80 



BIRDS GALLINACEOUS DIAGRAM 4 



Pigeons are accustomed when taken from, their dovecotes, to 

 return through the air from a very great distance. The breeds 

 which can thus retrace their route are called carrier pigeons. 

 They have sometimes been made to undertake very long, 

 journeys, but they always succeed much better in spring and 

 summer, than during the winter. A cage of pigeons caught in 

 a dovecote is brought to the distance first of fifty miles, then to a 

 hundred, then to 200 or 300, and sometimes to 500 or 600 miles 

 or more, and the pigeons are afterwards set at liberty. They are 

 then seen to rise to a great height, turn round several times in the 

 air, and then all at once take flight with a sudden start in the 

 direction of their dovecote, where they arrive at the end of one, 

 two, or three days, worn out with fatigue. Carrier pigeons 

 have often been used to carry messages ; and the service which 

 they rendered during the siege of Paris, in spite of an 

 exceedingly unfavourable season, is well known. In winter, 

 they travel with much more difficulty, and find their dovecote 

 much less easily than in spring or summer. 



OEDER OF WADING BIEDS. 



The ostrich is at once the largest of this order, and the largest 



Ostrich. 



Foot of Ostrich. 



