Indian Flying Pigeons. 135 



with bright yellow. The same with solid yellow shoulders. Blue 

 magpies, with red or yellow wing bars, black barred blues being of no 

 Talue. Light blue, of a uniform tint, without any wing bars. Black and 

 white grizzles, in which every coloured feather should show black and 

 white. Blue and white grizzles. Three coloured birds, in which every 

 feather should show black, red and white. Oddities, having one wing 

 of one colour, and the other of another colour. I have lately seen some 

 good Triganioa pigeons in the possession of Mr. 0. Neef, of Forest 

 HUl, from whom I have obtained a pair of light silvery blue magpies, 

 marbled on the shoulders with dark blue, and with yellow wing bars. 



These pigeons are bred by many fanciers, who have neither time nor 

 inclination for the sport as practised by the Triganieri proper. Some of 

 the colours are rare, and only ia the hands of their producers, who are 

 so jealous of parting with them that they wiU rather destroy their sur- 

 plus stock than let the breed out of their hands. The magpies present 

 the same difScultiea in breeding as other pied pigeons, coloured feathers 

 in the parts that should be white, and vice -wersd, troubling the breeders 

 in Modena as mnch as they do ns in our pied varieties ; so that a per- 

 fectly marked pigeon is a rarity, and is consequently considered valuable. 



CHAPTER LIV. 



INDIAN FLYING PIGEONS. 



In passing through the streets of large cities in Northern India, from an 

 hour before sunset till dark, an observer may see many people on the flat 

 roofs of the houses, directing the flight of large flocks of pigeons by 

 means of flags attached to long bamboo poles. This sport is carried on 

 with great energy in the city of Delhi, where I have seen immense 

 numbers of pigeons flown in this way. In Calcutta also, anyone who 

 may be passing through the native parts of the city, near sunset, will see 

 the same sport carried on by numerous pigeon flyers. Garden Eeach (the 

 southern suburb of Calcutta) was formerly the residence of many of the 

 principal merchants and civil servants, whose palatial houses, standing in 



