In one passage only is the word “dove” used synonymously for “pigeon.” In Romeo and Juliet we are told of the nurse “sitting in the sun under the dove-house wall” (Act i. Sc. 3).
ITS EARLY DOMESTICATION.
The practice, here alluded to, of keeping pigeons in a domesticated state is of very ancient date. Mr. Darwin has been at considerable pains to collect information
upon this point, and in his admirable work “On the Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication,” he gives the following results:—
PIGEON-FANCIERS.
“The earliest record, as has been pointed out to me by Professor Lepsius, of pigeons in a domesticated condition, occurs in the fifth Egyptian dynasty, about 3000 B.C.; but Mr. Birch, of the British Museum, informs me that the pigeon appears in a bill of fare in the previous dynasty.[103] Domestic pigeons are mentioned in Genesis, Leviticus, and Isaiah. In the time of the Romans, as we hear from Pliny, immense prices were given for pigeons; ‘nay, they are come to this pass, that they can reckon up their pedigree and race.’ In India, about the year 1600, pigeons were much valued by Akber Khan: 20,000 birds were carried about with the court, and the merchants brought valuable collections. ‘The monarchs of Iran and Turan sent him some very rare breeds. His Majesty,’ says the courtly historian, ‘by crossing the breeds, which method was never practised before, has improved them astonishingly. Akber Khan possessed seventeen distinct kinds, eight of which were valuable for beauty alone. At about this same period of 1600, the Dutch, according to Aldrovandus, were as eager about pigeons as the Romans had formerly been. The breeds which were kept during the fifteenth century in Europe and in India, apparently differed from each other. Tavernier, in his ‘Travels,’ in 1677, speaks as does Chardin, in 1735, of the vast numbers of pigeon-houses in Persia; and the former remarks, that as Christians were not permitted to keep pigeons, some of the vulgar actually turned Mahometans for this sole purpose. The Emperor of Morocco had his favourite keeper of pigeons, as is mentioned in Moore’s treatise, published 1737. In England, from the time of 1678 to the present day, as well as in Germany and in France, numerous treatises have been published on the pigeon. In India, about a hundred years ago, a Persian treatise was written; and the writer thought it no light affair, for he begins with a solemn invocation, ‘In the name of God, the gracious and merciful.’ Many large towns in Europe and the United States now have their societies of devoted pigeon-fanciers: at present there are three such societies in London. In India, as I hear from Mr. Blyth, the inhabitants of Delhi and of some other great cities are eager fanciers. Mr. Layard informs me that most of the known breeds are kept in Ceylon. In China, according to Mr. Swinhoe of Amoy, and Dr. Lockhart of Shanghai, carriers, fantails, tumblers, and other varieties are reared with care, especially by the bonzes, or priests.
“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.[104] 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 passionately devoted to the breeding of pigeons.”[105]
CARRIER-PIGEONS.
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?”