CARRIER, a species of pigeon, which has received that name from being employed in conveying letters from one place to another. It is the Columba tabellaria of Linnxus, and is thus characterised, " ccre broad, carun culate, whitish, eyelids naked." But this description is too indefinite to enable ordinary observers to recognise the species ; we may therefore remark, that the carrier is of a larger size than the greater part of pigeons, being 15 inches in length from the point of the bill to the extremity of the tail, and sometimes weighing 20 ounces. Its shape is more symmetrical from the length of neck and closeness of the feathers ; and the breadth of the chest, added to these two, arc considered not only indications of the use, but of the qualities of the indivi dual. The colour is not a distinguishing mark, the car rier being black or dun, blue, and blue-pyebald, the two latter of which are most esteemed by pigeon fanciers from their rarity. The core of this bird is very large, extend ing over half the upper chap of the bill in a white, tu berous, furfuraccous flesh, called the wattle, hanging down on both sides next the head, and terminating in a point about the middle of the bill. On the appearance of this several properties are supposed to depend, which has given birth to cruel operations on the bird. As the wattle of a good carrier should be broad across the bill, and rise high at the head, a method has been contrived to impose on the less skilful, by artificially elevating the hind part with cork fixed in by wire, in such a manner as scarcely to be perceptible. The eyes are surrounded by the same furfuraccous substance, extending to about the diameter of a shilling ; and the wider it is, the more the carrier is valued. But the best birds are said to have three peculiarities in the appearance of the bill, three in the wattle, three in the head, and as many in the eye : though some concentrate them in one each, to which are added the length and slenderness of the neck, and the length of the body. We are unacquainted with the coun try of which the carrier is indigenous ; but it is said to have been imported into Britain, where it is now com pletely naturalized, from Bussorah.
Though the superstitious partiality with which pigeons in general have been viewed, may perhaps be traced to passages in Scripture, the qualities of the carrier were prized before the Christian religion was known, and in countries where it was never recognised. It is the pecu liar property of this bird to find its way through the air front incredible distances, over which it has been con veyed hoodwinked, or in a covered basket, back to its usual abode, which has taught mankind a mode of trans inittiog intelligence by its aid. The Greek and Arabic poets, in their figurative language, alike represent the interchange of amatory billets by pigeons ; and Martial describes one as an ominous messenger of welcome ti dings.
But we are distinctly told by /Elian, that Taurosthencs, a victor in the Olympic games, communicated his suc cess to his father by means of a pigeon, to which a pur ple ligan•nt was affixed. Pliny also narrates, that a correspondence was carried on by means of pigeons, at the siege uf Modena. Quin et internunciw in magnis rebus fuere efiistolas annexas earum fzedibus obsidtone:. Mutinensi in castra Consilium Decimo Bruto mittentr. " Of what avail," he adds, " were centinels, circumval lations, or nets obstructing the river, when intelligence could be conveyed by aerial messengers." More recent instances are given of the utility of pigeons, in commu nicating information to the besiegers or besieged during times of warfare. It is said, that while an army was be sieging Tyre, in the Crusades, intelligence from a dis tant quarter was suspected, from a pigeon being fre quently observed hovering over the city. By some means the besiegers obtained possession of the bird, re moved a billet attached to it containing useful informa tion, and replaced it with deceitful intelligence. The pigeon was again liberated ; and having conveyed the false information, the besiegers were enabled to render themselves masters of the place. In other cases corre spondence has been intercepted, where the bird, terrified by the sight of a hawk, has sought the earth, and thus fallen into the hands which it was most important to avoid.