CHAP.IV.J CARRIERS IN TURKEY. 133 



home, then ten, and so on till the whole journey is 

 completed by short stages ; and even should the bird 

 know the road, it cannot travel in foggy weather. 



" Among these animals, as among men, some are more 

 easily taught than others, and the fanciers distinguish 

 the best birds by the height and fulness of the mem- 

 brane above the nostrils; and the method they prac- 

 tise to set off an indifferent bird is to raise this mem- 

 brane, and puff up the part by stuffing pieces of cork 

 under it." 



I have tried similar experiments with similar results. 

 Inexperienced birds return home from short distances 

 very easily, if the ground over which they have to fly 

 lies all in one plain or in one valley ; but if any high 

 ground intervenes between the place where they are 

 thrown off and their home, they are very apt to lose 

 their way. When thus bewildered, they are liable to get 

 shot during their endeavours to find the right course, 

 and in many parts of England Sunday does not afford 

 them the exemption from unauthorized gunners which it 

 ought to do. In short, even if the phrenological doc- 

 trine be true, that the Pigeon finds its way by means of 

 the organ of locality in its brain, still that organ re- 

 quires to be exercised, in order to be of service on any 

 unusual emergency. The Treatise takes the same 

 view of the performances of Carriers. 



" In Turkey they call them Bagatins, or Couriers ; 

 and the Turks and Persians make a common practice of 

 breeding this sort of Pigeons in their seraglios, where 

 there is one whose business it is to feed and train these 

 birds for the use afterwards designed, which is done in 

 this manner : when a young one flies very hard at 

 home and is come to its full strength, they carry it in 



