144 Fancy Pigeons. 



increasing and rising in pnblio estimation, many gentlemen and respect- 

 able people being devoted to it. The use of the Toyageur for "war 

 purposes has been recognised on the Continent, and government atuda of 

 them have been established in France, Germany, and other countries. 

 The principal foreign flying matches take place in July, and extend over 

 distances of from 200 to 500 miles. Twice have races been organised 

 from Eome to Belgium, a distance of some 900 miles, but with so little 

 success, both as to time and the percentage of returns, that it is now 

 recognised that this long fly can only be attained at too great a sacrifice. 



The most absurd stories regarding carrier pigeons are often circulated 

 in the newspapers — such as the return of some sent to the Arctic regions 

 to their home in Ayrshire, the flight of others across the Atlantic Ocean, 

 and the capture of others at sea with stamps on their wings showing 

 them to have been employed during the siege of Paris, which happened 

 seven or eight years before their capture, since which event their 

 flight feathers must have been renewed annually. It seems impossible 

 to kill these fables, and they crop up at regular intervals. One or 

 more carriers were captured at sea during the siege of Paris, and were 

 shown at exhibitions of pigeons as objects of interest. Since then 

 the story has been re-published repeatedly as a late event, and it will 

 probably continue to be published in time to come as it comes under the 

 observation of those who do not understand the way in which pigeons 

 are used as messengers. 



Where prizes for homing pigeons are offered at shows, the following 

 remarks on judging them, by Mr. "W. B. Tegetmeier, who is probably the 

 highest authority on the subject, will be found of value. He says : 



" The classes for homing Antwerps, which are now common at many 

 shows, offer considerable difficulty to those who have to award the 

 prizes, unless, indeed, as not very often happens, they fire practically 

 acquainted with the breed. 



" "When the judge is not in this position the birds selected are usually 

 of the short-faced BiYmingham type ; and I have seen at Bingley Hall and 

 elsewhere prizes given to a set of bad fihow birds, the best of which 

 would have been lost at twenty or thirty miles, even if they could have 

 been trained that distance. It should be borne in mind that the properties 

 of a homing pigeon Lie in the wing more than in the head, and a judge 

 who simply looks at a pen and decides the prizes upon the appearance of 



