72 PIGEONS. 



this pigeon is remarkable ; the head is flat, and the 

 feathers on the breast spread both ways. The turbits 

 are about the same size as the jacobins. 



VI. The carriers are pigeons so called from the use 

 which is sometime made of them in carrying letters to 

 and fro a . Certain it is that they are very nimble mes- 

 sengers, for some authors affirm it has been found by 

 experience, that one of these pigeons will fly three miles 

 in a minute, or from St. Alban's to London in seven 

 minutes : this, it is said, has been tried. 



We have an account of the passing and repassing 

 with advices between Hirtius and Brutus, at the siege of 

 Modena, who had, by laying grain for them in some 

 high situations, used their pigeons to fly from place to 

 place for their food, having before kept them hungry, 

 and in the dark. 



A coachman, who drove one of the Colchester coaches, 

 frequently brought one down with him, and turned it 

 off in the town of Colchester, whence it would fly back 

 to London in a very short time. 



These pigeons are about the size of common pigeons, 

 and of a dark blue or blackish colour, which is one way 

 of distinguishing them from other sorts : they are also 

 remarkable for having their eyes compassed about with 

 a broad circle of naked spongy skin, and the upper chap 

 of their beak covered more than half from the head with 



* The expression is a faulty one. Weight would be fatal to its 

 flight ; the carrier-pigeon is not capable of transporting that which 

 is generally understood by the term "letter." EDITOR. 



