7O Poachers and Poaching. 



flight. Every one of these pigeons were out of 

 sight in one minute from the time they were 

 thrown up, a fact which shows how strong is 

 the " homing" instinct within them. The homing 

 pigeon may not supersede the telegraph ; but 

 in disturbed times it is the business of an enemy 

 to cut the wires, to tap them, or even to send 

 misleading despatches along them. No such 

 danger need be apprehended from a carrier 

 pigeon, for, if well trained, it will fly straight 

 from loft to loft, never parting with its tiny 

 scroll unless killed or taken a mishap which 

 is not likely to befall more than one or two of 

 a flight. As already stated, some remarkable 

 results have already been achieved, not only by 

 Government birds whose performances and pro- 

 ceedings are, of course, kept secret but by those 

 belonging to the numerous carrier-pigeon societies 

 which have been established on the Continent 

 either for mere amusement or with more patriotic 

 objects in view. Thus, some years ago, a homing 

 pigeon covered the six hundred and fifteen miles 

 air-line between Liege, in Belgium, and San 

 Sebastian, in Spain, in the course of a single 

 day ; and in the United States as much as five 

 hundred miles has been traversed in from 

 twenty-four to twenty-eight hours that is, the 

 birds were absent from loft to loft for that 

 period. But, as the progress of the pigeon 

 from one station to another cannot be accurately 



