to speak, or even to shout, to those persons nearest me. The reports even of the nearest guns were seldom heard, and I knew only of the firing by seeing the shooters reloading. No person dared venture within the line of devastation; the hogs had been penned up in due time, the picking up of the dead and wounded being left for the next morning's employment. Still the pigeons were constantly coming, and it was past midnight before I perceived a decrease in the number of those that arrived. The uproar continued, however, the whole night; and, as I was anxious to know to what distance the sound reached, I sent off a man accustomed to perambulate the forest, who, returning two hours afterwards, informed me he had heard it distinctly when three miles from the spot." Towards daybreak, according to the same authority, the pigeons again move off, and various nocturnal beasts of prey are seen sneaking away from the ground, where they have found a plentiful and accessible meal; the human devastators then go in to collect their share of the plunder, and when they have selected all that they have occasion for, the hogs are let loose to feed upon the remainder.

"It is extremely interesting," says the above quoted authority, "to see flock after flock performing exactly the same evolutions which had been traced in the air, as it were, by a preceding flock. Thus, should a hawk have charged on a group at a certain spot, the angles, curves, and undulations that have been described by the birds in their efforts to escape from the dreaded talons of the plunderer, are undeviatingly followed by the next group that comes up."

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The accounts of the prodigious numbers in which these pigeons assemble would be open to doubt were they not made by naturalists of the highest note. For instance, if less an authority than Wilson narrated the following it would cer tainly have been voted an Americanism." "I passed for several miles through the same breeding place, where every tree was spotted with nests, the remains of those above described. In many instances, I counted upwards of ninety nests on a single tree; but the pigeons had abandoned this place for another, sixty or eighty miles off, toward Green River, where they were said at that time to be equally numeFrom the great numbers that were constantly passing over our heads to and from that quarter, I had no doubt of the truth of this statement. The mast had been chiefly consumed in Kentucky; and the pigeons every morning a little before

rous.

sunrise set out for the Indiana territory, the nearest part of which was about sixty miles distant. Many of these returned before ten o'clock, and the great body generally appeared on their return a little after noon. I had left the public road to visit the remains of the breeding-place near Shelbyville, and was traversing the woods with my gun on my way to Frankfort, when, about ten o'clock, the pigeons which I had observed flying the greater part of the morning northerly, began to return in such immense numbers as I never before had witnessed.

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Coming to an opening by the side of a creek called the Benson, where I had a more uninterrupted view, I was astonished at their appearance; they were flying with great steadiness and rapidity, at a height beyond gun-shot, in several strata deep, and so close together that, could shot have reached them, one discharge could not have failed of bringing down several individuals. From right to left, as far as the eye could reach, the breadth of this vast procession extended, seeming everywhere equally crowded. Curious to determine how long this appearance would continue, I took out my watch to note the time, and sat down to observe them. It was then halfpast one; I sat for more than an hour, but, instead of a diminution of this prodigious procession, it seemed rather to increase both in numbers and rapidity; and anxious to reach Frankfort before night, I rose and went on. About four o'clock in the afternoon I crossed Kentucky river, at the town of Frankfort, at which time the living torrent above my head seemed as numerous and as extensive as ever. Long after this I observed them in large bodies, that continued to pass for six or eight minutes, and these again were followed by other detached bodies, all moving in the same south-east direction till after six in the evening. The great breadth of front which this mighty multitude preserved, would seem to intimate a corresponding breadth of their breeding-place, which, by several gentlemen, who had lately passed through part of it, was stated to me at several miles."

Wilson then enters into a rough calculation of the numbers of this mass, and he comes to the conclusion, that its whole length was 240 miles, and that the numbers composing it amounted to 2,230,272,000 pigeons, observing, that this is probably far below the actual amount. He adds, that allowing each pigeon to consume half a pint of food daily, the whole quantity would equal 17,424,000 bushels daily. Audubon confirms Wilson in

every point, excepting when he states that a single egg only is laid. Audubon insists, that the bird lays two eggs of a pure white, and that each brood generally consists of a male and female.

DOMESTIC PIGEONS.

THE CARRIER.

The carrier pigeon occupies, as he ought, the highest place among the domestic columbida. With the exception, perhaps,

CARRIER PIGEON.

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of the "blue rock," or, more properly, the dove-house pigeon, no domestic fowl can be traced to such antiquity. Long before Rome became a mighty city the carrier was a home pet;" and at the celebration of the Olympian games this bird was frequently employed to carry to distant parts the names of the victors.

During the "Holy War," when Acre was besieged by King Richard, Saladin habitually corresponded with the besieged by means of carrier pigeons. A shaft from an English crossbow, however, happened to bring one of these feathered messengers to the ground, and the stratagem being discovered and the designs of the mighty pagan monarch revealed, the tables were turned and Acre was in the hands of the besiegers before the wily Saladin dreamed of such a thing.

The carrier is rather larger than the general run of pigeons. Most writers consider them as descendants from the Persian or Turkish variety. Their form is, however, much altered from those birds, and it is believed to be owing to an admixture with the Egyptian variety known as Bagdads, Scandaroons, or Horsemen, and from which cross they, in all probability, obtain the long beak considered so great a point in this breed, while the true Turkish or Persian is not remarkable for the length of this member; that the Turkish and Egyptian varieties have been much confused; and that from their mixture, with careful breeding, this breed has been produced, there can be little doubt.

To be thorough-bred the carrier should possess the "twelve

points," as it is termed, viz., three of the head, three of the beak, three of the wattle, and three of the eye. The head should be long and straight, and flat on the top; the beak should be straight, and long, and thick; the wattle should be broad at the base, short from the head to the bill, and leaning forward; and the eye should be large, and round, and uniform. A bird possessing all these qualifications, and being only of one colour, and that dark blue, may be esteemed a first-class bird, that is, taking a "fancier's" view of the subject. Duncoloured birds, "cinnamons," are the least valued, though, without doubt, they possess as much sagacity and power of flight as any. Firmness of feather is an unerring sign of a good constitution, and a long wing of speed and endurance. As the carrier grows old he loses his lithe, active appearance, and his wattle increases in bulk. By these tokens you may judge of a bird's age. Their genuine plumage is black, and the feathers set remarkably close to the body. These blacks occasionally throw a dun, which duns are thought generally to have the best heads. Other colours are sometimes to be met with, but are rarely so good, and have almost invariably the great blemish of black eyes. They should be trained while young, and afterwards kept in exercise, or they become fat and idle, and their organ of "locality," or whatever it may be that enables them so marvellously to track their way, becomes weakened from want of use. They are shy, rather unfriendly birds, and excellent breeders and nurses, if kept in a natural state, but if allowed to become too fat they are less careful of their offspring.

The way of sending a despatch, or attaching the letter, is simply to write that which it is desired to communicate on a small piece of light paper,—say about three or four inches square. This is rolled up about the size of a goose-quill, and laid between two of the tail feathers, where it is secured by means of a piece of fine binding wire, which is pushed into one or both the shafts of the feathers. Their vanes are then wrapped about the paper by twisting the wire round and round, so that the pigeon carries it without being in the least inconvenienced in its flight. Some persons, I believe, wind the paper round the shank of the foot, or leg, and fasten it with worsted.

The Belgians have always been remarkable for their fondness of pigeon sports. It is recorded that in the year 1825, The Society of Amateurs," at Antwerp, sent ninety carriers

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to fly for a prize. They were started from the French capital at seven o'clock in the morning, and by noon of the same day thirteen of them had reached home. The first arrived at half

past eleven o'clock.

It

The true Antwerp carrier is comparatively a rare bird. is not supposed to be indigenous to the country where it is found, but to be simply the descendant of tame pigeons who have lost their homes, and betaking themselves to such secluded and airy sites as the ancient towers and steeples the city of Antwerp affords, have there increased and multiplied. The size of the Antwerp carrier is nearly that of our familiar blue rock; its plumage is mostly mealy, with bright brown bars across the wings, and the neck of a reddish tint. The beak is slender and dove-shaped; the eye full and glittering, like two pink-tinted pearls. The forehead is rather full and

round.

As already mentioned, this bird is seldom met with. Says Mr. Brent, 66 so choice are the few persons that keep them that they rarely can be induced to part with them, and so wild and restless are the birds in a strange place that it would be a rare occurrence for them to breed there; their wild nature and the indomitable desire to return to their native home cause them to be ever on the alert to escape; and should they be confined securely for a year, or even more, they will frequently at the expiration of that time, from their shy, restless disposition, be found willing and capable of returning to their old abode, though the journey may be one or two hundred miles."

The Liege, or "short-faced Antwerp," although not quite so clever as his cousin, who owns the proud title of "the true," is more desirable, inasmuch as it will sooner get reconciled to a new home. It is supposed to be a cross between the owl and the turbit, two sorts of pigeon very common in the Low Countries, where the Liege is more prevalent than elsewhere. It is very sober in plumage, chiefly whole coloured, mealy blue, or blue chequered. In July, 1828, fifty-six carriers, brought to London from Liege, were flown in the neighbourhood of Aldersgate-street, at thirty-four minutes past four o'clock, a.m. One of them reached its destination, a distance of about three hundred miles, at twenty-four minutes past ten o'clock the same morning, having thus accomplished its journey in five hours and fifty minutes. The other pigeons followed in succession, and all of them reached Liege at noon. In July, 1829, in a flight " against time," forty-one birds were loosed at

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