368 



FANCY PIGEONS. 



ful muscles. To prove that this bird is as good as he looks, 

 I may give his history. He was hatched, early in 1874, from 

 a bird of Mons. Ch. Mills' that was one of the first winners 

 in the great annual national match from Marseilles, in the 

 south of France, to Belgium — a 500 miles race. The same 

 year, as a young bird, he flew from St. Quentin and Creil 

 (about 200 miles), and in 1875 he again flew from St. Quentin, 

 taking first prize ; also from Paris, Orleans, and was a winner- 

 in the race from London — 200 miles. 







Fig. 15. 



"At my request Mons. Ch. Mills sent him over to show 

 at the Alexandra Poultry Show, 19th Oct., 1875, and I induced 

 him — very reluctantly, I am afraid — to part with him. The 

 bird was, necessarily, useless to me to fly, for on liberation 

 he would doubtless have returned to Brussels, as I have had 

 birds do after two years' confinement in England ; but I kept 

 him to breed from, and his early progeny are very good indeed. 



