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208
Animal Heroes
·
Ernest Thompson Seton
45
In
that
trial
flight
from
Elizabeth
only
forty
birds
had
returned.
It
is
usually
so.
Some
were
weak
and
got
left
behind,
some
were
foolish
and
strayed.
By
this
simple
process
of
flight
selection
the
pigeon-owners
keep
improving
their
stock.
Of
the
ten,
five
were
seen
no
more,
but
five
returned
later
that
day,
not
all
at
once,
but
straggling
in;
the
last
of
the
loiterers
was
a
big,
lubberly
Blue
Pigeon.
The
man
in
the
loft
at
the
time
called:
"Here
comes
that
old
sap-headed
Blue
that
Jakey
was
betting
on.
I
didn't
suppose
he
would
come
back,
and
I
didn't
care,
neither,
for
it's
my
belief
he
has
a
streak
of
Pouter."
The
Big
Blue,
also
called
"Corner-box"
from
the
nest
where
he
was
hatched,
had
shown
remarkable
vigor
from
the
first.
Though
all
were
about
the
same
age,
he
had
grown
faster,
was
bigger,
and
incidentally
handsomer,
though
the
fanciers
cared
little
for
that.
He
seemed
fully
aware
of
his
importance,
and
early
showed
a
disposition
to
bully
his
smaller
cousins.
His
owner
prophesied
great
things
of
him,
but
Billy,
the
stable-man,
had
grave
doubts
over
the
length
of
his
neck,
the
bigness
of
his
crop,
his
carriage,
and
his
over-size.
"A
bird
can't
make
time
pushing
a
bag
of
wind
ahead
of
him.
Them
long
legs
is
dead
weight,
an'
a
neck
like
that
ain't
got
no
gimp
in
it,"
Billy
would
grunt
disparagingly
as
he
cleaned
out
the
loft
of
a
morning.
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