THE PIGEON "And if the oblation to the Lord be a burnt offering of fowls, then shall he offer his oblation of turtle doves or young pigeons."-MOSES. CHAPTER XVIII THE PIGEON The distinction between pigeons and doves of Bible lands was not drawn strongly by the people. Pigeons were either semi-domesticated or flocked in clouds in wild estate over ravines and wilderness thickets. Doves were wild, being kept in cages as pets only in especial instances. Also they were migratory. They came in the spring with the crane and the swallow, and went in the fall. But they were much tamer than wild pigeons, living in pairs, and coming into palm groves, the fruit trees of gardens, and building on houses even, if they could find base for a nest. The wild pigeons were much shyer, and kept farther from the haunts of man, and made longer flights in food hunting. They were warier than the doves and were not so easily taken in nets and traps. Doves remained closer to their nests and were great food hunters of earth; so they were captured easily. I can find no record of which country first domesticated the wild pigeon, but I believe it to have been these residents of Palestine. So long before the days of Moses that there are no records, men had trained pigeons to become so friendly that they nested and spent their entire lives near habitations offering them shelter, in crevices of rocky walls, and on buildings. In primitive days one of the bases of a man's wealth was the number of pigeon cotes he owned. |