ROCK DOVE. 305 



to his friend at Bury St. Edmunds, with a note requesting 

 that the bird, two days after his arrival there, might be 

 thrown up precisely when the town clock struck nine in 

 the morning, which was accordingly done, and the Pigeon 

 flew into the loft of the Bull Inn, Bishopsgate Street, 

 London, and was there shown at half-past eleven o'clock 

 the same morning, having flown seventy-two miles in two 

 hours and a half. The fact was confirmed by a letter sent 

 by post from the person at Bury St. Edmunds. 



A society of Pigeon -fanciers at Ghent give an annual 

 prize for the best Carrier Pigeon. In 1833 this prize was 

 decided on the 24th of June, when twenty-four birds were 

 sent off from Rouen, whither they had been conveyed from 

 Ghent. The distance in a direct line is about one hundred 

 and fifty miles. They were started at Rouen at fifty -five 

 minutes after nine o'clock in the morning. The first which 

 arrived at Ghent had made the transit in an hour and a 

 half; sixteen arrived in two hours and a half; three in the 

 course of the day, and four were lost. 



On the 27th day of June, 1819, some sporting amateurs 

 of Antwerp sent thirty-two Carrier Pigeons to London, 

 where they arrived on the 10th of July following, at four 

 o'clock in the afternoon, each of them having a mark on 

 both wings. In the evening they were countermarked, 

 London. The next morning, Sunday, July llth, they 

 were thrown up on Tower Hill, precisely at a quarter 

 before seven o'clock, viz. : six by Mr. George Babington ; 

 eight by Mr. J. F. Sells ; six by Mr. Jacobs, of the firm 

 of Messrs. F. Deckers and Co., to whose care the birds 

 were consigned ; the other twelve by the two men who 

 brought them from Antwerp, via Calais. 



Fourteen of the thirty-two were lost ; eighteen arrived 

 at their respective owners, in the following order : 



VOL. II. X 



