Identifier: centuryillustratv32newy (find matches)
Title: The century illustrated monthly magazine
Year: 1882 (1880s)
Authors:
Subjects: American literature
Publisher: New York : Century Co.
Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

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ntedates the Christianera. Pliny tells us that many are mad withthe love of these birds, and will detain you totell of their pedigree and breeding. And hehands to posterity the name of a Romanknight, one Lucius Axius, not for victories inthe arena or sacrifice in Romes quarrels, but who used to sell a single pair of pigeonsfor upwards of four hundred denarii. Thefirst book on pigeons was the Ayeen Akbery,written in 1595 for Akbar, the Mogul Em-peror, by his prime minister, Abdool Furjool.In this we learn that twenty thousand pigeonswere carried with the court; that the Em-peror of Turan sent presents of rare varietiesto his brother sovereign, and that the gifts oftraveling merchants were most acceptablewhen of valuable breeds of pigeons; thataside from those used as message-bearers andkept for food, there were seventeen varietiesbred for their appearance only, and thepigeon-master by crossing the breeds, whichhad never before been attempted, improved THE BREEDING OF FANCY PIGEONS. 101
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HI ■ -fP I- i— 111 I1 THE OWL-TURB1T AS DESCRIBED BY J. W. LUDLOW, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND. them wonderfully. This number of varietieswas probably exceeded in India centuriesbefore, since the ancient Sanskrit, we are told,has more than twenty-five names for differentclasses of pigeons, all referring to characteris-tics by which one sort was to be known fromanother. A century after the Ayeen Akbery,a book about pigeons was written in Persianby Musari Sayzed, by order of his sovereign.The object of the breeder of pigeons is so dif-ferent from that of all other breeders in beingsolely to maintain the fancy points of color andoutline, and with no reference to utility, thatthey scarcely meet on common ground in theirmethods. His material is the most impression-able known, and being wholly artificial is asunstable. His first work is to fix upon hisideal, and so far order his material in thebreeding stock as to make it possible to buildand to repair for a long time without addingnew blood. B

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