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HOMING PIGEONS. 



" Of the three engravings which accompany this article, the 

 first (Fig. 14) represents, life size, a head which may be regarded 

 as that of a very handsome Belgian Yoyageur cock. It may 

 be taken as that of the bird which Mons. Ch. Mills and Mr. 

 C. L. Sutherland — both practical men — gave me the first prize 

 for at the Alexandra Poultry Show, 1875; but it was not 

 drawn from that bird, but from a cock I obtained of Mons, 

 Ch. Mills. The bird has all the properties that I desir«i to 



M'N; 



i/i:rkO \ 





Fig. 14. 



see in the head of a flying pigeon — a full-developed brain 

 case, showing a large brain, and such a structure of head as 

 indicates strength and endurance — and he is without any 

 tendency to the absurd exaggeration of any fancy point. Of 

 course, no really practical judge would give a prize in a homing 

 class, even to such a bird, unless he were in first-rate condition, 

 with his plumage hard and firm, the flight feathers broad and 

 overlapping, and the bones of the wing well clothed with power- 



