Classes foe Homing Pigeons. 
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many, judges the two are confounded still, and the prizes hence awarded to birds which present in 
most perfection the settled Antwerp type, which is recognisable enough. But the true Homing 
bird is not bred in this way, and cannot, as we have seen, be depended on for colour, or even for form. 
True, there is a general character which may perhaps be said to distinguish the majority of the best 
flying birds ; but in details even of shape, such as length and thickness of beak, or shape of skull, 
two noted champions may differ widely, and it is not only possible, but far from improbable, that 
the really “ best ” performer may be the very ugliest bird in the class ; and it certainly does 
happen with singular regularity that such usually gets overlooked. 
It is easier to find fault with this than to find a remedy ; and the question rather seems to us 
to be, whether the class, as usually described, is not per se a mistake. How can a bird whose sole 
standard of value is what it can do, be judged by its looks ? That is the fundamental difficulty; 
and to meet it, many shows now stipulate that all the birds be stamped and flown, and the prizes 
only given if they are safely returned. This certainly proves that the birds can fly, more or less ; 
but it does no more. It frequently happens that the winners are owned in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood, to which any bird accustomed to liberty would easily return ; and such a test by no 
means gives any security that the winners are the best Homing birds. The difficulty is, in fact, 
very similar to that which would have to be encountered by a judge of horses, were he called upon 
to select from their looks alone , without ever seeing them run, the best of a lot of race-horses. It 
is, however, greater, the difference in external appearance being far more ; and it seems to us so 
impossible, and is proved so by daily experience, for a judge to select the best performers as they 
stand in the pens, that it would appear better to contrive some change in the conditions which 
place the matter upon a more logical footing. 
We can only propose two alternatives, one of which is suggested by the very comparison we 
have just drawn. It is, that the title of the class should be changed to either the “ likeliest ” or the 
“ handsomest Homing Pigeon,” requiring a declaration in writing before any prize was actually 
awarded, that the bird had been really flown for some given distance — say 100 miles. Such a 
declaration would be more real guarantee that the birds were Homing Pigeons than the mere fact 
of returning to a home which is very probably close by ; while, on the other hand, the status of the 
whole class being thus guaranteed, the actual awards would professedly be based on the only 
possible ground of appearances, and no room left for complaint because the judge did not perform 
the impossible task of selecting by eye alone the “ best” Homing Pigeon. Judging a class which 
by the conditions are insured as being really a fair quality of Homing birds, he would not even 
pretend to do more than pick out the most pleasing to the eye ; and with this we think all parties 
would be better satisfied than with the state of things which has hitherto usually prevailed. 
The other suggestion is, however, in our opinion, far preferable. It is to make such a class a 
local one, so that the birds entered may be flown to the show instead of from it, from a point 
announced in the schedules. By such a plan, with a fair time allowance for distance from the 
exhibition hall, the birds would be really tested, and it would be in fact a genuine pigeon-race, with 
the addition that all the competitors were exhibited and their order of arrival named, for the 
information and interest of the public. Wherever there are sufficient amateurs around any given 
exhibition to support such a class, such a plan as this would be far the best ; and it would possess 
the further great advantage, that a class of birds which were stated on the pens to have done a 
given distance in a given time, would probably do more to awaken public interest in pigeon-flying, 
while on view at a large exhibition, than anything else which could be devised. At the start for a 
special pigeon-race there are but few spectators ; at a large and popular show the competitors and 
winners in such a race as we suggest would become objects of interest to thousands ; and though 
