Pigeons. 105 



And there are always Pigeons 

 in St Pancras Station. Not the 

 happy home-dwelling birds that one 

 sees, fat and placid, picking grain 

 from amongst the cab-horses' feet 

 in the City, or in Palace Square at 

 Westminster, but terrified and most 

 miserable birds, perching discon- 

 solate there aloft, or beating with 

 weary wings against that big arch 

 of glass, which is so dusty and so 

 cruelly great 



They have had a spoiled and 

 pampered life, hitherto, these poor 

 hungry and bewildered Pigeons ; 

 for they are " carriers " or " hom- 

 ing " birds, and have been carefully 

 reared and tended (in Yorkshire or 

 Derbyshire most likely), by men who 

 "fly" them for sport or for gain. 

 It is the habit of these men to take 

 the young birds in baskets a mile 

 or two from home, and throw them 

 into the air, that they may learn 

 their way back to their dove-cot 



