140 SHOOTING MISERIES. 



variegated plumage. The carrier, as a messenger, 

 cuts the air with almost inconceivable swiftness. 

 This is the Columba tabellaria, the famous carrier 

 or messenger, between Aleppo and Alexandria in 

 Egypt. The pouter distends his crop to a size at- 

 tractive to curiosity, and by his grotesque attitudes 

 and familiarity with man, engages his attention. 



Upwards of half a century past, the pigeon FANCY 

 was in higher estimation and prosperity in this 

 country than at present ; and the almond tumbler 

 was then in the greatest vogue ; sums, probably, to 

 the amount of twenty or thirty guineas each, being 

 the price of superior cocks of that breed, such as, 

 at the present time, would not produce more than 

 five. The pigeon shops generally seem the abode 

 of poverty and misery, of which the poor unfortu- 

 nate birds, crammed into baskets and narrow coops, 

 obviously partake in the fullest measure. This 

 fancy is a great favourite with certain of the lower 

 classes in the Metropolis, and perhaps too generally 

 injurious to their better interests. Their common 

 method of entrapping stray pigeons, the property of 

 other people, does not well consist with an honest 

 principle, takes up too much of the time of those 

 who practise it, and leads to loose and irregular 

 habits. PIGEON SHOOTING is another purpose to 

 which these birds are applied, and of which periodi- 

 cal details are to be found in the newspapers. Bat- 

 tersea-fields the chief theatre of the sport. 



(t Few people, even those accustomed to reflect 

 on animal sufferings, are aware of those, of the 

 wretched town pigeon, harassed about from its first 



