CHAPTER LXXI. 



THE BAGDAD CARRIER PIGEON. 



My acquaintance with the carrier pigeons o£ Bagdad haa been confined to 

 such as were brought to Bengal by Arab ships from Basorah, dnring my 

 residence in Calcutta. The best I have seen were those I mentioned 

 as belonging to the Jewish merchant, Mr. D. J. Ezra. I oocaaionally 

 saw an odd pair or two elsewhere, but they were always inferior to his, 

 and would be more correctly described as heavy dragoons than carriers. 

 They went by the name of Bagdadeea, from their native place. Mr. 

 Ezra, from his position and influence, would be able to obtain the beat 

 birds, and I have no doubt that those in his aviary fairly repre- 

 sented the breed. He had about six or seven pairs, some of which 

 were matured pigeons. They were all blues with black bars, most of 

 them rather dusky in colour. I could see no difference between them 

 and English carriers, as regards size and general characteristics. The 

 old cocks had heavy beak-wattles and fair eye-wattles. Their faults 

 were those of forty-nine out of every fifty English carriers, being in- 

 clined to be broad-skulled and rather down-faced or Eoman-nosed. I 

 consider them, not only from Moore's account, but from their appear- 

 ance, as the undoubted originals of our carriers, which have been brought 

 to their present condition by generations of persevering fanciers. And, 

 after all, how many carriers out of the hundreds bred annually in England 

 are fit to be penned at a first class show ? The best birds we have 

 produce plenty not nearly so stout as the best of those I have seen 

 from Bagdad. Were any good carrier breeder to visit that city, I believe 

 he might find birds which he would consider well worth bringing home 

 with him, but whether of other colours than blue I am unable to say. 



