CARRIER-PIGEONS. 333 



tion. The only results of which we have any account 

 are stated by himself to be that he was able to make 

 "many important corrections and valuable additions to 

 the charts of the much-frequented eastern side of Baf- 

 fin's Bay, which/ 7 he adds, "has been more closely ob- 

 served and navigated by this than by any former expe- 

 dition ; and, much to my satisfaction, confirming the 

 latitude and longitude of every headland I had the 

 opportunity of laying down in the year 1818.'' 



One interesting incident, however, is worthy of men- 

 tion before we take leave of Sir John Ross. When he 

 left England on this expedition, he took with him four 

 carrier-pigeons belonging to a lady in Ayrshire, intend- 

 ing to liberate two of them when the state of the ice 

 rendered it necessary to lay his vessel up for the winter, 

 and the other two when he discovered Sir John Frank- 

 lin. A pigeon made its appearance at the dove-cot in 

 Ayrshire, on the 13th of October, which the lady recog- 

 nized by marks and circumstances that left no doubt on 

 her mind of its being one of the younger pair presented 

 by her to Sir John. It carried no billet, but there were 

 indications, in the loss of feathers on the breast, of one 

 having been torn from under the wing. Though it is 

 known that the speed of pigeons is equal to one hun- 

 dred miles an hour, the distance from Melville Island to 

 Ayrshire, being, in a direct line, about twenty-four hun- 

 dred miles, is so great, that evidence of the bird having 

 been sent off as early as the 10th of October was required 

 before it could be believed that no mistake was made in 

 the identification of the individual that came to the dove- 

 cot. It was afterwards ascertained that Sir John Ross 

 despatched the youngest pair on the 6th or 7th of Octo- 

 ber, 1850, in a basket suspended to a balloon, during a 

 W. N. W. gale. By the contrivance of a slow-match, the 

 birds were to be liberated at the end of twenty-four 



