282 FANCY PIGEONS^ 



than the Barb; but I dislike placing the various breeds in 

 any order of merit, as they are all very high-class pigeons. 



The English Carrier Pigeon. 



" This Bird is esteem'd, by the Gentlemen of the Fancy, as; 

 the King of Pigeons, on the Account of its Beauty, and great 

 Sagacity." So writes old Moore regarding the English Carrier ;: 

 and I believe, were a vote of English fanciers to be taken to- 

 day, the English Carrier would still be found to be considered 

 the " king of pigeons ;" while the great majority of Scotchmen 

 would vote for the Pouter. Moore says : " The original of these 

 Pigeons came from Bazora, in Persia, being sometimes brought 

 by shipping, and sometimes in the Carravans ; hence by some 

 ignorant People they are call'd Bussories. . . . The Dutch call 

 this Pigeon Bagadat, I suppose from a Corruption of the Name 

 of the City Bagdat, which was formerly old Babylon, which 

 Nimrod built, because they judge this Pigeon in its Way from 

 Bazora to be brought thro' that City." I have not met with 

 this account of the origin of the English Carrier in any book 

 older than the " Columbarium "; it is not to be found in 

 Willughby's " Ornithology," from which Moore has drawn so 

 largely; and as the breed was well established in England, 

 according to Willughby, sixty years before Moore wrote, it is 

 probably a traditionary account. I have satisfied myself, 

 however, that Moore's account is a true one, having had 

 many opportunities of seeing the Carrier Pigeons of Bagdad. 

 In Calcutta, some years since, resided Mr. David J. Ezra, 

 a native of Bagdad, whose business connections extended 

 over all the south of Asia. He had been a Carrier fancier 

 in Bagdad in his youth, and, at the time referred to, the 

 ships that were consigned to him from Bussora the Bazora 

 of Moore often brought him Carriers to add to the stock of 

 those birds which he had kept for many years in Calcutta. 

 I shall describe the appearance of these later on. They were 

 kept in an aviary, in the inner courtyard of his house, and 



