The Feather's Practical Pigeon Book 



few of their old companions, and so some of the return- 

 ing ships were commissioned to^bcjng out on their re- , 

 turn trip a few pairs. Thus, no doubt," was the founda- : 

 tion laid for the immense numbers- now owned and bred 

 every season throughout the Union. . It^ may be that, 

 the^ Huguenots were among the first .to introduce thehi, 

 as, in my researches, 'I find that many of them were 

 v/eavers of silk and other ' fabrics, and great fanciers' 

 of' pigeofts and birds, and that \vhen driyeri out of 

 France into England they took their pets with them, 

 settling in and about Spitalsfield, which we know is a 

 great center of fanciers to-day. -In course of time many 

 Hugupiipts ifound- their way to America, and it is not • 

 unreasoaable to suppose brought some of their pets with , 

 thern and thus aided in laying a foundation for.the fancy ■ 

 here. • 



From inquiries made some years ago, however, I am i 

 inclined to believe that Philadelphia and Baltimore wfere j 

 about the first portes through whicft fancy pigeons were ; 

 introduced, and as these cities have long been great pig- i 

 con centers, I tljink this will tend to bear me out in niy ' 

 belief. As far back as I have been able to trace is about 

 125 yearSj and pigeons were then owned and bred in 

 Philadelphia. Neither New York nor Boston, to my 

 knowledge, furnishes any record "bf importations pre- 

 vious to this. What St. Augustine or New Orleans 

 might furnish -I am unable to say, but probably, although 

 these points were among our earliest settled, no record 

 of so small a matter to the earlier historians was ever 

 kept, and so the subject is shrouded in oblivion. In 

 these later days we know that fancy pigeons have been 

 brought to us from England, Scotland, Belgium, Ger- 

 many, the Mediterranean districts, and from India, and 

 from these importations large families have descended 



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