452 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



The Swift Pigeon is of small size, its flight is light and rapid, 

 and its fecundity very great. 



The Carrier Pigeons belong to this race. They are celebrated 

 for their attachment to their birth-place, or to the spot that con- 

 tains their offspring, and for the intelligence which enables them 

 to regain their native countries from whatever distance. Trans- 

 port them miles from their homes, even in a well-closed basket, 

 then give them their liberty, and after a time they will return, 

 without the slightest hesitation, to the place from which they 

 were taken. This valuable faculty has long been utilised, espe- 

 cially in the East. The Romans made use of Pigeons as mes- 

 sengers. Pliny says that this means was employed by Brutus 

 and Hirtius to concert together during the siege of a town by 

 Marc Antony. At the siege of Ley den, in 1574, the Prince of 

 Orange employed Carrier Pigeons to carry on a correspondence 

 with the besieged town, which he succeeded in freeing. The 

 Prince, to mark his acknowledgment of the services rendered 

 by these sagacious birds, wished them to be fed with strawberries, 

 and their bodies to be embalmed after death. We learn from Pierre 

 Belon, the naturalist, that in his time navigators from Egypt 

 and Cyprus took Pigeons upon their galleys, and liberated them 

 when they had arrived at the port of destination, in order to 

 announce to their families their safe journey. In our century 

 they have been made use of for similar purposes. The fluctua- 

 tions of the Bourse were for a long time sent from Paris to 



Brussels by means of Carrier Pigeons. 



The Tumbler Pigeon owes its name to its curious manner of 



flying. It has a habit, after it has risen to a certain height, of 

 throwing five or six somersaults. 



The Wheeling Pigeon describes circles like birds of prey. It 



is turbulent, and ought to be banished from pigeon-houses. 



The Nun Pigeon is recognised by a kind of hood formed of 



raised feathers, which covers the back of the head and neck, and 



to which it owes its name. It flies heavily, but is very familiar 



and very prolific. 



The Fan-tailed Pigeon is remarkable for its tail, which is 



very large, and raised like that of the Peacock, and for the con- 



