CHAP. 1.] ANCIENT PIGEON-FANCIERS. 17 necessary to observe, was always abundant in Egypt; for no instance occurs in the sculptures of fowls or pigeons among the stock of the farm-yard, though geese are repeatedly introduced, and numbered in the presence of the stewards."* Aristotle appears to intend to confine himself to the description of the wild species of Pigeon only, and mentions five corresponding with those now seen in Europe and Western Asia; but in the classical period they are repeatedly spoken of as well known, and no novelty, only dear; just as choice Almond Tumblers and Powters were with us twenty or thirty years ago, when they were more the fashion than they are at this moment; and as Bronze-wings, Crowned Pigeons, and other foreign rarities still are, and will be, till they increase more rapidly. A few slight hints on the ресиliarities of these old kinds are here and there to be picked up. Thus we learn from Columella (viii. 8), that the Alexandrine and Campanian Pigeons were, alieni generis, distinct breeds, and not advisable to couple together. Pliny tells us that the latter were the largest of Pigeons, Runts, in fact; we may therefore suppose that the taste of the Alexandrian fanciers was more in favour of the smaller kinds, such as the Tumblers, or the Nuns-an old-established race, and no doubt much more ancient than their Christian namesakes. It is commonly taken for granted that the Pigeon Fancy is a modern taste; but it is clear, from many passages in the classics, that a number of different sorts were cultivated by the ancients, though we have fewer * Ancient Egyptians, vol. iii. p. 35. C particulars respecting the special characteristics of the varieties then in vogue, than we have of their domestic Fowls. Columella is scandalised at the inveteracy and extravagance of the Pigeon Fancy amongst his contemporaries. "That excellent author, M. Varro, recorded even in his more severe age, that single pairs were usually sold for 87. ls. 54d. each. For it is the shame of our age, if we choose to believe it, that persons should be found to purchase a couple of birds at the price of 321. 5s. 10d.*; although I should think those persons more bearable, who expend a heavy amount of brass and silver, for the sake of possessing and keeping the object of fancy wherewith to amuse their leisure, than those who exhaust the Pontic Phasis (for Pheasants to eat), and the Scythian lakes of Mootis (for a fish dinner). Yet even in this aviary, as it is called, the luxurious process of fatting can be carried on; for if any birds happen to be sterile, or of a bad colour, they are crammed in the same way as Hens."+ Pliny also records the prevalence of a Pigeon mania amongst the Romans. "And many are mad with the love of these birds; they build towers for them on the tops of their roof, and will relate the high breeding and ancestry of each, after the ancient fashion. Before Pompey's civil war, L. Axius, a Roman knight, * One always feels uncertain and doubtful of accuracy when converting ancient monies to the modern standard; but Columella would indeed be indignant could he know the prices now paid for rare birds and animals. Mr. Jamrach told me that he had sold a pair of the large blue Crowned Indian Pigeons for 60l., and Mr. Yarrell informed me that the market price of a really fine Tiger is 4001. A pair of the Impeyan Lophophorus were, in the autumn of 1848, and may still be, worth 1007. sterling. + Lib. viii. cap. 8. CHAP. I.] MESSENGER BIRDS. 19 used to sell a single pair of Pigeons denariis quadringentis, for four hundred denarii."* Ainsworth sets down the denarius at 72d., so that the price of these birds was 127. 18s. 4d., which is not so much out of the way, if they were really good. Elian, too, familiarly mentions the distinction between wild and tame Pigeons.-"Doves in towns live in society with man, and are very tame, and crowd about one's feet; but in desert places they fly away, and do not await the approach of men."† But it is as letter-carriers that Pigeons have obtained the greatest celebrity among the ancients, and of their services in this capacity we find very frequent and interesting mention. The practice seems to have been adopted in remote times, in modes, and upon occasions, the exact counterpart of those which call forth the powers of the bird at the present day. How likely is it that the Patriarchs, remembering the tradition of the ark, in their search for fresh pasture at a distance from the main body of their tribe, may have taken with them a few pigeons to be flown from time to time, and carry home news of the proceedings of the exploring party. During the last few years, the invention of the Electric Telegraph has done more to bring Carrier Pigeons into partial disuse than had been effected in the three thousand years previous. Whether the bird so employed in early ages was identical with our Carrier does not appear; but, until something to the contrary is proved, we may be permitted to assume that it was the same in every respect. 66 Varro writes, It may be observed, that the habit of Pigeons is to return to their home, because many per† Anecdotes of Animals, Book iii. 15. * Lib. x. 53. sons throw them off from their lap in the (roofless) theatre, and they return home:" he innocently adds, "they would not be thrown off unless they did return home." And thus Pigeons, which once used to carry off the name of a victorious gladiator, have since that time been made to announce the result of the less fatal encounter of a pair of pugilists. Some of the learned are of opinion, that this old Roman practice of sending Pigeons off from the crowded amphitheatre, from seats which it was not always possible for the occupier to quit at pleasure, and of making them carry home the news, or the wishes and orders of their owner, is the very origin of the custom, and gave the hint to Brutus and others to avail themselves of Pigeons as messengers in more important affairs. But they seem to have forgotten that, long before the age in which Varro lived, the ancients made use of lettercarrying Pigeons, when they went any distance from home, as the most certain means of conveying intelligence back; and that, in the sixth century before Christ, Anacreon wrote the Ode which has been so beautifully translated by Thomas Moore : "Tell me, why, my sweetest dove, "Curious stranger! I belong To the bard of Teian song; CHAP. I.] AGENTS OF SUPERSTITION. Venus, for a hymn of love ('T was in sooth a gentle day,) Songs of passion through the air." 21 The birds which had been found so subservient as messengers of love were likely to be employed as accessories to the commission of witchcraft; and Ælian gives us reason to suspect, that many of the marvellous revelations of second sight, at least, may be explained by supposing the seers to have employed the agency of Carrier Pigeons. "Some say that the victory of Taurosthenes at Olympia was made known in one day to his father, at Ægina, by a vision: but others say, that Taurosthenes carried a Pigeon away with him, making her leave her young ones still tender and unfledged, and that having obtained the victory, he sent off the bird, after attaching a piece of something purple to her; and that she, hastening to her young, returned in one day from Pissa to Ægina."* It is to be here noted that Ælian uses the synonyms TEGIσTEga and Tλ to denote the same individual bird. In his treatise on Animals, Book iv. 2, there is another curious story of Pigeons being absent for a time from their haunts in Eryce in Sicily, where was a famous temple of Venus, and of their being regularly led back after a stated interval, by a purple rogQugɛa Dove. The tale is unintelligible, unless we sup * Var. Hist. ix. 2. |