THE PEDIGREE OF THE FANCY. 29 



that fly as a cloud and as the doves to their 

 windows ? " 



There must have been tame Pigeons in early- 

 times, and some of these old Hebrew Bards were 

 Pigeon-Fanciers. By the style of their lan- 

 guage you can tell they were acquainted with 

 pigeon instincts and habits. Sitting on their 

 housetops at sundown they loved to watch the 

 birds sporting in the air. In the East, about 

 sunset, pigeons emerge from their hiding-places, 

 where they have been sheltering and sleeping 

 through the heat of the day. They dart upward 

 and career through the air in large circles, their 

 outspread wings catching the warm glow of the 

 sun's slanting rays so that they resemble bur- 

 nished gold ; wheeling round, they are seen 

 against the light, and appear as if turned into 

 molten silver. Most of the Oriental birds are 

 pure white, or very light coloured. 



I need not refer to their place in the Sacri- 

 ficial Law. In all probability, when the Mother 

 of Jesus visited the Temple carrying the Divine 

 Child in her arms, two young pigeons were 

 sacrificed on the , occasion. At the Saviour's 

 baptism in Jordan, the heavens were opened and 

 the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like 

 a dove upon Him ; and throughout the long 



