THE PIGEON. 101 



passage of the bird would be more than usually diffi- 

 cult — the snow frequently blinding it. As, however, no 

 stipulation was made for fine weather, the parties took 

 up their appointed station, accompanied by several of 

 their friends, and in exactly nineteen minutes after, the 

 pigeon alighted on the roof of the house. 



But the pigeons, of which this was one, were not 

 always remarkable for accuracy, for sometimes they 

 remained away so long on their aerial excursions, that 

 their owner gave them up in despair. On one occasion 

 they were absent upwards of four hours. While, how- 

 ever, he was concluding they were gone for ever, his 

 attention was attracted by the apparently unaccountable 

 behaviour of three that had been left behind, and who, 

 with their heads elevated in the air, were all gazing with 

 great earnestness at one point of the horizon. After 

 straining his eyes for a long time without avail, he 

 thought he discerned a small black speck at a great 

 height above him. Nor was he mistaken, for, by and 

 by, it proved to be the lost flight of pigeons returning 

 home, probably after an excursion of several hundred 

 miles. 



Out of one hundred and ten pigeons brought from 

 Brussels to London, in the summer of 1830, and let 

 fly from London July 19, at a quarter before nine a. m., 



