20 COLUMBA LI VI A. 



between the Continental mail express and a Carrier Pio;eon bred by Messrs. 

 Hartley and Sons, Birmingham. As the train moved from the Admiralty Pier 

 the bird was tossed into the air ; and for upwards of a minute it continued 

 swooping round at a great altitude, and then sailed away in the direction of 

 London. By this time the train had got to full speed ; and going at sixty 

 miles an hour, the odds were evidently against the bird. But ' the race 

 was not to the strong;' and by the time the train reached Cannon Street the 

 bird had been home twenty minutes. 



"This is a truly wonderful feat, and well worthy to rank with the 

 'Antwerp fly' and the toss from St. Quentin in May 1874, in which a bird, 

 with the wind in its favour, accomplished ninety miles in ninety minutes." 



The illustration of the " Rock-Pigeons' cave " is from a sketch made by 

 Mr. Keulemans for this work on the spot. 



The birds are not always safe in these places ; for Lieut.-Col. Irby 

 mentions, in 'Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar,' p. 105, that, "in a 

 cave at the back of the rock, which can only be entered by landing from a 

 boat in fair weather," and is " very large and open, with sand at the bottom, 

 sloping upwards for a considerable distance at a sharp angle," the floor is 

 covered with " tail-feathers and pinions of numbers of Rock-Martins " 

 [Cotyle rupestris (Scop.)], " mingled with those of a good many Swifts, Rock- 

 Doves, and a few Lesser Kestrels." 



Mr. Gurney, jun., has provided me with an article on the birds of 

 Flamborough ; and he has been there so recently that I now leave the 

 subject in his hands. 



