BRITISH BIRDS. 319 



state their increase is prodigious; and, though 

 they never lay more than two eggs at a time, yet, 

 allowing them to breed nine times in the year, the 

 produce of a single pair, at the expiration of four 

 years, may amount to the enormous number of 

 14,762.* The male and female perform the office 

 of incubation by turns, and feed their young by 

 casting up the provisions out of their stomachs 

 into the mouths of the young ones. 



To describe the varieties of the domestic Pigeon 

 would exceed the limits of our work ; we shall there- 

 fore barely mention the names of the most noted 

 among them, such as Tumblers, Carriers, Jaco- 

 bins, Croppers, Powters, Runts, Turbits, Shakers, 

 Smiters, Owls, Nuns, &c. Of these the Carrier 

 Pigeon is the most deserving of notice, having 

 been made use of, from very early times, to con- 

 vey intelligence on the most important occasions, 

 and it never fails to execute its commission with 

 unequalled expedition and certainty.! The bird 

 used on these occasions is taken from the place to 

 which the advices are to be communicated, and 

 the letter being tied under its wing, it is let loose, 

 and in spite of surrounding armies and every ob- 

 stacle that would have effectually prevented any 

 other means of conveyance, guided by instinct 

 alone, it returns directly home, where the intelli- 

 gence is so much wanted. There are instances 

 on record of their having been employed during 

 a siege, to convey an account of its progress, of 



* Stillingfleet's Tracts. 

 f In Asia, Pigeons are still used to convey intelligence. 



