134 A HISTORY OF 



They seem, however, to have a stronger attachment to their young 

 than those who are found to breed so often ; whether it be that in- 

 stinct acts more powerfully upon them in their state of nature, or that 

 their affections are less divided by the multiplicity of claims, is doubt- 

 ful. 



It is from a species of these, therefore, that those pigeons which 

 are called Carriers, and are used to convey letters, are produced, 

 Tnese are easily distinguished from all others by their eyes, which 

 are compassed about with a broad circle of naked white skin, and 

 by being of a dark blue or blackish colour. It is from their attach- 

 ment to their native place, and particularly where they have brougln 

 up their young, that these birds are employed in several countries a 

 the most expeditious carriers. They are first brought from the place 

 where they were bred, and whither it is intended to send them back 

 with information. The letter is tied under the bird's wing, and it is 

 then let loose to return. The little animal no sooner finds itself at 

 liberty, than its passion for its native spot directs all its motions. 

 It is seen, upon these occasions, flying directly into the clouds to an 

 amazing height, and then with the greatest certainty and exactness, 

 directing itself, by some surprising instinct, towards home, which lies 

 sometimes at many miles distance, bringing its message to those to 

 whom it is directed. By what marks they discover the place, by 

 what chart they are guided in the right way, is to us utterly un- 

 known ; certain it is, that in the space of an hour and a half they 

 perform a journey of forty miles, which is a degree of despatch three 

 times greater than the fleetest quadruped can perform. These birds 

 are not brought up at present with so much care as formerly, whep 

 they were sent from governors in a besieged city to generals that 

 wore coming to relieve it without ; when they were sent from princes 

 to their subjects with the tidings of some fortunate event, or from 

 lovers to their mistresses with expressions of their passion. The only 

 use we now see made of them, is to be let fly at Tyburn, when the 

 cart is drawn away; pretty much as when some ancient hero was to 

 be interred, an eagle was let off from the funeral pile to complete his 

 apotheosis. 



The varieties of the tame pigeon are so numerous, that it would 

 be a vain attempt to mention them ; so much is the figure and colour 

 of this bird under human control, that pigeon-fanciers, by coupling a 

 male and female of different sorts, can breed them, as they express it, 

 to a feather. From hence we have the various names of croppers, car- 

 riers, jacobines, powters, runts, and turbits; all birds that at first might 

 have accidentally varied from the stock-dove ; and then, by having 

 these varieties still heightened by food, climate, and pairing, different 

 species have been produced. But there are many species of the wild 

 pigeon, which, though bearing a strong affinity to the stock-dove are, 

 nevertheless, sufficiently different from it to deserve a distinct descrip- 

 jion. The ring-clove is of this number ; a good deal larger than the 

 former, and building its nest with a few dry sticks, in the boughs of 

 trees This seems a bird much fonder of its native freedom than the 

 former, and attempts have been frequently made to render it domes- 

 tic ; but they have hitherto proved fruitless ; for though their eggs 

 havp oeen hatched by the tarr.e pigeon in a dove-house, yit as SOOE 



