HOMIXG BIRDS. 91 



Tliese latter baskets have the great advantage of being perfectly closed, and of 

 lessening the liability to the loss of the birds from feline and other depredators. 

 But they are heavy, and their carriage is more cumbrous and expensive. 



At Liege, the birds which are flown from a distance are always accompanied on 

 the railway by a skilful person, who looks after them on the road, and supplies 

 them with food and water. In other places the boxes are addressed to the 

 station-master or to the mayor of the town which has been selected as the com- 

 mencement of the return flight ; a label is fixed to the baskets requesting the 

 railway authorities to supply water to the birds and to give them some of the grain 

 sent in a bag for that purpose. 



The cost of sending a man with the pigeons is considerable, his expenses 

 averaging six shillings per day, in addition to his railway fare and the percentage 

 he receives on the value of the prizes flown for. All these items on an average 

 amount to nearly ;£'30 for each society every season. 



These expenses are avoided by the second system — that followed in the pro- 

 vinces of Flanders and Brabant. The transport of pigeons is also made in a more 

 rapid manner, for they are sent by express trains ; while, in Liege, the ordinary 

 trains are employed, in order to save expenses in the journey of the man who is 

 sent with the pigeons. Another advantage is, that two or three amateurs can, if 

 they wish it, join to have a supplementary flight of their birds ; whereas, if they 

 employ a man, the matter would be more difficult to organize, and the expense 

 would be too much increased. 



Thus, by the one system we can have cheapness and rapidity, and by the 

 other we secure care being taken of the pigeons both during their journey and at 

 the time of letting them fly. 



After making trial of both plans, and weighing the advantages and drawbacks of 

 each, the balance, at least in Belgium, seems to be in favour of the plan of 

 employing a man to take charge of the birds. "When the pigeons are addressed 

 to the care of the station-master it is a rare thing for them to be flown at the 

 time desired ; a delay of several hours makes the amateur who expects them 

 impatient — the pleasure which he promised himself becomes a source of annoy- 

 ance to him. The baskets with the birds may remain neglected in the station ; if 

 rain comes on the pigeons become wet ; the dung which covers the bottom of the 

 baskets dirties their plumage, and may clog their wings to so great an extent that 

 half of the birds may find it impossible to perform their flight. 



On certain Sundays, in a favourable season, three or four hundred baskets may 

 arrive at the same station ; this overwhelming amount of responsibility puts the 

 railway people in a bad temper ; the baskets are tossed about ; if they fall they are 

 allowed to remain on one end, and the poor pigeons are heaped up in a corner one 

 upon the other. This is not the only inconvenience of this overcrowding ; some 

 baskets may be intended for a more distant place, yet they pass unperceived and 

 are discharged with the others. Occasionally baskets of pigeons have been 

 entirely sent wrong and lost. The proprietor desires to recover their value ; but 



