HOMING EIEDS. 99 



of -which had " done Gravesend," and some had flown back from the Nore. Here 

 ■was an opportunity that could not be allowed to escape. I at once entered into a 

 solemn league and covenant with him, paid one shilling weekly as my share of 

 the rent of the loft, and became the possessor of birds of my own. 



At times, when John was supposed to be delivering the drugs that were to 

 assuage the sufferings of my father's patients, we were ransacking the regions of 

 Kent Street, Borough, or Brick Lane, Spitalfields, in search of a " blue-beard 

 hen," "grizzled dragon cock," or "mealy skinnum," that was required to 

 complete my stud. 



The birds kept by the class of pigeon-fanciers with whom I had become 

 connected were those employed in flying-matches ; and I need hardly state that 

 ere long my great ambition was to become the winner of a pigeon race. To attain 

 this end, my young birds, as soon as they were old enough, were entered in a 

 match at a neighbouring public-house. The birds taking part in these contests 

 are entered soon after they are able to fly — the quill or flight-feathers of the 

 wing being stamped with the distinguishing mark of the particular race, and 

 a fixed sum contributed weekly by the owners towards the prize which is to be 

 competed for. 



As soon as the young birds can fly strongly their training commences. They 

 are taken day after day to gradually increasing distances from home, and then 

 liberated. In this, manner both their observation and power of flight are 

 exercised, until at last they know their way accurately, and can fly back long 

 journeys without loss of time. 



In the days I am now writing about, railways were unknown, and many and 

 many are the long walks I have taken with a couple of birds in a brown-paper 

 bag, with a few holes to give them air, and a little straw in the bottom to keep 

 out the sides. On arriving at my destination the birds were set free, when they 

 would rise in the air, and circling in gradually increasing spirals, gaze around 

 until they descried those familiar objects that constituted the landmarks by which 

 they directed then* homeward flight. 



There are few subjects connected with the habits of animals about which more 

 misconception prevails than respecting this homing faculty of pigeons. Authors 

 and artists seem to have conspired to misrepresent the truth. The first tell us 

 that pigeons return home by a peculiar instinct, and not by sight ; whereas every 

 pigeon-fancier knows that if, on their first essays, he takes his young birds long 

 distances, so that they cannot discern any familiar objects, they will only return 

 by chance. The writers on this subject do not bear in mind the fact that the sight 

 of birds is infinitely more acute than that of man ; and that they possess a forma- 

 tion of the eyes by which they are able to adjust their sight to near or far-distant 

 objects at will. Nor do they seem aware that a bird raised 130 yards in the air 

 commands a panoramic view, the horizon of which is distant twenty-five miles, 

 even when the surface is a perfect plain. 



But the artists are as much to be blamed as the writers. We are all familiar 



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