252 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THE ART OF TRAINING PIGEONS IN THE EAST. 

 (Concluded from p. 219.) 



Abul Fazl says that the Emperor's Pigeons used to accom- 

 pany his processions. The Kahars carried the pigeon-houses, 

 and the birds sometimes rested in them, or flew overhead and 

 went along in the air with the procession. This is quite correct, 

 and I agree with the Sheikh. At the present day the Pigeons of 

 Bahadur Shah have been seen to accompany his processions, the 

 only difference being that the pigeon-houses were carried on 

 carts, and the Pigeons above kept pace with the procession as far 

 as Eed Gah. Moreover, the King's throne (lialvadar, or seat), on 

 elephant-back, proceeded under the shadow of these Pigeons ; 

 in other words, they formed a sort of canopy over the King's 

 head. When the procession passed through the Lahore Gate of 

 of the city, the birds descended downwards and kept fluttering 

 over the King's head, even within the gate, and as soon as the 

 throne had passed out of the gate, they reascended without ever 

 touching the ground all this while. 



Abul Fazl states that the Emperor's Pigeons cannot be 

 numbered. There were more than 20,000, nearly 500 of which 

 were celebrated for their skill and cleverness. He adds that in 

 former times the pigeon-keepers used to distinguish these birds 

 birds by the turn of the feet, or chak-i-chashm, or the sides of 

 the beak, and took great pains in doing so ; but that the Emperor 

 devised several new marks of distinction whereby all difficulty 

 was removed — viz., the eye, sides of the face, claws, and position 

 of the nostrils. 



From the above I understand that before Akbar's time, the 

 Vilaiti Pigeons were usually examined and distinguished by the 

 turning of their feet, the cleft of their eyes, and the opening of 

 the nostril. Beyond this the poor simple Vilaitees knew nothing ; 

 hence their perplexity at anything that could not be ascertained 

 from these three sources of distinction. The Emperor therefore 

 fixed on several other distinguishing characters — namely, both 

 sides of the eye, — that is, under and above the pupil, — eight 

 claws (which were supposed to indicate what the turning of their 

 feet did in former times), and both sides of the beak. Names 

 also were given to the various breeds, and birds of different kinds 



