THE BOOK OF MIGRATORY BIRDS 185 



imparted to the Romans, who first utilised it as a message- 

 bearer about B.C. 120. That it satisfactorily performed the 

 office of courier may be inferred from the fact that nearly 

 three-quarters of a century later it was employed by Julius 

 Cassar as a military messenger; and when Mo'dena, or 

 Mutina, where pigeon-flying is still carried on to a great 

 extent, was besieged by Mark Antony, in 44 B.C., we read 

 that Decimus Brutus, whilst shut up in the city frequently 

 communicated with Consul Hertius by means of this 

 bird. For centuries pigeons continued to be used as 

 conveyers of intelligence, and about 500 years ago they 

 formed part of a telegraphic system adopted by the Turks, 

 who erected high towers at distances of thirty or forty 

 miles apart. These were provided with pigeons, and 

 sentinels stood constantly on the watch to secure the 

 messages as the birds arrived, and to pass the intelligence 

 on by means of others. The communication was written 

 on a thin slip of paper, and enclosed in a very small gold 

 box, almost as thin as the paper itself, suspended to the 

 neck of the bird. The time of arrival and departure was 

 marked at each successive tower, and, for greater security, 

 a duplicate message was always despatched a couple of 

 hours after the first. 



Military men will see in this piece of ingenuity a simi- 

 larity between this system and the cipher method of 

 signalling messages in our day. The intelligence, how- 

 ever, was not invariably enclosed in a gold box, but was 

 sometimes merely wrapped in paper, in which case, to 

 prevent the bird being injured by damp, the legs of the 

 bird were bathed in vinegar, with a view to keep them 

 cool, so that there might be no settling to drink or wash 

 on the way. 



The light, active body and long wings render the pigeon 

 peculiarly adapted for speed, and for very many years it 

 remained the fleetest means of communication which the 

 w r orld possessed. As instances of its velocity, it may be 

 mentioned that on November 22, 1819, thirty-two pigeons 

 which had "homed" at Antwerp were liberated from 



