268 



Fancy Pigeons. 



" Since then you know what regular training has done. During the 

 season about 100,000 to 150,000 pigeons are sent every Saturday from 

 all parts of Belgium, to be thrown from all parts of France, and Auch, 

 Bordeaux, Bayonne, Biarritz, and St. Sebastien (Spain), are now the 

 stations they are generally sent to. 



" There are now upwards of 1000 pigeon societies in Belgium." 

 It is more than a hundred and fifteen years ago since the dragoon 

 referred to flew from Bury St. Edmund's to London. Had English 

 fanciers, since then, cultivated the homing faculty in pigeons on anything 

 like the scale prevailing in Belgium, they would doubtless, long ago, have 

 had their birds coming from aU parts of Scotland and Ireland. I think 

 the English societies ought to train north, as well as from the continent, 

 and not remain satisfied till the journey from Wick to London is done 

 with the same ease as from Bordeaux to Brnssels. The distance is about 

 the same. 





