The Republican journal., 1873-10-09

time and amusemj> with ths~sersonal
endorsement and sSksiIjass i'd Of the
King and Crown Princ.A, !.
The larger cities and coA5ora Mons also
encourage this amusement, and tie natural
result is that the Belgian birds have grown,
through cultivation and training, to sur
pas, all others th9EpRd over. Tire, choice
stocks come from see%ntrv, ahd where
ever flown these birds mhl am hSn NELL
earned distinction. .. +S
The carrier /, somewhat lffsx than the
ordinary pigeon, being about fifteen inches
ounces They have long straight nccks,
with pcctoral muscles well developed,
showing powers of vigorous and long
continued flight. Standing upright, they
are more neatly and elegantly shaped than
the ordinary pigeon, hetraying at once the
higher marks of an upper grade The dis
tin9uiShing characteristic of the can't
werp, the most priced variety, is the
"lump' or ''distinct raise" Just above the
hrak and between the eyes. These pure
AntWcrp~ are extremely scarce in this
country.
Thecarricr is not produced by any cross,
rs is generally supposed but by the inter
terin@ care and culture by man of the
accidental and finer species produced
These are produced and made more val
liable by the preceding in process Of
keeping them entirely ummiNed. They are
termed the 'homing Bird from their
known ability to find their way home from
any reasonable distance. In England, the
olden custom was to keep the birds in entire
darkness prior to taking them out for flight.
When looscd, the true carrier rises upward
in spiral flight, continuing in this circling
until recognizing some known object in
the distance, he darts off in 4 direct line
towards it, Carriers trained to a circuitous
route will gradually shorten it, until they
fly in nm arrow-ikc straight line between
the two objective points If thrown up in
hay weather, when objects are not easily
di~cernrd. loss Of the bird is almost certain
10 follow. rs they fly entirely by sight.
When looscd from a balloon at great
heights. they have been known to circle
round and return to the balloon, while in
other cases. they have flown directly
towards the Clouds Il, the nearest obiec-
five points in view
At the sea battle of >olebav. the pet
pigeons belonging to the commander of
the London. which had of their own will,
followed their master from his former yes
sci. the Revenge left the London amidst
The rannonadc and Were soon lost to
view On the succeeding day when the
fleet had driited leagues southwark, the
pigeons again appeared and flew on board
~ these We're but ordinary pigeons, it
shows the strong instinct of the bird in its
natural state and the great possible add
vantage Of this instinct into something
more nearly approaching reason, by the
interfering and aiding hand Of men AS
the falcon is trained for hunting and the
hawk for fishing, so the carrier for its pc
culiar station and duty.
The power of flight which these birds
possess. is even beyond the marvellous.
>palanzi says that swallows possess a
flight of 20 miles in Is minutes, while the
common swift flies 60 miles in il minutes.
Maillct places the capacity of carriers at
60 miles per hour: Damiri, the Arabian,
1T 40 miles per day
From Ncamderoom to Aleppo. distance
of one hundred and twenty miles, the or
binary time has been two and half hours.
Carriers have been known to reach New
York from the ricetields of North Carolina
in six hours which is in excess of the time
allowed by Maillet The average speed
OF the Belgian bird is between thirtv-five
and forty miles per hour, although in the
great annual races al Ghent, on June "a,
1898, twenty-tour birds We're thrown up
travelling toward Rouen. a distance of one
hundred and fifty miles The first bird
arrived III ninety minutes. thus making
tho extraordinary time OF one hundred
miles an hour. Sixteen Of the birds arrived