334 Birds. 
" Led by what chart, transports the timid Dove, 
The wreaths of conquest, or the vows of love ? 
Say through the clouds what compass points her flight ? 
Monarchs have gazed, and nations blessed the sight. 
Pile rocks on rocks, bid woods and mountains rise. 
Eclipse her native shades, her native skies : — 
'Tis vain ! through ether's pathless wilds she goes, 
And lights at last where all her cares repose. 
Sweet bird, thy trutli shall Harlem's walls attest, 
And unborn ages consecrate thy nest." < Rogers. 
The Carrier Pigeon is easily distinguished from the 
other varieties by a broad circle of naked white skin 
round the eyes, by the large fleshy wattle at the base of 
its bill, and by its dark blue or blackish colour. 
It would be as fruitless as unnecessary to attempt to 
describe all the varieties of the Tame Pigeon ; for human 
art has so much altered the colour and figure of this 
bird, that pigeon-fanciers, by pairing a male and female 
of different sorts, can, as they express it, " breed them 
to a feather." Hence we have the various names of 
Carriers, Tumblers, Jacobins, Croppers, Pouters, Bunts, 
Turbits, Shakers. Fantails, Owls, Nuns, &c, all of which 
may, at first, have accidentally varied from the Pock- 
dove, and these have been further improved by crossing, 
food, and climate. An actual post system, in which 
pigeons were the messengers, was established by the 
Sultan Koureddin Mahmoud, which lasted about a cen- 
tury, and ceased in 1258, when Bagdad fell into the 
hands of the Moguls. 
