300 WILD PIGEON. 



small gold box, almost as thin as the paper itself, sus- 

 pended to the neck of the bird ; the hour of arrival and 

 departure were marked at each successive tower, and 

 for greater security, a duplicate was always despatched 

 two hours after the first. The despatches were, how- 

 ever, not always enclosed in gold, but merely in paper; 

 in which case, to prevent the letters being defaced by 

 damp, the legs of the Pigeons were first bathed in vine- 

 gar, with a view to keep them cool, so that they might 

 not settle to drink, or wash themselves on the way, which 

 in that hot climate they were often doing. 



Of late years, the number of wild Pigeons in England 

 is, like the Swallows and Starlings, evidently diminish- 

 ing, and it is rare to see a flock of any magnitude ; but 

 formerly they were very abundant, as we may learn, not 

 only from incidental remarks in ancient writers, but 

 from allusions to the particular manner of catching them. 

 Thus we find the prophet Isaiah speaking of them, " fly- 

 ing as a cloud :" and constant allusions are made to their 

 prodigious numbers. Indeed, had they not been far 

 more numerous than they are at present, it would not 

 have been worth while to have adopted the expensive 

 mode of catching them, which we believe is at present 

 entirely given up, though till within a few years it was 

 practised near Cava, on the Gulf of Sorento, in Italy, 

 where upon the tops of some bushy hills, were erected 

 small circular towers: on each of these, towards the 

 latter end of September, a man posted himself, and as 

 soon as a flight of Pigeons passed on their way through 

 the valley, he flung a flat stone over them, which by its 

 form or manner of throwing made a sort of whistling 

 .noise, which frightened the birds, and hastened their flight 

 towards a place of refuge. Another was thrown from 

 each tower as they passed, until the affrighted flock was 

 thus driven to the last turret in the valley, where a large 

 net was spread in the hollows amongst the bushes, in 

 which the birds were taken. Great art was requisite in 

 throwing the stone, as upon this the success of the diver- 

 sion depended. 



