136 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



heads and shoulders. They are still held as almost sacred, 

 are never killed, and nest in nearly every building in 

 niches left for that purpose in the walls of the rooms. 

 Pilgrims purchase baskets of grain to give to the pigeons 

 as a pious act, and each benefactor "becomes the vortex 

 of a revolving storm of pigeons." In some remote places, 

 indeed, these temple-pets become themselves almost ob- 

 jects of worship. For example, on the direct road be- 

 tween Yarkand and Khotan, Chinese Turkestan, stands 

 the locally celebrated pigeon-shrine (Kaptar Mazzar), 

 where all good Moslems must dismount and reverently 

 approach the sacred spot. "Legend has it that Imam 

 Shakir Padshah, trying to convert the Buddhist inhabi- 

 tants of the country to Islam by the drastic agency of 

 the sword, fell here in battle against the army of Khotan, 

 and was buried in the little cemetery. It is affirmed that 

 two doves flew forth from the heart of the dead saint, 

 and became the ancestors of the swarms of pigeons we 

 saw . . . sated with the offerings of the Faithful, and 

 extremely fat. . . . We were told that if a hawk were 

 to venture to attack them it would fall down dead." 



A pretty story is related by E. Dinet, a French artist, 

 in his book of sketches in Algeria. "Doves, which the 

 Arabs name imams, because," he was told, "like the imam 

 in the mosques, they call the faithful to prayer, and be- 

 cause, like him, they do not cease to prostrate themselves 

 by inclining their necks in devotions to the Creator." 



Newspapers of the year 192 1 contained an account of 

 how two European boys ignorantly provoked a riot in 

 Bombay by killing a couple of pigeons in the street. The 

 Mohammedans were horrified and the police had difficulty 

 in supressing an extensive disturbance; the stock ex- 

 change and other general markets were closed, and a 



