2 THE PIGEON-FANCIER. 



classes those who keep pigeons and those who 

 do not. The former class in " our fancy," as in 

 the fiddling fraternity, constitute the minority. 

 Are not all aspirants after human excellence in 

 the minority ? And the Pigeon- Fancier, from 

 his happy vantage-ground, surveys with sublime 

 and pitiful contempt the hapless ignorance of 

 the vast crowd of human beings who have never 

 bred a bird, and who cannot tell the difference 

 between a Carrier and a Barb, a Baldhead and 

 a Runt. It is lamentable to think that their 

 education has been so seriously neglected ! Let 

 them not despair ! If they look upon and admire 

 the surpassing loveliness of other people's birds, 

 and purchase them, perhaps that is all that can 

 be expected of them. 



I am thankful that I early in life found a 

 place amongst the superior and enlightened few 

 who love the birds for their own sake, and keep 

 them because of the pure and unmixed gratifica- 

 tion they afford me. Why do I love Pigeons ? 

 I cannot tell. Other people do not care for 

 them. Why do I ? I puzzle my brains and 

 get no satisfactory reply to my inquiry. I sup- 

 pose the love of them came to me intuitively and 

 abides with me permanently. The apple-tree 

 might just as curiously question why apple bios- 



