r!«£ON SHOOTING. 145' 



CHAPTER XV. 



PIGEON SHOOTING. 



The shooting of these wpll-kllo^vn birds is both a sporting and 

 gambling amusement ; it is interesting, however, under both aspects. 



The bird has been noticed from the earliest of times for its 

 domestic habits and instincts. It knows its way home, though it 

 be hundreds of miles off; and this has been, and still is, justly "con- 

 sidered one of the most surprising and unaccountable facts in the 

 entire history of animated beings. Anacreon, in his Odes, has 

 immortalized the pigeon as the bearer of epistles. Taurosthenes 

 sent his father a message by this bird of his success in the Olympic 

 games on the day it occuiTcd. Pliny states that a communication 

 was kept up daring the siege of Modena, by pigeon carriers. 

 Ariosto (Canto XY.) makes the Castellan de Damiata, spread the 

 news of OrHlo's death aU over Egypt. Sir John Maundeville, who 

 flourished in the reigns of the second and third Edward, notices the 

 value of the colverees in China, for the transmission of letters on 

 important business. 



The varieties of the pigeon family are very numerous, and 

 naturalists and ornithological ^vriters have differed considerably on 

 the subject of their classification. Limiasus places them among 

 sparroivs, upon the grounds that both pair in the season of love, 

 both work jointly in making the nest, and_ take their turns in 

 sitting on the eggs. La YaiUant's classification seems now, how- 

 ever, to be the one generally acquiesced in, at the present time. He 

 arranges these birds under three definite sections ; the first contains 

 colonibes, ramiers, and toiirterelles ; the second, columbars, and the 

 third, colombi-gallines. 



We shall first notice pigeon-match shooting. When this com- 

 menced in England, it is difiicult to say. We find it noticed at 

 length, and as an established sport, above sixty years ago, in the 

 Sporting Magazine (1793.) The account given of it there is substan- 

 tially the same as the amusement displays at present - and on this 

 account, we shall lay it before the reader, as being the best we have 

 of the matter. 



'' The great celebrity of this sport, in whioh some of the first 

 shots in England are so frequently engaged, encourages us to com- 

 municate an account of its fashionable influence and increasing 

 prevalence, as a subject entitled to a place in our sporting detail. 

 Matches coming under this denomination are of two kinds : — the 

 first are supported by private subscription, among such gentlemen 

 only as are members of their distinct and separate clubs. _ Others of 

 an inferior complexion come on, or take place, by pubhc contribu- 

 tion from candidates of every description, and are generally 

 excited and brought about by the landlords of inns, who offer prizes 



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