feathers. The Legs and Feet are of an elegant Saffron-colour, but the Claws dusky.

§. IV. A Turtle-dove. Turtur.

THe Male, which we described from Bill-point to Tail-end was twelve inches long: from tip to tip of the Wings extended twenty one broad: Its Bill slen∣der, from the tip to the angles of the mouth almost an inch long, of a dusky blue co∣lour without, and red within: Its Tongue small and not divided: The Irides of its Eyes between red and yellow. A circle of naked red flesh encompasseth the Eyes as in many others of this kind.

Its Feet were red; its Claws black; its Toes divided to the very bottom. The inner side of the middle Claw thinned into an edge.

Its Head and the middle of its Back were blue or cinereous, of the colour of a common Pigeon. The Shoulders and the Rump were of a sordid red: The Breast and Belly white: The Throat tinctured with a lovely vinaceous colour. Each side of

the Neck was adorned with a spot of beautiful feathers, of a black colour, with white tips. The exteriour quil-feathers of the Wings were dusky, the middle cinereous; the interiour had their edges red. The second row of Wing-feathers was ash-colou∣red, the lesser rows black. The Tail was composed of twelve feathers; of which the outmost had both their tips and exteriour Webs white. In the succeeding the white part by degrees grew less and less, so that the middlemost had no white at all. The length of the Tail was four inches and an half.

Its Testicles were great, an inch long: Its Guts by measure twenty six inches: Its blind Guts very short. Its Crop great, in which we found Hemp-seed: Its Stomach or Gizzard fleshy. Above the stomach the Gullet is dilated into a kind of bag, set with papillary Glandules.

§. V. * The Indian Turtle of Aldrov. lib. 15. cap. 9.

THe Hen, excepting the Feet, which are red, and the Bill, which is black, as in the Cock, is all over white. But the Cock hath his Head, Neck, Breast, Wings as far as the quill-feathers, and Back down to the Rump reddish, but of a much fainter colour than in our common Turtle, and not at all spotted. Its bigness is almost the same, its note the same: Its Bill also like, but black. In its Eye is a most manifest difference: For in this the Iris is of a most lovely shining Saffron, or rather scarlet colour, which in the common Turtle is only yellow. [In that we described, the Irides of the Eyes were between red and yellow.]

The ring also is of a different colour; for in the Indian Turtles it is slender, and black, and compasses the Neck round, whereas in the common ones it is more than an inch broad, parti-coloured, and compasses not the Neck. The longer feathers of the Wings, the Rump, and whole Tail are of a dusky colour, having their shafts black, and edges white. The Belly, especially near the vent, is yellow. The Feet red, adorned with whitish * 1.8 tables. The Claws are dusky, inclining to yellow. They feed upon Millet. Thus far Aldrovandus. Of this sort of Bird we have seen many kept by the curious in Aviaries and Cages.

§. VI. * The Indian Turtle or Cocotzin of Nieremberg, the Picuipinima of Marggrave: Our least Barbados Turtle.

IT is a little bigger than a Lark, Nieremberg saith, than a Sparrow; hath a small dusky [black] Bill, like a Pigeons; black Eyes, with a golden Circle. The whole Head, the upper part of the Neck, the Sides, Back, and Wings are covered with dark ash-coloured, or black and blue feathers, having black, semilunar borders. But the long feathers of its Wings, which are seen as it flies, are of a red colour, and black on one side, and in their tips. The Tail is of a good length, consisting of dusky ash-coloured feathers, yet some of them are black, and have their exteriour half white. The feathers of the Belly are white, having their borders black, of the figure of a Crescent. The Legs and Feet like those of other Doves, but whitish. These Pi∣geons are good meat, and grow very fat. Nieremberg adds, that the Head is little, the Bill little and black, the Neck short, the Legs red [wherein it differs from Marg∣graves bird,] the Claws dusky and little. The Mexicans gave it its name from the colour of its Wings, and the noise it makes in flying; the Spaniards (who call it a Turtle) from its murmuring voice, and the taste and quality of its flesh, although it be much less than our common Turtle. It cries hu, hu, affords good nourishment, though somewhat hard of concoction. It is found in Mountainous places, and also near Towns. It is native of the Country of Mexico, and very common there. They say, that it will cure a woman of jealousie, if you give it her boil'd to eat, so that she knows not what she eats. There is also another sort of this Bird, every way like it, save only that the body is fulvous and black, and the Head ash-coloured: Whence some call it Tlapalcocotli.

This Bird is either the same with, or very like to our least Barbados Turtle, which is of the bigness of a Lark, being exactly equal to the figure we give of it, taken from the live bird.

§. VII. The Ring-Dove, Palumbus torquatus.

THat we described weighed twenty ounces and an half. Its length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail was eighteen inches: Its breadth thirty.

Its Bill yellowish, covered for some space from the Head with a red or purplish skin, wherein are the Nosthrils. Above the Nosthrils is as it were a white Dandroof. The Tongue is sharp-pointed, not cloven, but channel'd. The circle about the Pupil of the Eye of a pale yellow.

The Feet were bare, of a red colour, as in other Pigeons. The outmost Toe by a membrane joyned to the middlemost as far as the first joynt. The Legs feathered al∣most down to the foot.

The upper part of the Neck is adorned with a semicircular line of white, which they call a ring, and from whence the Bird took its name [Ring-Dove.] Both above and beneath this ring the Neck, as it is variously objected to the light, appears of va∣rious colours. The Head and Back are of a dark ash-colour. The lower part of the Neck, and upper part of the Brest are purplish, or red, with a certain mixture of ci∣nereous. The Belly of a light ash-colour, inclining to white. In the Cock these co∣lours are deeper than in the Hen.

The quill-feathers in each Wing about twenty four, of which the second is the longest: The ten foremost or outmost were black: The second, and succeeding as far as the seventh, had their utmost edges white: The rest of the hard feathers were of a dusky ash-colour. At the bottom or rise of the bastard Wing a white spot tending downwards covered the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth quill-feathers. The Tail was seven inches long, and made up of twelve feathers, the top or end, for two inches and an half, being black, the remaining part cinereous.

The Liver was divided into two Lobes: It had no Gall-bladder, but a large Gall-channel to convey the Gall into the Guts.

These Birds in Winter-time company together, and fly in flocks: They build in trees, making their Nests of a few sticks and straws. They feed upon Acorns, and also upon Corn, and Ivy and Holly berries.

§. VIII. The Stock-Dove or Wood-Pigeon, Oenas, sive Vinago.

IT is as big or bigger than a common Pigeon. The Cock weighed fourteen ounces and an half, was from Bill to Tail fourteen inches long, and between the tips of the Wings extended twenty six broad. The colour and shape of the body almost the same with that of a common Pigeon: The Bill also like, and of equal length, of a pale red colour. The Nosthrils were great and prominent. The top of the Head cinereous. The Neck covered with changeable feathers, which as they are variously objected to the light, appear of a purple or shining green; no Silk like them. The fore-part of the Breast, the Shoulders and Wings are dashed with a purplish or red∣wine colour, whence it took the name [Oenas.] The Wings, Shoulders, and middle of the Back are of a dark ash-colour, the rest of the Back to the Tail of a paler. All the quil-feathers (except the four or five outmost, which are all over black, with their edges white) have their lower part cinereous, and their upper black. The Tail is five inches long, made up of twelve feathers, having their lower parts cinereous, their upper for one third of their length black. The nether side of the body, ex∣cepting the upper part of the Breast, is all cinereous. The Wings closed reach not to the end of the Tail. In both Wings are two black spots, the one upon two or three quil-feathers next the body, the other upon two or three of the covert feathers incumbent upon those quils: Both spots are on the outside the shafts, and not far from the tips of the feathers. The two outmost feathers of the Tail have the lower half of their exteriour Vanes white.

The Feet are red, the Claws black: the Legs feathered down a little below the Knees. The blind Guts very short. It had no Gall-bladder that we could find; a large Craw, full of Gromil seeds, &c. It had a musculous Stomach, long Testicles; and a long Breast-bone.

§. IX. * The Rock-Pigeon.

THis (as Mr. Johnson described it to us) hath a small body, ash-coloured, and red Legs. But these two last notes are common to most Pigeons. Perchance this may be the Columba Saxatilis of Aldrovand, called by the Bolognese, Sassarolo. It is (saith he) bigger than the Stone-Pigeons of Varro, of a livid colour, having a red Bill, and is altogether wild. It is sometimes taken in the Territory of Bologna.

§. X. * The Dove called Livia by Gesner.

IT is in shape very like a House-Dove, but a little less, having red Feet, a whitish Bill, with something of Purple about the Nosthrils. The feathers investing the body are all over cinereous: But the extreme feathers of the Tail are black, the mid∣dle have something of red. The Neck above, and on the sides is covered with fea∣thers partly purple, partly green, as they are diversly exposed to the light, shining with this or that colour. The lower part of the Neck is of a colour compounded of cinereous and purple. The four longer feathers of the Wings are black, with somewhat of red; the least Wing-feathers are cinereous; the middle partly cinereous, partly black [in their ends] the last of them towards the Back are reddish. The length of this Bird from the Bill to the end of the Tail was almost fourteen inches. It differs from the Ring-Dove in that it is much less, and hath no white spots about the Neck and in the Wings like that.

This Bird, if it be different from the next above described is to us unknown, as also to Aldrovandus, who borrows the figure and description of it of Gesner.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Runts.
• * 1.2

  Ornithol. t. 2. pag 360.
• * 1.3

  Belga, it also signifies any Low-Country man.
• * 1.4

  Exesculentur. i. e. kiss them.
• * 1.5

  The life of Pigeons.
• * 1.6

  Or have weak Fyes.
• * 1.7

  Or dizzi∣ness, Vertige.
• * 1.8

  I suppose he means the in∣cisures divi∣ding the scales