202 POPULAR SCRIPTURE ZOOLOGY.

grey or ash; wings barred with black ; tail ash-grey, tipped
with black. This bird builds in the hollows of decayed
trees, and generally has two broods in the year; the male
and female taking the office of incubation by turns. Wild
pigeons migrate into England in large flocks at the ap-
proach of winter, from the northern regions, returning
early in the spring; many also remain in this country.

The Hebrew word yonah, used in Genesis viii., is pro-
bably “a counterpart to Columba, the generic term for all
the various kinds of doves with which we are acquainted.”
It would be very difficult to arrive at any conclusion with
regard to the species intended in the various parts of Scrip-
ture, in which allusions are made to this interesting bird ;
in all probability no particular species is intended ; “ turtle-
doves or young pigeons” are constantly named in Leviticus
and elsewhere, as offerings in the religious ceremonies of
the Jews, but in alt cases the allusions are very vague.

In Psalm lv. is the beautiful expression—“Oh that I
had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at
rest.” This is in allusion to the rapidity and sustained
power of flight so characteristic of this bird, the carrier
pigeon having been known to fly forty miles in the short
space of half an hour; and is almost equally applicable to