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273- (Brent.) — Old birds it is not advisable to train, as they rarely make proficients, 

 and in case of coming near their former home they will frequently stop there. Young ones 

 should be trained, as soon as they fly strong, at home. The training consists in taking 

 them a short distance from home, and turning them loose to find their way back, 

 the direction being continually altered, and the distance increased, till they will at last 

 perform very long journeys. But particular care must be taken to keep them in a 

 condition for flying, strong, clean, and healthy, by means of good food and plenty of 

 exercise, otherwise they may be one day missing, though they may have performed the 

 same journey before. It must also be borne in mind that the Pigeons should be 

 properly conveyed to the place of starting, not cramped, nor its plumage soiled ; 

 neither should a Pigeon be turned ofi" with its crop too full, nor yet fasting, or it may 

 become exhausted or faint. The wilder a Pigeon is the better chance I think it has of 

 returning. It is generally considered that a cock homes quickest when driving to nest, 

 and a hen when she is feeding squabs, such times being mostly preferred for flying 

 night matches. 



274. (Brent.) — ^The way of sending a letter is simply to write what it is desired 

 to communicate on a piece of thin paper about three or four inches square, which, 

 when rolled up, is laid between two of the tail feathers, where it is secured by 

 means of a piece of fine binding wire, which is pushed through the shaft of one or 

 both of the feathers ; their vanes are then wrapped about the paper, which is fastened 

 by twisting the wire round, so that the Pigeon carries it without being in the least in- 

 convenienced in its flight. Some persons, I believe wind the paper round the leg and 

 fasten it with worsted. As Pigeons on their journey are liable to many accidents, 

 such as being injured by careless handling, fatigue, or being killed by guns or birds of 

 prey, it is frequently found advisable to despatch several bearing the same commu- 

 nication, and if such is required to be kept secret, it may be written in private charac- 

 ters previously determined upon. Most Pigeons when tossed (let off) for homing 

 circle rotmd several times, rise a good height in the air, and then fly off in the direction 

 of their home, the better ones make but a few turns, and the pure Antwerps dart off 

 in a straight line, and then make but one turn for home. 



275. (Brent.) — It is generally supposed that Pigeons find their way home by sight j 

 this I consider an error, for it is impossible for a Pigeon to discern its home one or 

 two hundred miles distant ; nor do I shink the reasoning and calculating powers of 

 Pigeons to be of such a high order as to allow of their remembering, and consequently 

 flying, by waymarks as some have argued. I believe it to be a natm-al gift implanted 

 in them by their Maker purposely to guide them to their homes. The dog, the bee, 

 and many other animals have the same faculty. 



276. (Brent). — My opinion is, that it is a natural attraction that draws them, 

 and inclines them to take the right direction, and that by practice and cultivation it 

 can be greatly increased and strengthened. I am also much inclined to beheve that if 

 Pigeons are well trained for several generations, the young ones have this faculty al- 

 most as it were by inheritance ; some varieties have it in a higher degree than others, 

 and some individuals are superior to others of the same variety. A high range of hills, 

 or a fog, intervening between the bird and its home, may intercept or so interrupt 

 this attraction or affinity as to weaken or alter its effect on the feelings or sensibilities of 

 the Pigeon, which wiU explain the rea?on that Pigeons are sometimes lost under such 

 circumstances, though London Pigeons, which are used to a foggy state of the atmo- 

 sphere, are enabled to return through it, but it would then be impossible for them to 

 see their home or waymarks at a very short distance ; besides. Pigeons will home in 

 in the dark, or else night matches could not be flown. I have had my own Dragons 

 come home when it was dark when flown late ; yet those who have witnessed the at- 

 tempts of Pigeons to settle, when they have been disturbed at night, must acknow- 

 ledge that though a Pigeon can fly in the dark, it cannot see much. Pigeons have 

 been known to return to places where they had been kept, though they had no know- 

 ledge of the neighbourhood ; neither do Pigeons search for a new home when theirs is, 

 as frequently happens, entirely changed in appearance by being covered with snow, 

 which they would be likely to do if sight was the medium through which they knew it. 

 A few bad-flying fancy Pigeons, frightened by the, to them, novel appearance, may be 

 lost, but that does not prove anything. 



