PIGEON -STEALERS. 



105 



good hint how to ensure a plentiful supply of dove- 

 cot pigeons. * 



Time was in England, when badgers, bears, and 

 bulls, were torn and slaughtered by ferocious dogs, 

 trained purposely to do the bloody deed. 



At last, the legislature interfered, and stopped 

 these shows of cruelty and vice. 



But, unfortunately, in their place, there has 

 arisen another demoralising pastime. By the way, 

 it is the very thing for assembled pick-pockets to 

 work at their vocation, and for publicans to sell 

 their adulterated beer. 



And, although it is considered to be not so 

 manifestly cruel in its aspect, as the above men- 

 tioned exhibitions ; still, in detail, it is worse if 

 anything, and at the same time, most ruinous to 

 the farmer's profits. We may be allowed to make 

 use of the word worse, — because, when a badger, for 

 example, is killed by the dogs, there is an end 

 of it. Not so with wounded pigeons. They man- 

 age to get home, where they will linger for days, 

 and then die ; leaving too often behind them, their 

 helpless young ones, to perish for want of food, 

 and maternal warmth. 



This brings me at once to the dove-cot. 



Our pigeons may be advantageously divided into 



* See Ovid's Tristium. 



