Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-08-05
CARRiERPHE0AS.
How They Are Trained for Long. Distance
Flying.


"The genuine carrier pigson," siid Mr..
Joseph NJ. Wade few days ago, sean iy
hut very little. II IL \ bird OF ornament
ana high price. I have known 81 $500
being paid for a psir q them In Philsdel-
phia. They have very long beaks, and are
~ several colors-blaek, dun, white. blue
barred ,lise the common mongrel pigeon.
They ell have a large bunch % warting on
the lesk. and the larger the bunch, II Of
proper shape, the more ,sluable the bird.
In England unscrupnlou, hlrd.fanciers
sometimes cut this bunch aud shove under
il piece 81 cork. 80 as 10 make Il appear
larger than q thc standard form. II Il
done so nicely that one has 10 Inspect the
bird very closely 10 detect the fraud. They
fy so badly aud are SO valuable thN they
are usually confined to a room or cote"
"Wtat are, IN reality. such AZ are COM
monty rsled carriorst'
"They are homiDg Antwerps. Mr.. l..
s. Uubhel, of Philsdelphia, was the 6r.t
one 10 bring stock Of that kind into this
country. The poorest one he had brought
over had flown 5oo miles IN direct flight.
| They were bought at Antwerp by John
Bailey, Of London, who had oil his ex-
pcnses psid. and Instructions not to buy
any birds that had not nown 800 mlles.
Mr.. Hubbell would not sell any Of his
stock, but presented the With few birds,
he descendants OF what h,ye distributed
! in diflerents parts of the country. Isent
| six pairs TO San Francisco soon after the
completion Of the Union Pacific railroad,
aud they were the first birds cf the kind
that ever went INTO California. arranged
the box In which they were sen' myself.
II contained hopper filled with grain, %
| arranged that the grain Was fed 10 the n
gradually. II their water.tsnk was q
large sponge TO prevent the water from
stopping over. aud from this sponge the
birds drew their daily supply. The box
was not opened on the trip, which lasted
nearly two weeks, but the birds reached
! San Francisco Ia eKcellen. condition.
"The true type Of the homing Antwerp
10 like the comaon blue pigeon, with
black-bsrred wings. There Is slight dlf-
ference IN the besis. but ~ the casual OBJ
server they are alike. Some are dun-sol-
ored. but 10 whatever color they are bred
the black bars en- the wings remain. Thcy
are sometimes bred into n silvcr-dun color,
Which IL vefy pretty. Ia Europe they have
! heeu Known 10 fy over zoo miles without
stopping. In Belgium koming excltes
| ~ much interest a. horse-raclng does
/ in this country. The mayor Of =
town snd AL the prominent eth
zens will perhaps participate In tho
sport, aud hundreds oi birds will be en-
tered IN q race. Some Of the poorer birds
never react home. They ssc shot, or kil'
ed by birds Of prey. or, perhaps. stopping
on some roof 70 rest, are killed 10y eats
The winning bird IL sometimes treated e
quite an oyxiiou--L carried through th'
streets with bands Of music, ETC."
"How ars they trained 10 1y such lons
dstancesi"
VERY gradually, by easy stages. The,
1y them about twenty five miles, then tiity
ven say, and then 100, and afterwards In
crease very rapidly, perhaps 100 miles OF
more at a time, until the limit Is reached.