CARRIER-PIGEONS. 
I8 3 
“ The Chinese fasten a kind of whistle to the tail- 
feathers of their pigeons, and as the flock wheels through 
the air, they produce a sweet sound.* In Egypt, the 
late Abbas Pacha was a great fancier of fantails. Many 
pigeons are kept at Cairo and Constantinople, and these 
have lately been imported by native merchants, as I hear 
from Sir W. Elliot, into Southern India, and sold at high 
prices. 
“ The foregoing statements show in how many countries, 
and during how long a period, many men have been pas¬ 
sionately devoted to the breeding of pigeons.” -j- 
In Titus Andronicus (Act iv. Sc. 3), upon the entry of 
a clown with two pigeons Titus exclaims :— 
“ News, news from heaven ! Marcus, the post is come. 
Sirrah, what tidings ? have you any letters ?” 
The practice of using pigeons as letter-carriers, here 
alluded to by Shakespeare, is doubtless of very ancient 
origin. The old historian Diodorus Siculus, informs us 
that above two thousand years ago they were employed 
for this purpose ; and five hundred years since relays of 
carrier-pigeons formed part of a telegraphic system 
adopted by the Turks. “ Regular chains of posts were 
established, consisting of high towers between thirty and 
* A good description of these whistles, by Mr. Tegetmeier, with illustrations, 
will be found in the Field of the 12th March, 1870. 
t Darwin, “Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,’’i. pp. 204, 
205. 
