Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-11-16
BIRDS AS MESSENGERS.
KEEPING AND TRAINING THE CAR
RIER PIGEON.
How This Swift Bird is Being
Trained For Both Pleasure and
Uti1ity-Some Speedy Flights


Utility-Some Speedy Flights
The keeping aud training of carrier
( pigeons, says a writer in the New York
| Epoch, is sport which is growing gradu-
/ ally into popular favor IN this country,
/ and fine pigeon lofts have been estab-
! llshed IN many prominent places in and
around New York. The exhibition of
! trained homing pigeons at the American
Institute fair last year, and the expert
/ ment with the birds in carrying messages
| during the International yacht races, add
ded a great stimulus 10 this intereSt ting
! pastlme of bird fanciers, and the pretty
winged messengers have received any
amount of attention and sympathy since
that time. That the sport will be more
interesting and popular with the edu-
Gated portion Of our people than the
fascinating, yet apparently barbarous
fashion of shooting pigeons from traps
for stakes, is manifest from the great
strides which the work OF training the
birds has made during the last two
years. Many cannot endure the sight
of a igeOn-shoOting match; but the
most sensitive man or woman would nos
refuse TO see pigeon race or a winged
message bearer going about its duty.
The birds have been utilized in various
ways in New York, and private lofts are
special features of the work. Recent
experiments have shown that bird may
be so trained that it Will take its food
at one station and water al, another, thus
flying readily from one station 10 the
other once or twice or day. Many
private letter posts are established in this
way, connecting city offices with coun-
try homes or factories.
Homing pigeons are used more or less
" no n fhayv
are destined, in time, TO save reporters
and correspondents of large dailies the
trouble and expense of legraphing on
many of their items Ct news. BY having
pigeon lofts in all of our large cities,
news could be obtained easier, and by a
more direct route, during heavy winter
storms, than by the present system
Wires are often down or out of working
order at such times, and quite frequently
dispatches reach New York from Boston
by way of Chicago.
The Franco Prussian war of 1870 first
brought the homing pigeon into univer-
sal favor. Shut up in Paris by the
enemy, the French soldiers had no
means of communication with the outer
world, until the experiment of using
homing pigeons as messengers was first
tried. Three hundred and sixty-three
birds were sent out of the beseiged city
by means of siXty-four balloons, fifty
seven of which returned to Paris bear
ing $50, 600 official dispa ches and over
1000, 900 private messages. Such
mass of matter could only be carried into
the city by the birds through the aid of
photography. Ordinary print, covering
space of ten feet square, was photo
graphed so as to occupy space on deli
cate collo3ion film about the size of
Il
to the feathers of the birds, and carried
back to the lofts in Paris. BY the aid
of a magic lantern they were easily de-
c1phered.
This work was another illustration of
the old saying, that necessity is the
mother of invention" for within a
month the pigeon service for war pur-
poses was brought almost to perfection.
Since then several of the European coun-
tries have established lofts at their mill
tary outposts, perfecting the service an
nually by constant practice and expert
ment.
In Belgium and portions of France,
pigeon races might be said TO be the
national sport. Public trials of the
speed of the homing pigeons are almost
of daily occurrence, and some remarka-
BILE records have been made. For short
than mile minute. In longer races
the average decreases, as the fight Of the
bird lessons gradually after the first 300
miles have been covered. The bird Gar
noux" carried message from Pensacola,
Fla, to Newark, y. j., a distance Of
1910 miles in twenty-six days, while an
other bird from Newark returned from
Montgomery, Ala. distance Of 500
miles, in four and One-quarter days.
Other records of longer flights have been
published, but these two serve as an ex-
cellent illustration of the wonderful
powers and endurance Of the birds.
The correct homing station is
model of perfection in itself. Every
thing for the convenience and comfort
of the pigeons is there, and the birds are
made to feel that it is their home"
When bird returns from a race, 1t has
to light upon a trap before entering the
loft. This act operates an instantaneous
camera which photographs the bird and
a clock to the right of it. The precise
moment that the bird returns is thus
fioaIlv rocor6p6