FANCY PIGEONS, 
51 
ones, open-mouthed, receive this tribute of affection, and are thus fed three 
times a day. The varieties of the domestic pigeon which follow have been 
produced by various crossings, etc., with different and parent stocks, some 
of which we shall now describe. 
FANCY PIGEONS. 
THE CARRIER. 
The carrier-pigeon has been known from a very remote period, and has 
been employed as a messenger from the earliest ages. It is a larger bird 
than the common pigeon, measures about fifteen inches in length, and 
weighs about a pound and a quarter. The neck is long, and the pectoral 
muscles very large, denoting a power of vigorous and long-continued flight. 
An appendage of naked skin hangs across its bill, and continues down on 
each side of the lower mandible. According to its size and shape, the ama¬ 
teurs of carrier-pigeons estimate the value of the bird. They consider 
those pigeons the best that have the appendage rising high on the head, 
and of considerable wddth across the bill, and that are also distinguished by 
a wide circlet round the eyes, destitute of feathers. The sellers of these 
birds sometimes employ artificial means to produce these appearances, and 
torture the pigeons by introducing a small piece of cork, fastened by a bit 
of wire beneath the skin, to enlarge its apparent wddth. 
The instinct which renders this bird so valuable is founded upon a very 
high degree of the love of home which it possesses. The mode of training 
