CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 4. COLUMB^. 



229 



ployed pigeons could, upon the arrival of ships, obtain information which they had abundant 

 time to turn to advantage. One case is mentioned, upon authority which there is no reason 

 to doubt, where a merchant killed one of these pigeons by accident, and learned from the billet 

 which it bore that there was a great scarcity of galls in England. Taking advantage of this, and 

 buying up nearly the whole quantity in the market, he at once cleared a sum which in those 

 days was considered an ample fortune. 



In the East, intelligence was in former times communicated by these pigeons much in the 

 same manner as was done by telegraphs in later periods. Slight towers were built along the line, 

 at thirty or forty miles distant from each other, and pigeons were employed in flying from tower 

 to tower. These wore a very small box of gold, of extreme thinness, suspended from the neck ; 

 and, as the pigeon wore this box always, it could carry the message and bring back the intelli- 

 gence. Sentinels were kept constantly watching on the towers, and, as each flew from its own 

 tower to the next and back again, the information, though not so expeditious, certainly could be 

 rendered much more effective than that which the common telegraph afforded. In modern times 

 these birds have been used in Europe by stock speculators between the principal cities. In the 

 United States they were employed a few years ago to carry European news from Halifax to Bos- 

 ton, on the arrival of the steamers there ; they were also used between Sandy Hook and New 

 York to announce the arrival of vessels ; but the electric telegraph has destroyed their vocation. 

 The performances of these birds will, however, always remain an interesting phenomenon. It is 



truethatthey were carefully trained by 

 being taken out and let loose, at first 

 half a mile from home, then a mile, 

 then two, four, six, ten, twenty miles, 

 &c. Those used at Aleppo, to which 

 we have alluded, were trained all the 

 way to Scanderoon ; that is, the whole 

 extent of their journey. Only those 

 which showed great aptness were 

 deemed fit for use ; and of those 

 which were required to achieve a 

 flight of over two hundred and fifty 

 miles, nearly half were lost. If we 

 take into account these facts, and con- 

 sider the amazing reach of the sight 

 of birds, there is nothing very won- 

 derful in the performances of carrier- 

 pigeons ; they are curious and inter- 

 esting as showing the use man may 

 ^ make of the powers and instincts of 

 ^ birds; but the untauofht mio-rations 

 of young birds from the northern to 

 the southern zone, displays an infi- 

 nitely higher and more mysterious 

 instinct. 



The TuRTLE-DovE, C.turtur, prob- 

 ably the Dove of the Scriptures, is one 

 of the most beautiful of the species, 

 and has been celebrated for its grace- 

 ful form, its gentle manners, and its 

 mournfully plaintive notes. Its length 

 is eleven and a half inches; general color above greenish-brown; chin, neck, and breast pale 

 wood-brown ; beneath white. 



The Domestic Dove or Pigeon of Europe, has been transplanted to this country, and is bred 





TURTLE DOVES. 



