66 A BOOK OF MORTALS 



Dimly, as in a dream, we see it also fluttering vaguely 

 in the attenuated air of myth, as the bringer of breath, of 

 life, and as such merging into the white eagle or hawk of 

 the Egyptian Horns, the solar god. 



This, joined to its invariable connection with the 

 moon, is possibly the origin of its whiteness ; since the 

 dove in nature is frankly dove-coloured, and among the 

 whole pigeon tribe scarcely one, save those of artificial 

 breeding, is white. 



Be that as it may, in all the oldest legends the raven 

 as the dark bird of punishment and grief, the dove as the 

 light bird of promise and joy, go forth together yet 

 separate, bearing their messages of death or life. 



Why, it is impossible to say. The fact remains that 

 every religion has its dove. Hinduism tells of Siva and 

 her consort taking the forms of doves, and the sacred 

 pigeons at the Ka'aba at Mecca are supposed to be lineal 

 descendants of the one who as " God's herald " whispered 

 into the ear of the prophet. 



One thing seems certain, that the homing instinct of 

 the pigeon attracted the notice of man at a very early stage 

 of his career. That it greatly impressed him, even to the 

 extent of making him consider its possessor divine, mira- 

 culous, is not to be wondered at, seeing that even we of these 

 later scientific days have to confess the insoluble mystery of 

 the means by which a homing bird steers its way north, 

 south, east, or west as it chooses, without land-mark or 

 cloud-mark ; for a good carrier has been known to find its 

 way home through 300 miles of hitherto untraversed space 

 where even memory could be no guide. 



That pigeons were used long centuries before our era 



