462 



PIGEON. 



intelligence, of which advantage, either military or 

 mercantile, is to be taken, it is of the utmost conse- 

 quence that the pigeon should not alight upon the 

 ground, means were taken to prevent this. The 

 most urgent necessity which the bird had to descend 

 was in quest of water ; and it was found that if its 

 feet were well bathed in vinegar before it started, its 

 tendency to alight was prevented. We have felt it 

 necessary to go a little into the details both of the 

 character and history of the carrier-pigeon ; first, be- 

 cause they are very curious ; secondly, because they 

 are but little known to ordinary readers.; and thirdly, 

 because, rightly studied, they afford rrrach light upon 

 the training of animals so as to make them useful to 

 man. We believe that this kind of training (we allude 

 to the training of carriers) is not confined to this 

 variety of the rock-pigeon, but might be applied to 

 any variety if proper care were bestowed. It is not 

 even confined to pigeons, but seems to be applicable 

 to any bird which habitually lives in a social manner 

 at the same place, and mention is made that the rook 

 has been employed as a carrier in some of the eastern 

 countries, but not frequently we believe. 



There are many pigeons bearing some resemblance 

 to those which we have noticed, beginning with the 

 ring-pigeon and ending with the carrier ; but, as we 

 have rather exceeded our limits in what we have 

 already said, and as there is very little to be said on 

 the others, except of the differences of size and colour, 

 we shall pass to the remaining subdivision of this 

 branch of the family, namely, those birds to which 

 the appellation Turtles is given. They vary much 

 in their forms, appearances, and sizes ; the species of 

 them are exceedingly numerous ; and they are distri- 

 buted over every quarter of the world, with the ex- 

 ception of the colder latitudes. They agree, however, 

 in certain general characters : their bills are more 

 slender than those of the typical pigeons ; they are 

 in general smaller and more lightly made, altogether 

 more delicate-looking birds, and their tails are less 

 even at the extremity. In all they are longer than 

 the tails of the pigeons, and in many they are very 

 long and wedge-shaped. This is not the case with 

 what may be called the typical turtle, namely, the 

 one species, or rather the two species, which have 

 been known and celebrated from the remotest anti- 

 quity. They have the tails rounded at the extremity, 

 and are clad" in far more simple attire than the long- 

 tailed ones, which resemble, in the brightness of their 

 plumage, the length of their tails, and partly also in 

 their habits, some of the more slender-billed of the 

 tree pigeons, and on account of this resemblance 

 these tree pigeons have sometimes been called Tur- 

 tcllmcs ; but neither these nor the long-tailed turtles 

 are entitled to any share of the poetic fame with 

 which the typical turtles have been invested. Many 

 of the eastern writers celebrated the gentleness of 

 the turtle ; and it is long since it was the rival of 

 the nightingale, with allusion to the attachment of 

 the pair. The celebrity of the turtle is not confined 

 to profane writers ; for it is enumerated in the cata- 

 logue of the beauties or attractions of the sweet sea- 

 son of the year, in that glowing enumeration of them 

 which is given in the second chapter of the Song of 

 Solomon : " Rise up, my love, my fair one, and 

 come away." The coming was forth into the fields, 

 to enjoy the beauties of nature, and the inducements 

 are as follows : " For, lo, the winter is past, the rain 

 is over and gone ; the flowers appear on the earth : 



the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice 

 of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth 

 forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender 

 grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair 

 one, and come away." We have quoted the entire 

 passage, as veil for its beauty as from its tending to 

 illustrate a point in the natural history of the turtles, 

 namely, that the turtle alluded to in it is not the 

 common turtle of the warmer parts of Europe, which 

 comes as a summer visitant to a small portion of the 

 south of England, but another turtle whose native 

 locality is still further to the south. Having done so, 

 we may remark, in passing, " that the words of 

 birds," " with," and " good," are not in the original, 

 but have been interpolated by the translators, and, 

 few though they are, they mangle sadly the beauty 

 and power of the passage. The " time of singing " 

 applies to the song of all nature, and the addi- 

 tion of the words " of birds " ties it down to a 

 single class. In like manner the interpolation of the 

 word " with " spoils the beautiful reduplication, the 

 two expressions for the one subject, " the vine the 

 tender grape." Nor is the word " good " less objec- 

 tionable, for if it mean anything as applied to a smell 

 it means fragrance, whereas a \\r\e with tender that 

 is with young grapes, has no fragrance, though it has 

 the freshness of a healthy plant in a state of vigorous 

 growth. But we must notice a few, and it shall be 

 only a few, of the species. 



Common Turtle. Considered as a British bird the 

 common turtle is the smallest and the most local of 

 all our pigeons. The male bird is but twelve inches 

 long, and the female is still smaller. The upper parts 

 are brown; the top of the head and the hind neck 

 ashen grey, each side of the neck garnished with a 

 flat patch of small black feathers with white tips; 

 coverts of the wings brown bordered with russet; 

 quills blackish with whitish borders ; tail-feathers 

 brown with white tips to the lateral ones ; throat, 

 neck, and breast tinged with vinous red; rest of the 

 under part white. The male generally has a white 

 patch on the forehead, which is wanting on the 

 female ; and all the colours of the female are duller 

 than those of the male. The naked skin round the 

 eye is red, the bill bluish, and the feet red. Turtles 

 are, however, subject to considerable diversity of 

 colour, which is understood to depend upon age, 

 upon season, and upon original differences in the 

 individual. 



The common turtle is found in Europe, in Asia, 

 and in some parts of Africa, and it ranges much far- 

 ther to the north on the continent than it does in 

 Britain, though it never extends its summer journey 

 within the arctic circle. It is a delicate as well as a 

 gentle bird, and retires, not only from northern and 

 middle Europe, but even from Greece and Italy, if 

 the winter is severe. As a British bird it comes late 

 in the spring, or rather just about the beginning of 

 summer, never before the end of April, and sometimes 

 not till the middle of May. They occur in pairs, and 

 soon betake themselves to the thick groves, in the 

 closest shadow of which they construct their rude 

 nest, deposit their two eggs, and perform their incu- 

 bation. During this time their plaintive and tender 

 cooing may often be heard in the neighbourhood of 

 those thickets where they nestle; but the birds them- 

 selves are very seldom seen, as in wild nature they 

 are exceedingly shy and retired. They are, however, 

 mild and gentle creatures, and though they cannot be 



