pieEONs. 



every point, excepting wten lie states that a Bmgle egg only is 

 laid. Audubon insists, that the bird lays two eggs of a pure 

 white, and that each brood generally consists of a male and 

 female. 



DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 



THE CAXBIEB. 



The carrier pigeon occupies, as he ought, the highest plac0 

 among the doi&estio cohimbidcB. With tiie exception, perhaps, 



of the "blue rook," or, more 

 properly, the dove-house pigeon, 

 no domestic fowl can be traced 

 to such antiquity. Long before 

 Eome became a mighty city tiie 

 carrier was a "home pet;" and 

 at the edebration of the Olym- 

 pian games this bird was fre- 

 quently employed to carry to 

 cAKBiEE HGEON. distant parts the names of the 



victprs. 

 During the " Holy War," when ^ore was besieged by King 

 Richard, Saladin habituaUy corresponded with the besieged by 

 means of carrier pigeons. A shaft from an English crossbow, 

 however, happened to bring one of these feathered messengers 

 to the ground, and the strataigem being discovered and the 

 designs of the mighiy pagan monarch revealed, the tables were 

 turned and Acre was in the hands of the besiegers before the 

 wily Saladin dreamed of such a thing. 



The carrier is rather larger than the general run of pigeons. 

 Most writers consider them as descendants from the Peisiain 

 or Turlrish variety. Their form is, however, much altered from 

 those birds, and it is believed to be owing to an admistuie with 

 the Egyptian variety known as Bagdads, Scandaroons, or 

 Horsemen, and from which cross they, in aU probai>ility, obtain 

 the long beak considered so great a point in this breed, while 

 the true Turkish or Persian is not remarkable for the length of 

 this member ; that the Turkiaih and Egyptian varieties have 

 been much confused ; and that from their niiEture, with carefol 

 breeding, this breed hm been prodTioed, there can be Utile 

 doubt. 



To be thorough-bred the carrier should possess the " twelve 



