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
forty miles asunder, provided with pigeons, and sentinels stood there constantly on the watch, to secure the intelligence communicated by the birds as they arrived, and to pass it on by means of others. The note was written on a thin slip of paper, enclosed in a very small gold box, almost as thin as the paper itself, suspended to the neck of the bird; the hour of arrival and departure were marked at each successive tower, and for greater security a duplicate was always despatched two hours after the first. The despatches were, however, not always enclosed in gold, but merely in paper, in which case, to prevent the letters being defaced by damp, the legs of the pigeon were first bathed in vinegar, with a view to keep them cool, so that they might not settle to drink, or wash themselves on the way, which in that hot climate they were often doing.”
PIGEON-POST.
The modern mode of transmitting messages by pigeon-post is much more ingenious, and less irksome to the bird. The slip of paper is rolled up very tightly, and inserted in a small quill, which is stitched to one of the tail-feathers.
Formerly it was not an uncommon thing to send a pair of doves or pigeons as a present—
“I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here.”—Titus Andronicus, Act iv. Sc. 4.
The constancy evinced by pigeons towards each other,
when paired, has been already referred to. (As You Like It, Act iii. Sc. 3; Winter’s Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3, &c.)
“PIGEON-LIVER’D.”
It has been stated that the absence of a gall-bladder in pigeons is compensated for by the extraordinary development of the crop, by the aid of which the food becomes so thoroughly digested, that the gall is rendered unnecessary. This, however, is not strictly correct, as the food is only macerated in the crop; and the gall, as it is secreted, passes, by two ducts, from the liver into the duodenum, instead of into a gall-bladder. Shakespeare has alluded to this peculiarity in the digestive organs of pigeons in Hamlet, where the Prince says:—