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CHAPTER XVII. 
HOMING PIGEONS. 
We hinted in the last chapter at the many sources from which had descended the bird now known 
as the Antwerp Carrier, Voyageur, or Homing Pigeon. The foreign names by which the varieties- 
believed to be its parents or component parts were known will be found presently ; but there can 
be little doubt that the Volant or Cumulet was a Tumbler, the Cravate Francois, otherwise known 
as the Smerle, originally either the Owl or some strong pigeon with a great deal of Owl blood, and 
the third pigeon the English Dragoon. The Owl blood is shown not only by the frill, but by the 
very form of the head, and the fact that the Owl is a strong and quick flier, though it does not 
fly high ; the Dragoon has been directly traced ; and the Tumbler blood is made probable not only 
by the high-flying for which the Cumulet was employed, but by the fact that specimens were said 
to be found with both clean and feathered legs. We believe that the long-faced Beard has also 
been introduced, from many signs of this cross in various examples which have come under our 
notice. For instance, among the birds which won prizes in the Alexandra Palace Pigeon Races 
of July, 1875, was one showing indubitable evidence. On inquiry we found it to be of unquestion- 
able Belgian descent; yet it had an evident white “beard,” white thighs, and ivhitc flights — all' but 
especially the last, when combined with a thin beak, show very strong proofs of Beard ancestry. 
Being thus a composite race, it has, since its origin, been bred with no attempt at uniformity ; 
all shapes, all sizes, all colours, being freely and indifferently used. Not being thus a fancier’s 
pigeon in any sense, we have to confess our ignorance regarding it ; but are enabled to place what 
is necessary before our readers through the kindness of Mr. J. Harrison, Secretary of the London 
Amateur Pigeon Society, from whose pen are the following full and interesting particulars : — 
“ The amateur who adopts as his pet this bird, generally renounces much of the glory gained 
as well as much of the difficulty encountered by one who breeds the more delicate, and, as one may 
say, abnormal, varieties of fancy pigeon. In fact, in one sense of the word, a homing bird is scarcely 
a fancy pigeon at all. His merits are his intelligence, and the proper results therefrom, rather 
than his colour and outward appearance : yet he is none the less a thorough pet, and one adopted 
by thorough fanciers. His owner looks at his finely-developed body and his fierce and resolute 
eye with no whit the less pride because he has a patch of white on his blue head or a splash of 
black on his red flight-feathers, as the case may be. He has, probably, flown for many miles to his 
old home, and is proportionately valued and honoured. If a reliable foreign bird, he has been 
bred from a long line of ancestors who have gained laurels in the aerial contests, and can safely 
say that ‘ he has a grandfather.’ The love of the homing bird surely needs neither defence nor 
apology. Many great men have been enamoured of still less and more insignificant things, as 
Robert Pollok says, in his beautiful and immortal verse : — 
‘ Abundant and diversified above , 
All number, were the sources of delight ; 
