74 BOOK OF tfATURE LAID OPEN. 



What animal evinces more courage than the Cock, 

 as he struts in sovereignty on his favourite dunghill ? 

 The facility with which Parrots are taug t to speak, 

 and retain and repeat a number of words is truly 

 surprising Cormorants in China are trained for 

 the purposes of fishing; and Hawks, in other coun- 

 tries for fowling; and the Carrier Pigeon performs 

 his lengthened embassy with unerring precision, 

 and with astonishing celerity Thevenot says, they 

 commonly travel from Aleppo to Alexandria in Sy- 

 ria in six hours, which is a distance of eighty-eight 

 miles The letters are generally fastened under 

 their wings In order to ascertain with some de- 

 gree of accuracy the speed of these curious birds, a 

 gentleman, some years ago, sent a carrier pigeon from 

 London to a friend at Bury St Edmunds, desiring 

 it to be thrown up at a particular time two days 

 after its arrival ; this was attended to, and the pigeon 

 returned to the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate-street, two 

 hours and a half afterwards, having in that time tra- 

 velled seventy two miles Even the stupid Ostrich, 

 as it may be called in other respects, is not so desti- 

 tute of natural affection and instinctive cunning as 

 some are apt to imagine; for if she more frequently 

 leaves her eggs than other birds, it is only in those 

 hot climates where there is no necessity for constant 

 incubation ; and if she thrusts her head in the sand, 

 when every chance of escape is at an end, it is no 

 less certain that she contrives to prolong the chace 

 and distance her pursuer, by occasionally lowering 



