Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-10-29
A MILE A MINUTE.
The Training and Use Of Homing Pigeons
n Times Of Peace and War.


II Times Of Peace and War.
The recent performances of homing
pigeons bred by American fanciers in
breaking all previous records for DIS
lance naturally revives the interest
of those who are not fanciers in this
sport Although the systematic de-
velognent of the bird has only been
attempted in the last seventy-fve
years, their use extends back for a
score OF centuries. Noah was the
first to experiment In this direction.
He sent out the raven and the dove to
bring him news of the worlds condi-
ton after the flood. and while the
raven flew idiotically to and fro. the
dove buckled down to work and
brought back the olive branch. That
was before the day of ingenious in
ventors. and there was no patent
trap to ingulf the bid when it
alighted. register the exact second
of time, and ring bell to at
tract the patr;arch's attention. In
more prim tive way ''he put forth his
hand and took her. and pulled her in
unto him into the ark" and, perhaps.
made mental note of the fact that
it was nigh unto the going down of
the sun. This settled the claims of the
raven as messenger for man. if it
ever had any, and left the dove
in possession. Next. it is related,
that the vsctors in the Olymp
games used to inform their anx-
ious relatives of their success by means
of homing p geOns. Pliny says that
when Decimus Junius Brutus was be-
s:eged in Modena. B. c. 43. by Mark
Antony. the beleagured Carr son COM
municated with their friends by means
of carrier pigeons. Nour-ed-Din Nah
mould. Mohammedan ruler of Syria,
establ shed regular pigeon postal
service. which was kept in good rum
ming order by generous subsidies from
1145 to liza A. ID. When Louis TX.
invaded Egypt in 1349 his arrival at
Damietta was made known to the sui
tan at Cairo by messages carried by
pigeons. When HARLEM was be-
sieged in 1873 William of Orange sent
out HON ng p geon, which was I'M
fortunately captured by the Spaniards.
who thereafter tried to kill every bird
that came within gunshot of their
camp. Pigeons were much used in the
French wars in the early part of this
century, and bankers used the birds to
convey to one another pointers" on
the state of the market On the Egyp-
tian temple of Medmet Hapoo are
sculptured the professions in honor of
the coronation of that father of peo-
pie Rameses I'LL. and among the
other figures are those of pr. ests lib
Grating carr er pigeons which shall
speed the news to all parts of the earth.
In lS49 Reuter- used these birds to
bridge over the gaps in his telegraph
lines. Before the siege OF Paris. IN the
were made by pigeon fanc.erS to get
the French Government to allow large
numbers of outside birds to be brought
into the city and city birds to be taken
out into the country that continuous
communication might be kept up in
case the city was Dlockaded. But the
Government feared treachery, and
actually made the bird contraband of
war Consequently. when the Prussian
lines were drawn about the city the. only
way was to carry the birds out into
the country in balloons. In this way
1868 were taken out. and fifty of them
returned safely, bearing photograph
ically reduced copies of letters and
newspapers. In the slang of the day.
however. the Pruss ans caught on to
this little scheme" and organized a
corps of ira ned hawks. which killed
off the pigeon scouts. The flying of
pigeons has now become the national
sport of Belgium. and has spread all
over Europe and England.
How far back does the sport date
In American asked a reporter recently
of Mrs. E. S. Starr, the editor of the
Honaing Pigeon.
ITO 1878" was the answer. Sew
eral birds were liberated at Columbus, |
O., in that year to fly to New York.
but were never heard of afterward.
The next year six more were started,
two of which me through. There
are now some fifty clubs and a fedora
ton OF the homing P geon societies of
the United States. Then there are
number of more modest clubs whose
names and deeds are unknown to fame.
Wherever number of English opera
tives are collected there you will find
pigeons which are flown in
modest economical way. the perform
ance rarely, if ever. being reported.
The sport has become a common one
in England. while in Belgium over
hundred thousand birds are often b.
Grated on a Sunday. Here is map of
the country. showing all the stations
and the network of routes traversed
by the pigeons" The map in ques-
ton looked like one of the plates of
diagrams issued by the fashion papers.
1.-The b rds that covered the distance
of 963 miles from Florida recently in
thirteen days. eleven and three-quart r
hours were owned bv r. Hayes and c. i
A. HenseL There are others which are
now out which were liberated at New
Orleans. One long fight in Europe
was the 900 miles from Rome to Bel
gium. on which two hundred birds
started. but only twenty OF them came
in. For short distances birds have
been known to attain 8 speed of
a mile a minute and more. In jour-
ney of several hundred miles they will
average thirty miles an hour. The