54O NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Letter* conveyed by carrier-pigeons. 



finished, it always returned immediately to the 

 dove-house. 



Of the several varieties of pigeons, the carriers 

 are the most justly celebrated. They obtained 

 their name from the circumstance of their con- 

 veying letters and small packets from one place to 

 another. It is through attachment to their na- 

 tive place, and particularly to the spot where 

 they have brought up their young, that they are 

 thus rendered useful to mankind. The bird is 

 conveyed from its home to the place whence the 

 information is intended to be sent; the letter is 

 tied under its wing, and it is let loose. From 

 the instant of its liberation, its flight is directed 

 through the clouds, at an amazing height, to* its 

 home; by an instinct altogether inconceivable, 

 it darts onward in a straight line to the very spot 

 from whence it was taken ; but how it can direct 

 its flight so exactly, will probably for ever remain 

 unknown to us. Formerly they were employed 

 . in carrying letters from governors in besieged 

 cities to generals about to relieve them; from 

 princes to their subjects, with tidings of some 

 fortunate event ; and from lovers to their mis- 

 tresses with assignations. 



Lithgow assures us that one of them will carry 

 a letter from Babylon to Aleppo (which, to a 

 man, is usually a thirty days' journey) in forty- 

 eight hours. The Annual Register for 1?65 in- 

 forms us, that, to measure their speed with some 

 degree of exactness, a gentleman some years ago, 



