306 COLUMBIM. 



1 at 12 o'clock the same day, Sunday, July llth. 

 1 at a quarter past 12 . 



1 at half-past 12 . 



2 at 4 o'clock in the afternoon 

 1 at 5 in the afternoon . 

 1 at 7 in the afternoon .. 



7 came in the same day, the first performing the distance, estimated 



at about 240 miles, in 5 hours. 

 1 came in at half-past 5 in the morning of July 12th. 



1 at 6 in the evening . . . 



3 at 7 in the evening ... 



2 at 9 in the evening . . 



1 at 11 in the morning of 18th. 



1 at 10 in the morning of . 19th. 



1 at 4 in the afternoon of . 21st. 



1 at 7 in the evening of . . 



18 Arrived. 

 14 Were lost. 



32 



A pair of these Pigeons were sent from Antwerp to Sir 

 John Sebright at Beechwood ; they were confined for TWO 

 YEARS in a room from which they could not see the horizon, 

 and produced several young ones. The male died, and the 

 female was then put into a place with other Pigeons, from 

 which she disappeared, and Sir John received a letter from 

 Antwerp to say that she had returned there. 



This power has, by an interchange of birds, been made 

 available both in war and in commerce. 



In reference to the mode of marking these valuable 

 Pigeons, I copy the following from the twenty-fifth No. 

 of the Zoologist. About the beginning of August, 1844, 

 a fisher boy was rambling about Spern Head, and disco- 

 vered a Pigeon resting on the top of the house of one of 

 the seamen that manned the life-boat. He procured a gun 

 and killed it. When plucking off the feathers, he observed 

 one which attracted his notice, and kept it on account of 

 its beauty. The bird was a Carrier Pigeon, and had been 



