News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-02-21
WINGED MESSENGERS.
HONIING PIGEONS, THEIR VALUE
AND USEFULNESS.
Their Faculty of Flying Long Dis
tances and Returning Home Safe
ly-How They are Taught.

much attention has been directed TO the
industry, or perhaps pastime, by wealthy
and intelligent people. And 1t is pas
time that is fascinating and instructive.
Upon this point none disagree. "With
regard to the faculty that these birds
possess of returning home from long s.
tances l believe moro erroneous state
ments have heen written" says an ex-
cellent authority, ethan on any other
subject connected with pigeons" Tho
faculty has been attributed to some mys-
terious power or instinct the birds pos
sess, but this is denied nowadays and it
is claimed to be due solely to observa-
tion-in other words, to intelligence.
The homing pigeon and his ways can be
studied with profit, and their ability to
make rapid and sure flights is being
utilized by many governments of the
world.
A homing pigeon must be distinguish
ed from the carrier. The English car
rier is bred simply for show purposes,
and is tall, erect and stately, with heavy
beak and eye waffle. The homer, on
the contrary, is the result of many
crosses with some carrier blood, and the
ideal bird of to-day is one of erect car
riage. broad chest, powerful shoulders,
close features, full eye and all good
brainy head. The color of the bird does
not enter into the consideration.
The great object of breeding these
pets is to procure speed and endurance,
supposing, of course, that the homing
quality is there to work upon. The
love of home is the one great thing the
breeders rei y on, and once in posse ssion
of strain of pure homers they guard
them with jealous eye and cross them
for the requisites required, devoting
much time, labor and study to the
work. They have much to contend
with at times 10 keep them intact. as
guns, cats, and hawks, which may be
generalized under the head of accidents,
lessen their number materially. Every
fancier, who takes thorough interest
in the fascinating sport, has his loft of
breeders whose progeny he can rely
on under fair conditions. The breeding
season commences about February !.
When the young are abont five years
old a seamless band is slipped over the
foot, and in few days tho bird has
grown so that it cannot be removed.
These bands are issued by the national
organization, the Federation of Ameri-
can Homing Pigeon Fanciers. The
bands bear number and also letter
the latter denoting the year of hatch
and the figures the registered number
of the bird. There are no two bands
alike. A record is kept of all b,nds
issued, so that should this or that fan
cier breed and band bird, sell it as a
youngster to some one-say, in Phila-
delphia, Boston or New York, for in
stance-train it and make top record,
the breedr can always be known by the
registered number The bands for 1856
were marked, A; 1887 b; 1888, q; and
1889, will be X. Starting at No. last
year, there were issued Is, 514, which
gives good idea of the extent of the
sport.
The old birds make good parents,
seeming to care more for their young
and nest box than anything else. 1t is
not unusual to see bird come in from
o three-hundred-m journey, go at
once to its nest without taking food or
water, and take general look around.
Then If everything is satisfactory he
will eat, which trait in the homer might,
perhaps be studied with advantage by
members of the human family. At home
the birds are inclined to be pugnacious,
and will fight not only for their own
nest but often claim others that don't
belong to them, and when this occurs
the rightful owner goes for the squatter
"hammer and tongs," and victory is gen
orally on the side of the right.
The old bird flying season commences
| in May md closes in July. Som'
fnnciers start training carly in April
| but the birds of prey arc still too nu
| merous mt That time to- risk the prodat
| tions of several years training for sue
| an early start in the flying sport. Tb
! great point to be gained by breeder
and fanciers seems to be to reach n so
mile station about June 2l. The day
are then the longest, and your bird
should cover tho distance the day of lib
Grafton. This feat has been accom-
plished by only nine birds in America.
Young birds nre started in training
the later part of August, and are trained
up to the two hundred mile station. II
stopped then they make prime birds in
the following spring. Some fanciers
send their young birds 400 and 500 miles,
but the strain is too much and too often
absolutely ruins what might have been
prime old pigeon. Training is started
by tossing the bird around home, always
in the early morning, then sending it
about five miles in all directions. Fol-
lowing the later, the course is laid out,
and is usually from the Southwest, as
the best results have been obtained from
that point, beginning Mt ten miles, after
which twenty, next forty, seventy-hve,
one hundred and thirty and finally 200
miles. OF training and the question of
instinct and observation, Mr.. w. g. Teg-
itmeier says in the Houaing Exchange: ga
bird thrown in q new locality flies round
and round in gradually widening circles,
until MT length IL Gescries some familiar
OBJ ect, aud then, and then only, darts
off on its homeward flight. Throw the
same bird again in the same locality, and
if good intelligent bird, there is no
wheeling round, but the road being
known, he is of instantly.
al know [ shall be met by the fact
that no bird can see two hundred miles,
to say nothing Of five hundred. In that
l perfectly agree, but no bird will return
home two hundred miles without he has
been trained by stages on the road.
| Few persons have any idea OF the ex
tent Of vision from an elevated point OF
view. Mr.. Glaisher stated some time
since that at half mile elevation III
| his balloon he saw the whole
course of the Thames, from the More to
Richmond, in one view. And may re-
mark that as the earth's surface on a
dead level curves eight inches In n mile
and rs the curve increases as the square
of the distance, it is very easy to calcu-
late the range of vision from any nltl-
| tude. Thus, ut the height of little
over four hundred feet, the extent OF
vision, even if the surface was perfect
level, as that of the sea, would bc
twenty-five miles on every side. But in
| every land view there are prominent oh
! iects that can be seen at much greater
distances, and no one who has ever
flown his pigeons but must have observ-
ed them looking on all sides, turning
the head as they wheel round a<l
round, until they discern some familiar
object"
There has been established during the
past year loft of birds on one of the
naval vessels ut Newport, X. l., to be
used as message bearers from tue shore.
Tho most active interest, however, taken
by the government in utilizing the in
teLligemce of the homiug pigeon, is
shown at the loft in Key West, Fla.
which is in charge of the signal Officer
stationed there. The birds were donat
ed'bv leading fanciers throughout The
county, and are used to report weathrl
ct ndit' 'ons from the Bahama Islands
The reports of success from this loft ar'
very encouraging. The homing pieeoI
is also used to report shots in artillery
practice at Fortress Monroe, and witt
marked success. And the cadets ans
officers of the Naval Academy, AnnapU
lis, Md, are seriously thinking OF es