Only one species of pigeon has been truly doThesticated, and having long been so, it has undergone many remarkable changes, and there are numerous varieties or breeds; some of them, exhibiting very strange peculiarities, and known as fancy pigeons, being carefully preserved and tended by pigeon-fanciers. Pigeon-fancying is nowhere carried further than in London, where there are ninny persons who give great part of their time to it, and whose pigeons are their chief delight. The prices of such fancy pigeons as are deemed most perfect of their kind are very high. The ordinary domestic pigeons, kept for profit as a kind of poultry, differ from the wild rock dove chiefly in color in which they are often very unlike it, although a tendency always manifests itself to return to the original colors, and the bars on the wings are apt to reappear in the progeny even of what may he called the most artificial varieties. Of these may be mentioned, as among the most interesting, the rough-footed pigeon, having the feet feathered; the Jacobin, which has a range of feathers inverted over the head, and extending down each side of the neck, as a hood; the fan-tail, or fan-tailed shaker, in which the number of the tail feathers is greatly increased, and the bird has the power of erecting its tail like that of a turkey-cock, whilst it has also a peculiar vibratory motion; the tumbler, so called from tumbling in the it in its flight, and further characterized by a very short bill;' and the cropper, which has the of blowing up its crop to an extraordinary degree, the head seeths fastened 'on the top of an inflated bladder. The 'carrier
pigeon (q.v.) is regarded as a variety'of the common pigeon.
The law regarding pigeons is stated in the article DovEcom. For the profitable keep ing of pigeons, it is necessary to have a properly-constructed dovecot, divided into cells. a cell for each pair, each cell 16 in, broad, by 12 from front to back, and the door toward one side, so that the nest may not be seen from without; a slip of wood in front of each cell for the birds to it and coo on. The dovecot must be placed at such a height as to be out of the way of rats and other depredators; and must be frequently cleaned, other wise it may probably be deserted by its occupants. It ought to be painted white, that color being very attractive to pigeons, and contributing to retain them when a new dove cot is established, in which there is often found to be not a little difficulty. Pigeons begin to breed at the age of 9 months, and breed every month except in very cold weather. The male and female continue faithful to each other from year to year, a circumstance noted by Pliny and others of the ancients, and evidently, as well as their somewhat demonstratively manifested affection, a reason of the poetic references often made to the dove.