198 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



eyes opened for them every morning, because the 

 wattles shut them up. Then the pigeons which had 

 not been patronised, and could fly with messages, were 

 called " homers," and not carriers. These were then 

 bred for shows, and became perfectly useless ; so now 

 they are called " show " homers, and those which 

 can fly are "flying" homers, about as distinctive a 

 title, one would say, as walking postmen. Other 

 "very high-class fancy" are bred with such short 

 beaks that they cannot feed their own young ones and 

 always need nurse pigeons to bring them up. 



Thus there is no fear that the fancy will ever be 

 quite stationary, as it kills off its own proteges. Even 

 the dogs, or some of the breeds, may come to a bad 

 end at their hands. An American man of science 

 was recently on a visit to England for the purpose 

 of studying teeth, because he has long heard it 

 imputed against his countrymen and countrywomen 

 that they lose theirs abnormally soon. Almost the 

 first discovery he made was that the modern British 

 prize bulldog has such ridiculous front teeth that he 

 cannot bite properly, and if he did the teeth would 

 be squeezed out. 



