22 THE PIGEON-FANCIER. 



the eye of the sternest judge. Alack-a-day, some 

 insignificant rival beats him, and the world for 

 an hour seems wholly a desolate place, a drear 

 wilderness. It may be the unfortunate exhibitor 

 would like to throw a few show pens at the win- 

 ning rival. But in the ordinary run he ends by 

 bestowing honest admiration on the victor, and 

 sets to work with a view to meeting better luck 

 next time. 



The Fancier is usually a generous man, and 

 is very partial to setting up young beginners 

 with a few birds. He is proverbially a long- 

 lived man. His Fancy agrees with him. His 

 habits are conducive to longevity — he generally 

 dips well into the Seventies. 



" What if his life's bloomy flush is lost, 

 And his full autumn feels the mellowing frost ? 

 Yet time, who blowed the rose of youth away, 

 Has left the vigorous stem without decay." 



The Fancier is, par excellence, an enthusiast. 

 Enthusiasm is the secret of success. It blinds 

 him to the criticisms of the " superior persons " 

 — these human beings are the bete noir of weak- 

 minded fanciers — and it makes him alive to the 

 object he is working at, and fills him not with 

 the desire only, but with the determination to do 

 well the thing to which he has put his hand. 



