Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-05

ployed. How can a pigeon which has
been expressed on the cars for hundreds
of miles, manage to return to his loft ex
clusively by sight? 1t is true that il
rainy weather, or when the atmosp here
is laden with fog, he will not attempt tt
fly, but that is not sufficient proof that
he cuts out the direction of his travels
by sight. The bird controls marvellous
eye sight, but he assuredly cannot see
his loft several hundred miles away"
"Do homers ever fly at nigat?"
'No aud yes. In England, according
to number of letters which | have re-
ceived, taey claim birds which roam
about several miles after dark on wagers
But l regret to say doubt the truth OF
my informant's statement.
"Suppose bird loses its bearings al
ter being caught in fog?"
"He invarla bly, flies with the wind un-
til it clears up. Then he resumes his
journey"
"How are they prepared for long
fights?"
"They are placed in large baskets and
shipped to the race secretary or 10 re-
sponsble person appointed by him. No
name is allowed to be on the wing OF the
bird except that of the secretary. This
is-done to prevent any possible fraud,
because if the name of the owner were
stamped on the wing some friend at the
starting point might express the birds
back to their destination by rail and thus
claim Increased record for fast travel.
The words If shot Or caught, with
4 and racidnnaa
A, B. c., 20, are generally printed under
the birds wing, so that in case any ac'
cident befalls the birds the hunter can
see at a glance that they had been racing.
A man, repre-. .entiug the secretary, Is
generally put to watch at the birds des.
tination, aud if they succeed in escaping
the huntsman's gun or trap, and arrive
safe, he records on printed blank the
number and private mark which were
placed on the wing by the secretary.
After filling up that portion of it he fills
in the time of the bird's arrival. This
blank he retains. In case no watchman
is appointed at the destination, as often
happens, telegram is sent to the per-
son who started the birds, announcing
their arrival and also the registered num-
ber, counter marks and private signs.
As another preventive against false
claims, the telegraph operator is required
to dispatch to the starting place the
time that the message was given him.
This is called certified telegram"
ENDURANCE OF THE BIRDS.
'On long.distance races, how long do
birds fly without stopping?"
Until they are completely exhausted
and have to fall to the ground. They
can continue the flight necessarily for
two days, but after that time their en-
deavors are useless. When a bird stops
from sheer exhaustion it takes him some.
times as long as week to fully recover,
and he will not proceed until he has en-
tirely regained his lost strength. Herein
lies the danger, for while bird lies in
this state of collapse he becomes the
prey of the hawk, hound or huntsman.
An instance, in fact, came to my notice
a few months ago. A man on Long
Island was out walking with his retriev-
er when the latter rushed forward while
crossing an open field and picked up a
pigeon. The poor thing was half dead
from exhaustion, and the man took it
from the mouth of the dog. He exam
ined it closely and found the name of Ar
mold on it's wing. 1t belonged to the
great fancier of that name in this city,
and the man communicated with him,
The reply came by wire and asked him
to keep the bird until it got strong and
then let her 90. He did SO and the ho-
mer arrived ON the loft the same day he
was released. Now, had this been q
huntsman of the regular frame of mind,
the pigeons fate would have been sealed
in short order.
"What is the best long distance re-.
cord at present."
"OAe thousand and fifty miles. 1t
was flown last year by Alabama and
Montgomery, who were then the prop
erty of Samuel Hunt, of Fall River,
Mass. This was to test the homing in.
stinct and it was grand success. Ala
bama is now dead, but Montgomery is
on the loft of j. r. Husson, on West
Sixtieth street. The next best distance
was also made last year by Arnoux, be.
longing to A. P. Baldwin, of Newark, N.
j., who has some of the finest birds in
the country. The route was from Pen
sacola, Fla, to Newark, distance on
the air line of 1910 miles. Philadelphia
has three birds which travelled 935 miles
last year. Red Wizzer is the champion
of the trio. When this feat was per.
formed it broke the record of the world
for distance, and a gold band of honor
was put on one of Red Wizzer's legs.
This year the long. distance record has
not been beaten. A bird belonging to
Chas. Mink, jr., made the best showing,
but only accomplished S75 miles. Per-
haps one of the best fast records for the
year was done by Ariel, of I. Brooks, Of
Germantown, who won the Worlds purse
for the best average speed, l75 miles or
over, at the beginning of the season. His
record was 45l miles in nine hours, eight
cen minutes. F. B. Thurber also gave a
cash prize this season forspeed. Birds from
W. B. .Garrabrants, Newark Five club and
Thomas Bowman, Scranton Club,
finished together, The latter subse-
quently offered prize for the best
young bird flying 230 miles Or more 1t
was captured by little fellow from the
loft of Mr.. Iverson, of the Hudson HON.
ing Pigeon Club. w. Verrnder. of the
huucOu huu NOWdTh SluU, OucICu u
handsome prize for the best speed, 200
miles or over, for old birds, and another
for young birds. These trophies, to-
gether with others offered by j. R. Hur-
son, for young flyers, were won by the
Germantown Club. For 500 miles, the
Governor Hill of M. B. McGuire, of the
Kings County Club, is the only bird in
the State that has flown the distance.
"The best gentlemen fanciers about
this vicinity are Alfred de Cordova, the
Wall street broker; Henry Rover, of
Brooklyn, the father of the sport who
was one of the first to have 500 mile
bird; F. H. Platt and Albert Daggett,
of this city; Bradshaw, of South Brook
lyn; Bennett and Baldwin, of Newark,
who have several S60-mile birds, and
William Arnold. of Arnold, Constable &
Co. Mr.. de Cardova has put his stock