PIGEON. 



461 



suid, there is no such thing as describing the positive 

 colour of any of the artificial varieties of the pigeon, 

 though iu each variety, as forming the breed of a 

 particular place, there is usually one colour which is 

 more prevalent than any other. 



The amateurs of carrier pigeons estimate their 

 goodness by the wattle. According to them, it should 

 be broad across the bill, rise high at the head, and 

 have the portion round the eyes as broad as possible. 

 The second of these forms is supposed to be the 

 most valuable ; and therefore the dealers sometimes 

 contrive to insinuate a piece of cork below the hind 

 part, and fasten it with a bit of wire, which is of 

 course very injurious to the bird. 



As the carrier is unquestionably a specie?, it is 

 useless to speak about the country in which it is 

 found in the wild state ; for, though the country in 

 which these varieties were originally obtained may 

 properly enough be considered as their native coun- 

 try, yet not one of them is to be found continuing its 

 variety in the wild state. 



The carrier pigeon has been known and celebrated 

 from the most remote antiquity, and its use as a 

 messenger is repeatedly celebrated by the poets of 

 Arabia, Greece, and Rome. Nor is it confined to 

 them, for the historians make frequent allusions to it 

 as in some instances carrying intelligence with won- 

 derful rapidity, and in others in performing the same 

 office where hostile armies, or other impediments, 

 prevented communication along the ground. ^Elian 

 mentions that, when Taurosthens was victor at the 

 Olympic games, a carrier pigeon bore the tidings to 

 his lather with wonderful celerity. As a contrast to 

 this use of the carrier among the ancient Greeks, 

 it may be mentioned that, at no very remote period, 

 carrier pigeons were employed in England to convey 

 intelligence of the result of games of a very different 

 kind. In the times alluded to, Tyburn was the place 

 of execution for the British metropolis ; and, in con- 

 sequence of the wretched state of the police in town, 

 and the total absence of anything like police in the 

 country, Tyburn was kept pretty constantly at work. 

 It not unfrequcntly happened, too, that, though the 

 punishment of death was awarded, it was not really 

 intended to inflict more than the disgrace of being 

 drawn on the hurdle from Newgate to Tyburn, or 

 perhaps, in addition to this, a longer or shorter 

 imprisonment. Hence pardons and respites were 

 very frequently given at the foot of the gibbet ; and 

 the relations of the criminals, who, in the days of 

 daring highwaymen, were often persons in compara- 

 tively elevated situations, naturally felt great anxiety 

 for the fate of the condemned. Hence they used to 

 have some one there with a carrier pigeon, and the 

 instant the result was known, that pigeon was let off, 

 and winged its way at the rate of twenty or thirty 

 miles an hour. 



Pliny mentions the use of carrier pigeons to be- 

 leagured cities. When Modena was invested, he 

 says " Of what avail were centinels, circumvallations, 

 or nets obstructing the river, when intelligence could 

 be conveyed by aerial messengers y " In the time of 

 the Crusades these pigeons were extensively employed 

 by the people of the invested cities ; and there are 

 instances mentioned in which the pigeon was cap- 

 tured by the besiegers, and made the bearer of a very 

 different message from that with which it was origi- 

 nally charged. In some instances hawks were kept 

 by the besieging parties for the express purpose of 



being flown at the pigeons ; and, as the noble hawks 

 do not strike on the ground, the pigeon dropped like 

 a stone uninjured, and allowed itself to be captured ; 

 and the hawk being recalled to the lure, the pigeon 

 was charged with false intelligence, and sent to its 

 original destination. 



But these extraordinary birds have been used for 

 the purposes of commerce as well as for those of war ; 

 and, when the Turkey Company of England was 

 flourishing, and a number of English merchants were 

 resident at Aleppo, the grand emporium of the trade, 

 carrier pigeons were employed to bring intelligence 

 from the port to the city. Scanderoon, the port of 

 Aleppo, is distant about eighty miles as the pigeon 

 flies. The pigeon could bring intelligence over this 

 distance in not much more than three hours, while it 

 could not come by any other channel in much less 

 than the same number of days. Thus, those mer- 

 chants who employed pigeons could, upon the arrival 

 of ships, obtain information which they had abundant 

 time to turn to advantage. One case is mentioned, upon 

 authority which there is no reason to doubt, where a 

 merchant killed one of these pigeons by accident, 

 and learned from the billet which it bore that there 

 was a great scarcity of galls in England. Taking 

 advantage of this, and buying up nearly the whole 

 quantity in the market, he at once cleared a sum 

 which, in those days, was considered an ample 

 fortune. 



In the east, intelligence was, in former times, 

 communicated by these pigeons much in the same 

 manner as is now done by telegraphs. Slight towers 

 were built along the line, at thirty or forly miles 

 distant from each other, and pigeons were employed 

 in flying from tower to tower. These pigeons wore 

 a very small box of gold, of extreme thinness, sus- 

 pended from the neck ; and, as the pigeon wore this 

 box always, it could carry the message and bring 

 back the intelligence. Centiuels were kept con- 

 stantly watching on the towers ; and, us each flew 

 from its own tower to the next and back again, the 

 information, though not so expeditious, certainly 

 could be rendered much more effective than that 

 which the telegraph affords. In England, and we 

 believe we may say in Western Europe generally, iu 

 modern times, pigeons have been little, if at all, used 

 lor what may be called useful purposes ; but they arc 

 often employed as matters of curiosity, and as con- 

 veying the results of questions upon which bets 

 continue to be taken until they are decided. 



Our limits will not, however, allow us to enter far- 

 ther into the history of these highly interesting birds. 

 We may mention, however, that though there is much 

 in the breed of the pigeon, yet each individual bird 

 must be trained before it can perform its crriee rightly. 

 Turkey may be considered as the country where 

 these pigeons are more especially employed, and the 

 mode of training them in Turkey is this : the bird is 

 first taken out in a basket, or hooded, to the distance 

 of about half a mile, and then let 2:0 ; if it did not. 

 return directly from this distance, it was considered 

 as of no value ; if it did return directly and swiftly, it 

 was taken to greater and greater distances, until at 

 last it could manage thirty or forty miles with cer- 

 tainty. Those to which we have alluded, as being 

 used by the merchants of Aleppo, were trained all 

 the way to Scanderoon ; and if they came directly 

 back, they were counted birds of great value, and 

 brought a high price. As in the case of carrying 



