50 THE PIGEON-FANCIER. 



except a pair or two of stone-cold eggs here 

 and there in deserted nest-pans. The broker 

 surely had not entered the premises during my 

 absence and evicted the tenants, they having 

 failed to pay taxes when due. Emerson says 

 of the monkey: "They combed his mane, they 

 pared his nails, cut off his tail, set him on end, 

 sent him to school, and made him pay taxes." 

 Why should the tax-collector draw a line at 

 apes ? This was not the embarrassment with 

 my pigeons — they had been stolen during the 

 night. I did not despair. I wore a light heart 

 during the Sabbath. Early on Monday morning 

 I searched Club Row and purlieus, and re- 

 captured the stolen treasures with the exception 

 of one pair. 



After this caution I brought them indoors, 

 and wired off a portion of a large storehouse on 

 the ground floor, in which I lodged the birds. 

 This arrangement did not work satisfactorily all 

 round. The birds liked it — I liked it, but the 

 household, after brief acquaintanceship with the 

 new inmates of the storeroom, protested indig- 

 nantly against their society. The "horrid 

 noise " of their cooing, which is sweetest music 

 to the Fancier's ears, grated discordantly on 

 theirs, and the pungent odour which in warm 



