12 THE PIGEON-FANCIER. 



highly intelligent Homer is kept for the direct 

 object of making money. 



Others keep birds not to breed, but to barter. 

 They buy birds as a speculator buys shares, 

 meaning to sell again at a profit as soon as 

 occasion offers. These are Pigeon - dealers. 

 Although one or two dealers I could name 

 know more about Pigeons than a tram-car full 

 of amateurs ; neither are these genuine Fanciers. 

 What John Hill Burton in his delightful volume, 

 " The Bookhunter," says concerning books, I say 

 of Pigeons " The mercenary spirit must not be 

 admitted to a share in the enjoyments of the 

 Bookhunter. If the Bookhunter allows money- 

 making to be combined with his pursuit, it 

 loses its fresh relish, its exhilarating influence, 

 and becomes the source of wretched cares and 

 paltry anxieties. . . . No good ever comes of 

 gentlemen amateurs buying and selling." 



With this exception : / can keep all my 

 books, but I cannot keep all my Pigeons. They 

 multiply rapidly and overstock my loft. I must 

 dispose of some. I cannot do what a famous 

 Book Collector with overstocked shelves did 

 keep my treasures under the bed ! So whilst 

 the wise Fancier gets instruction and pleasure 

 from his pursuit, there is no reason why he 



