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Otago Daily Times, Issue 21992, 29 June 1933, Page 11

The four days of the Bayram holiday have been a great treat for the Constantinople pigeons. Mosque-goers and other people, especially of the poorer classes, have been feeding the pigeons which swarm on certain points of the town, especially in front of the courtyards of the Eyonb and Bayazid mosques. At both places old women sell millet for about a penny a cupful—which is a very high price indeed. The love the Turks show for pigeons is extraordinary. In many walls there are special holes for pigeons. Last, year, when workmen were pulling down a 'wall, they refused to touch the part which supported a dovecot. Some time ago, visiting the famous Fethie or Pammacaristos mosque, which contains perhaps the most beautiful mosaics to be found at Constantinople, an Englishman was amazed at the amount of damage which the pigeons had done to the building. The Turks know this,.but they refuse to interfere.