9 8 



RECREATION. 



and warm. He could feel at times a turn- 

 ing over of his prison, and hear a soft little 

 coo. Something told him he must get out, 

 so, with his diminutive beak, he began a 

 tap-tap that soon made cracks in his prison 

 walls. Then he would feel his prison turn 

 again, and a gentle picking from the out- 

 side would crack the walls still more. 

 Again he heard that soft coo, and feeling 

 that he must answer in some way, he al- 

 most frightened out what little life he had 

 by uttering his first squeak. Finally there 

 was a break in the wall and a small wing 

 slipped from where it had lain around his 

 neck, and somehow got outside. Next, a 

 weak little leg wriggled out, and it was 

 only a short time till he felt he was free 

 and lying under a soft, downy breast, lis- 

 tening to the most delightful coos of affec- 

 tion. Of course he was blind and there 

 was nothing but down on his body, and of 

 course he did not know where his head, 

 legs or wings belonged ; but the familiar 

 beak would straighten them out and grad- 

 ually place them as they should be. Then 

 the beak would move around his head and 

 lift it up, and his own little beak would 

 somehow slip into that large one from 

 whose depths would come the most de- 

 licious food. 



One day his eyes opened, and he saw a 

 most beautiful mother looking at him with 

 her loving eyes. Soon she stepped daintily 

 off, and his great, strong father, one of 

 whose feet could easily crush Dick, stepped 

 into the nest, but oh so carefully, that 

 Dick felt nothing till the warm breast was 

 over him. 



As Dick waxed in strength he began to 

 "take notice." He would sleep contentedly 

 in the nest, or look over the side, watching 

 the other birds. But they were different 

 from his parents. Their feathers were not 

 so hard or shiny. Not a bird in the steeple 

 had even a wire on its legs, while his 

 mother and father had beautiful silver 

 bands on each leg. If he could have read, 

 he would have found that one band was 

 the band of the Royal Homing. Club, and 

 the others were special bands won by won- 

 derful flights. The father had homed from 

 1,000 miles away, while the mother had a 

 velocity record of 1,500 yards a minute. 

 Dick was very proud of those bands, and 

 often wondered if they would grow on his 

 legs. 



_ Thus passed the days of his babyhood, 

 till he was able to chase his parents out on 

 the church roof and beg for food, or to take 

 short flights with them; when one day they 

 pecked at him and refused to feed him. 

 Then his troubles began. Henceforth he 

 must forage for himself. He flew around 

 after the common pigeons and soon learned 

 how to pick up a precarious living in the 

 streets. 



One sad day his parents disappeared. No 

 doubt in the long days of nesting they had 

 thought the matter over and decided to 

 make one more trial to reach their old 

 home, even if they had to cross the ocean 

 to do so. Whether they dropped exhaust- 

 ed on some ship and were helped across, or 

 whether some storm at sea swept them 

 away forever, no one ever knew. If they 

 died, it was while they were struggling on 

 undaunted and striving to reach the old 

 home loft in far-off Belgium. 



Dick grew strong and full of vigor. Soon 

 all the little pin feathers became matured 

 and perfect, and a beautiful green sheen 

 came on his neck. No bird could hope to 

 fly as he did. He would dart into the air 

 and soar in wide circles, with a great flap- 





rw*. >?>«■"/ 



DOROTHY. 



ping of wings that made him the envy of 

 all the others. He was the king of the 

 steeple. He had long ago whipped the mis- 

 erable speckled cock that used to perch at 

 the broken slat every evening and meanly 

 fight and keep out all the young and timid 

 birds till they were nearly frozen. He had 

 long ago beaten out the pair of common 

 looking scrubs that had tried to steal the 

 old home nest as soon as his parents left, 

 and it was now his, where he perched su- 

 preme every night. 



Early one morning he noticed a crowd of 

 men, with watches in hand, open some large 

 hampers out of which flew a great lot of 

 pigeons. All started off North save one 

 little hen, which seemed utterly bewildered. 

 She would make short flights, but soon 

 came back to her starting point, to sit there 

 friendless and alone. Then again she 

 would ^ try, going high into the air, eagerly 

 looking for some familiar landmark, but 

 only to come back to the building where 

 she first stopped. 



To one who knows the homer and its 

 ways, the explanation is simple. She was 



