CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 4. COLUMBJE. 229 
ployed pigeons could, upon the arrival of ships, obtain information which they had abundant 
time to turn to advantage. One case is mentioned, upon authority which there is no reason 
to doubt, where a merchant killed one of these pigeons by accident, and learned from the billet 
which it bore that there was a great scarcity of galls in England. Taking advantage of this, and 
buying up nearly the whole quantity in the market, he at once cleared a sum which in those 
days was considered an ample fortune. 
In the East, intelligence was in former times communicated by these pigeons much in the 
same manner as was done by telegraphs in later periods. Slight towers were built along the line, 
at thirty or forty miles distant from each other, and pigeons were employed in flying from tower 
to tower. These wore a very small box of gold, of extreme thinness, suspended from the neck ; 
and, as the pigeon wore this box always, it could carry the message and bring back the intelli- 
gence. Sentinels were kept constantly watching on the towers, and, as each flew from its own 
tower to the next and back again, the information, though not so expeditions, certainly could be 
rendered much more effective than that which the common telegraph afforded. In modern times 
these birds have been used in Europe by stock speculators between the principal cities. In the 
United States they were employed a few years ago to carry European news from Halifax to Bos- 
ton, on the arrival of the steamei-s there ; they were also used between Sandy Hook and New 
York to announce the arrival of vessels ; but the electric telegi-aph has destroyed their vocation. 
The performances of these birds will, however, always remain an interesting phenomenon. It is 
true that they were carefully trained by 
being taken out and let loose, at first 
half a mile from home, then a mile, 
then two, four, six, ten, twenty miles, 
&c. Those used at Aleppo, to which 
we have alluded, were trained all the 
way to Scanderoon ; that is, the whole 
extent of their journey. Only those 
which showed great aptness were 
deemed fit for use; and of those 
which were required to achieve a 
flight of over two hundred and fifty 
miles, nearly half were lost. If we 
take into account these facts, and con- 
sider the amazing reach of the sight 
of birds, there is nothing very won- 
derful in the performances of carrier- 
pigeons ; they are curious and inter- 
esting as showing the use man may 
make of the powers and instincts of 
birds; but the untaught migrations 
of young birds from the northern to 
the southern zone, displays an infi- 
nitely higher and more mysterious 
instinct. 
The TuRTLE-DovE, C. hcrttir, prob- 
ably the Dove of the Scriptures, is one 
of the most beautiful of the species, 
and has been celebrated for its grace- 
ful form, its gentle manners, and its 
mournfully plaintive notes. Its length 
is eleven and a half inches; general color above greenish-brown; chin, neck, and breast pale 
wood-brown ; beneath white. 
The Domestic Dove or Pigeon of Europe^ has been transplanted to this country, and is bred 
TURTLE DOVES. 
