FANCIERS’ JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 
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often has been, and may be again, the saltpetre men produce 
it after this manner to this very day, by throwing in the 
scum or refuse of their saltpetre amongst it. 
Thus we have shown the various uses even of the most 
disesteemed and excrementitious part; but before we leave 
this head, we cannot forbear mentioning the following story 
out of Tavernier, in the fourth book of his first volume of 
“ Persian Travels,” page 146. 
Says he, speaking of the people of Ispahan, “As for their 
pigeons, they fly wild about the country, but only some which 
they keep tame in the city to decoy the rest, which is a sport 
the Persians use in hot weather as well as cold. How in 
regard the Christians are not permitted to keep pigeons, 
some of the vulgar sort will turn to Mohammedans to have 
that liberty. There are above three thousand pigeon-houses 
in Ispahan, for every man may build a pigeon-house upon 
his own farm, which yet is very rarely done ; all the other 
pigeon-houses belong to the king, who draws a greater rev- 
enue from the dung than from the pigeons, which dung, as 
they prepare it, serves to smoke their melons.” 
COLUMBA TABELLARIA. 
The Carrier Pigeon. 
The Carrier is larger in size than most of the common 
sorts of pigeons. I measured one the other day whose length, 
from the point of the beak to the extremity of the tail, was 
fifteen inches ; this, though not one of the largest, weighed 
nearly twenty ounces. Their flesh is naturally firm, and 
their feathers close when they stand erect upon their legs, 
their necks being usually long; there appears in them a 
wonderful symmetry of shape beyond other pigeons, which 
are generally crowded on heaps. 
The upper chap of the bill is half covered from the head 
with a naked, white, tuberous, furfuraceous flesh, which 
projects or hangs over both its sides on the upper part nearest 
the head, and ends in a point about the middle of the bill ; 
this is called the wattle, and is sometimes joined by two 
small excrescences of the same kind on each side of the 
under chap. 
This flesh is in some Carriers more inclinable to a blackish 
color, which is generally the more valued. 
The eyes, whose iris, or circle round the black pupil, is 
generally of the color of a reddish gravel, are equally sur- 
rounded with the same sort of furfuraceous matter, for about 
the breadth of a shilling ; this is generally thin when it 
spreads wide, and is most valued ; yet when the flesh round 
the eye is thick and broad, it shows the Carriers to be of a 
good blood that will breed very stout ones. 
This bird is often esteemed, by the gentlemen of the 
Fancy, as the king of pigeons, on account of its beauty and 
great sagacity; for which reason Mr. Hickman, a distiller 
in Bishopsgate Street (not of the family of the lying Hick- 
mans), when living, always kept a silver hatchet and block 
on which he decently chopped off their heads, alleging that, 
being of the blood royal, they ought not to die after the 
same manner as the vulgar herd. 
A Carrier is generally reckoned to have twelve proper- 
ties, viz. : 
Three in the beak ; 
Three in the wattle ; 
Three in the head ; 
Three in the eye. 
To begin therefore with the first; the properties of the 
beak are to be long, straight, and thick. 
As to its length, an inch and a half is reckoned a long 
beak, though there are very good Carriers that are found 
not to exceed an inch and a quarter. 
The straightness of the beak adds a wonderful beauty to 
its length, and if otherwise it is said to be hooked-beaked, 
and is not so much esteemed. 
The thickness of the beak is likewise a very great com- 
mendation, and if it fails in this point it is said to be spindle- 
beaked, which diminishes something of its value. 
The next three properties are those of the wattle, which 
ought to be. broad across the beak, short from the head towards 
the apex or point of the bill, and tilting forward from the 
head, for if otherwise it is said to be peg-wattled, which is 
very much disesteemed ; and therefore some people, to im- 
pose upon mankind and enhance the price of an indifferent 
bird, have artificially raised the hinder part of the wattle, 
filted it up with cork, and wired it in with fine wire, in such 
a manner as not to be easily perceptible, especially to gentle- 
men who are not adepts in the Fancy. 
We now come to consider the properties of the head, which 
are its length, its narrowness, and its flatness. When a 
Carrier has a long, narrow head, and a very flat skull, it is 
much admired, and if otherwise it is said to be barrel-headed. 
The last three properties are those of the eye, which ought 
to be broad, round, and of an equal thickness ; for if one 
part of the eye be thinner than the rest, it’s said to be pinch- 
eyed, which is deemed a very great imperfection ; whereas, 
if it has the contrary properties, it is said to have a rose-eye, 
which is very valuable. 
To these, some add the distance which is between the 
hinder part of the wattle and the edge of the eye ; but I 
cannot allow this to be a property, because when a Carrier 
comes to be three or four years old, if the eye is broad and 
the wattle large, they must of necessity meet; the distance 
therefore seems to be rather a property of the Horseman, of 
which more in its proper place. 
Another distinguishing mark of a Carrier is the length 
and thinness of its neck, which some call a property; and it 
must be allowed to add a very great beauty to this bird, 
especially considering the breadth of its chest. 
Its feather is chiefly black or dun, though there are like- 
wise blues, whites, and pieds of each feather, but the black 
and dun answer best the foregoing properties ; yet the blues 
and blue pieds are generally esteemed for their scarcity, 
though they will not usually come up to the properties of 
the foregoing feathers. 
The original of these pigeons came from Bazora, in Persia, 
being sometimes brought by shipping, and sometimes in the 
caravans ; hence, by some ignorant people, they are called 
buffories. 
This city is situate about two miles distant from a river 
called Xat Arab, which is formed by the meeting of the two 
great rivers Tigris and Euphrates ; near this place is a small 
house, like a hermitage, dedicated to Iza ben Mariam, that 
is, Jesus the son of Mary, in passing which place, the Mo- 
hammedans themselves very devoutly offer up their prayers. 
There is likewise a considerable quantity of land, whose 
revenues belong to this chapel. 
We now come to give an account of the name which is 
given to this pigeon ; and it is called a Carrier because it is 
frequently made use of to carry a letter from one place to 
another. And such is the admirable cunning or sagacity of 
this bird, that though you carry them hoodwinked twenty 
( To be continued.) 
