THE CARRIER PIGEON. 



THE Carrier Pigeon is distinguished from all 

 others, by a broad circle of naked white skin 

 which surrounds the eyes, and by the colour 

 of the plumage, which is of a dark blue in- 

 clining to black. From their attachment to 

 their native place, these birds are employed in 

 several countries as the most expeditious car- 

 riers of letters ; and formerly they were com- 

 monly used in conveying letters from place to 

 place in time of war r and in case of sieges, 

 when all other means of communication were 

 intercepted, or cut off by the enemy. These 

 birds have been known to fly at the rate of 

 seventy-two miles in the space of two hours 

 and a half. One of them will carry a letter 

 from Babylon to Aleppo in forty-eight hours, 

 though the journey generally occupies a man 

 for thirty days. 



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