THE COLUMBINE, OR PIGEON GROUP. 135 



we certainly think that of all the varieties of 

 the domestic pigeon none are so worthy of 

 attention by those whose inclination leads them 

 to the innocent amusement of cultivating fine 

 races of the feathered tribes reclaimed by man. 

 Dr. Kitto, in his Physical History of Pales- 

 tine, notices the carrier pigeon as being still 

 kept in Syria, and we know that from very 

 ancient times, it has been employed in the 

 east as a rapid and not to be intercepted con- 

 veyer of intelligence. Bochart has collected 

 numerous authorities on this subject, both in 

 Greece and Syria. The following passage is 

 from the pen of an accomplished zoologist in 

 the Penny Magazine. "In one of his odes 

 Anacreon has immortalized it, (the carrier 

 pigeon,) as the bearer of epistles. Taurosthenes 

 sent to his expectant father, who resided in 

 j^gina, the glad tidings of his success in the 

 Olympic games, on the very day of his victoiy. 

 Pliny speaks of the communication kept up 

 between Hirtius and Decimus Brutus at the 

 siege of Mutina, (Modena.) 'What availed 

 Antony, the trench, and the watch of the 

 besiegers, — what availed the nets stretched 

 across the river, while the messenger was cleav- 

 ing the air V The crusaders employed them. 



