96 BRITISH BIRDS. 



No sin to cloud, no lure to stay 



My soul, as home she springs ; 

 Thy sunshine on her joyful way, 



Thy freedom on her wings." 



In the time of the Crusades, when Acre V7as besieged 

 by the professedly Christian forces, Saladin, the chief 

 of their antagonists, continued a correspondence with 

 the besieged for some time, by means of these winged 

 heralds. It happened, however, that one was accident- 

 ally brought to the ground, by an arrow, before it 

 reached the city; thus the stratagem was discovered, 

 the communication, which would have animated the be- 

 sieged by the hope of speedy succour, was stopped in 

 its course, and the Christians compelled the immediate 

 surrender of the city. 



Doves of every species were presented on the tables 

 of the Jews, and offered, by the law of Moses, at the 

 altar of Jehovah. An Israelite, in the spirit of grati- 

 tude, might bring a pair of turtle-doves, or young pi- 

 geons, as a free-will offering to the Lord ; but if he had 

 neglected to reprove his brother, who had, in his pre- 

 sence, blasphemed the name of God, or had himself 

 taken a rash oath, or had touched any unclean thing, 

 he was required to bring, as a trespass-offering, two 

 turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, the one for a sin- 

 oflfering, and the other for a burnt*offering. Here a broad 



