28 THE PIGEON-FANCIER. 



less. It converts ugliness into a virtue, sets a 

 premium on inutility, and patronises the absurd. 

 An Almond Tumbler clothed in its gorgeous 

 apparel is worth a sackful of old china teapots 

 and cracked dishes. The whole collection of 

 gimcracks that crowd the cabinet of a fashionable 

 drawing-room would not redeem the imperial 

 creature from my loft. 



Now concerning the pedigree. It starts at the 

 Deluge. It was a pigeon that brought the good 

 news to Noah of waters assuaged. On its re- 

 turn from a fly round, it alighted on Noah's hand, 

 and he brought it into the ark. That bird, no 

 doubt, was a family pet. (Dove and pigeon are 

 synonymous : dove is Anglo-Saxon, pigeon is 

 Norman.) The Psalmist frequently introduces 

 the dove as an ornament into his sacred poetry. 

 He sighs for the wings of a dove that he might 

 fly away and be at rest. He also reminds 

 his countrymen in picturesque imagery of their 

 national ups and downs : " Though ye have lien 

 among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings 

 of a dove covered with silver and her feathers 

 with yellow gold." Royal Solomon, his son, is 

 equally partial to the pigeon in his " Song," 

 whilst the prophetic writers continue to give it 

 prominence. Isaiah inquires, "Who are these 



