100 BRITISH BIRDS. 



mountains surrounding the plain, mounted at once di- 

 rectly up, soaring almost perpendicularly till out of 

 sight, as if to surmount at once all obstacles interrupt- 

 ing their view of the place of their destination. 



In the neighbourhood of London, some years ago, was 

 a person named Lambert, who was not only, like others, 

 a pigeon fancier, but also a confirmed boaster, and who, 

 therefore, on one occasion, affirmed that his birds were 

 superior to those in any other collection. This declar- 

 ation, of course, brought all the others in the neighbour- 

 hood up in arras, and one of them, named Grimaldi, said 

 that there was no pigeon in Lambert's flight capable of 

 accomplishing twenty miles in twenty minutes. Arrange- 

 ments were now made for deciding the point at issue, 

 and the road over which the bird was to fly was to be 

 from the twentieth milestone on the Great North Road, 

 to Grimaldi's house at Islington. At six o'clock in the 

 morning, the bird selected for the trial was consigned to 

 the care of a friend, with instructions to throw it up 

 precisely as the clock struck twelve, at the place marked 

 out, near St. Albans, and he, accompanied by a gentleman 

 in behalf of the opposite party, also started off — all parties 

 concerned first setting their watches by the dial of Clerk- 

 enwell church. It was a very dismal day, the snow lying 

 deep on the ground, and a heavy sleet falling, so that the 



