THE COLOMBOPHILE 71 



sent at one time by one pigeon — would amount 

 to no less than £11,520. 



The mention of money reminds me that in 

 the Homing Pigeon Tegetmeier, in referring to 

 the extensive use made of pigeons in England 

 during the earty part of the last century for the 

 conveyance of intelligence to the newspapers 

 and also for stock- jobbing purposes, says that 

 but few persons would have imagined that a 

 considerable portion of the wealth of the 

 Rothschild family was the result of pigeon-flying, 

 and he quotes in support from BelVs Life in 

 London the following story : " Baron Rothschild, 

 before electricity was brought into operation, had 

 an immense quantity of pigeons for express work. 

 And a splendid lot they were, including mealies, 

 blues, reds, blue-pieds, etc. These birds brought 

 the news of the state of the money markets in 

 Paris, and frequently the Baron cleared in 

 England, almost immediately after the news 

 arrived, many thousands of pounds by buying 

 stock." 



In a little popular descriptive book of the 

 sort described there is not much scope for the 

 display of the personality of the old pigeon- 

 fancier, but the following passage is distinctly 

 " Tegetmeierian " in character. Answering the 

 question what becomes of the majority of the 

 large number of pigeons bred, he says that the 

 very worst are lost in training, the weakest are 



