CARRIER-PIGEONS. 183 



" The Chinese fasten a kind of whistle to the tail- 

 feathers of their pigeons, and as the flock wheels through 

 the air, they produce a sweet sound.* In Egypt, the 

 late Abbas Pacha was a great fancier of fantails. Many 

 pigeons are kept at Cairo and Constantinople, and these 

 have lately been imported by native merchants, as I hear 

 from Sir W. Elliot, into Southern India, and sold at high 

 prices. 



" The foregoing statements show in how many countries, 

 and during how long a period, many men have been pas- 

 sionately devoted to the breeding of pigeons. "-f- 



In Titus Andronicus (Act iv. Sc. 3), upon the entry of 

 a clown with two pigeons Titus exclaims : 



" News, news from heaven ! Marcus, the post is come. 

 Sirrah, what tidings ? have you any letters ?" 



The practice of using pigeons as letter-carriers, here 

 alluded to by Shakespeare, is doubtless of very ancient 

 origin. The old historian Diodorus Siculus, informs us 

 that above two thousand years ago they were employed 

 for this purpose ; and five hundred years since relays of 

 carrier-pigeons formed part of a telegraphic system 

 adopted by the Turks. " Regular chains of posts were 

 established, consisting of high towers between thirty and 



* A good description of these whistles, by Mr. Tegetmeier, with illustrations, 

 will be found in the Field of the i2th March, 1870. 



t Darwin, "Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication," i. pp. 204, 



