CHAP. iv.J ANTWERP CARRIERS. 137 



home from long distances by instinct. Instinct is said 

 to be unerring ; not so the Pigeon's flight. If instinct 

 be the guide, why not fly through foggy weather with 

 equal speed and facility as in clear sunshine ? This, it 

 is notorious, they cannot accomplish. When the ground 

 is covered with snow, Pigeons seem to miss their points 

 of guidance, and are lost. This would seem to favour 

 the opinion that they travel by sight, and are less in- 

 debted to instinct than is generally imagined. Carrier 

 Pigeons do not fly at night ; they settle down if they 

 cannot reach their home by the dusk of evening, and 

 renew their flight at daylight next morning. The ve- 

 locity of a Pigeon's flight seems to be greatly overrated ; 

 and no doubt your readers will be surprised to learn 

 that a locomotive railway engine can beat a Carrier 

 Pigeon in a distance of 200 miles." 



The flight of the Carrier-Pigeon is clearly not con- 

 ducted by the same principle which guides the Stork, 

 the Quail, and the Woodcock, over wide seas, by night. 

 That may be an excitement of the organ of locality ; 

 this is not. I have had birds, that had been taken from 

 home six or seven miles, come back at last at the end 

 of two or three days ; i.e., they could not find their way 

 immediately. In the same time in which they accom- 

 plished these six or seven miles, migratory birds would 

 have passed over four or five hundred at least. The 

 Pigeons alluded to by Mr. Galloway are the famous 

 Antwerp Carriers. But Antwerp Carriers have been 

 cruelly vituperated by De Beranger, because they are 

 now mostly employed in matters of business rather 

 than of gallantry. His complaint is not to be won- 

 dered at; for when sensuality once lays hold of a man, 

 it often becomes his sole idea. No apology is offered 



