Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-09-05
sH0MING PIGEONS.
THEIR ANCIENT AND MODERN
USE AS MESSENGERS.
Utilized as Carriers by the Egyptians
ana Romans-Thoir Employment
III the Eranco- Prussian War
Rapid Flight.

1t has never yet been determined
whether the homing pigeon is guided in
us night by instinct or training, by cur
rents of electricity imperceptiblc below
and to less gifted birds, or, us Others
argue, simply by enormous power of
space penetration; or, again, by the sub.
Tie grasp of atmospheric aud mcteoro.
logical differences, irrccognizable by other
birds aud other animals.
On the other hand, the use of tho car.
rier pigeon is certainly of high anti
quity Leaving Noahs dove out of con.
siderafon, 1T is certain that carrier
pigeons were employed by the Egyptians.
AT the siege OF Mutina, IIirtius and Bru.
tus drove Antony to distraction by easy
communication sustained by pigeons that
SCARED SCARED. high over the belcaguering lines.
wealthy Romans ordered their dinners
and invited their guests by carrier
pigeons. Tasso refers To the use Of car
ricr pigeons as messengers at the siege of
Jerusalem. In tho cr,isadcs thcy were
regularly employed, and it is on record .
IN scores of instances, that medieval
lovers conveyed dates and messages
OF affection by tho same means
In China the homing pigeon
hnd been known for centuries before the
Augustan age. Napoleon thc..,ircat used
them with advantage in some of his most
marvellous tactical combinations. Dur
ing the lust days of the Napolconic cru it
| was II common practice to release carrier
pigeons during the channel passage bc
tween Dover aud Calnis, whereby high
iinancicrs might DO guided to conclusions
IN times when millions of money hung in
the balance OH the fatc of II single dis
patch. But the crucial test of the mill.
tary value of the carrier pigeon was re-
served Tor the siege of Paris in the Franco
German war Of 1S70-7l. At the siege of
Paris, 36S BIRDS were actually dispatched
from the city 10 the nearest provincial
towns. At first all went merry rs n mar
rage bell, for the Prussuns could not hit
the high flyers, and it was only lntc in
tho day. when hawks were brought into
| re9u'sitlon that the ''pigcon post" began
| to fail.
The siege of Paris demonstrated ono
feature of the carrier pigeon service which,
while not completely reegating it to in.
| efficiency, showed that the birds could
not always be relied on even apart from
hostile interference. IL was found That
the pigeon failed sometimes Mt the crit.
cal moment without apparent cause; that
| logs or the covering of II large cxpanse
oil water bcwidered the birds. The true
reason why pigeon seeks it's home being
sun i'm unknown quaniity-thc argu-
mcnfs Tor instinct and training being nj
most equally balanced, while neither will
absolutely suffice in all cascs--it follows
TINT those who adopt the carrier pigeon
AS a messenger must take their chance of
oil losing both pigeon and message. Ex-
pcricncc seems, i'll fact, to demonstrates
that the flight OF the homing pigeon il
not certain unless the bird is thoroughly
trained and the atmospheric conditions
are favorable TO its flight.
The old-iashioncd style of attaching
the message to the BIRDS neck gave wny
IN modern times to ii fastening with !,
silicn cord to one of the legs, but here
again difficulty was experienced. When
pigeon is flying high and fast il tucks
its legs under the breast feathers to lessen
the resistance 10 the air. In the best re-.
cent systems the plan is to attach tho
message TO the tail. For this purpose
The tail is spread and the message securely
fastened with fine silk to the middle.
feather within I'M inch of the end. In
this way the bird cannot pick it of, and
when ut rest there is no sense OF annoy
ance or obstruction.
There have been numerous coptro-
ycrsies MS to the cxpansc over which II
looming pigeon can be trusted to fly. and
especially as to the speed Of its flight.
The highest record obtained as to extent
of flight is somewhat mythical, but is IA
matter of Oriental historical record. IL
is that one pigeon carried letter from
Babylon to Alcppo in forty eight hours.
On the ordinary basis of Eastern travel.
about ten miles a day, Babylon is a
hirty-dnys' desert journey from Aleppo.
In the matter of speed, the record is that
in 1899, during the great annual trial OF
carrier pigeons ut Client, Belgium,
twcnty-four birds were released nj
Roucn, France, $50 miles away. The
first of these reached Client in lust IN
hour and hof, or with IT speed OF
ninety miles an hour. Sixteen Others
made the trip in two and half hours.
But the tendency Of recent research Is to
reduce the speed considerably. About
thirty miles an hour seems to be the
average of homing pigeons flight
Belgium is cmphatically the home OF
the carrier pigeon, tho county in which
the best birds are bred and that in which
the training is carried TO the highest per.
lection. Pigeon racing is to the Belgian
what horse racing and cricket are to tht
Englishman and baseball to the Amer!
! cans. One Belgian society owns 5000
{ traiircd homing pigeons, and the annual
sa DRp of suee ia tou, ~:
1t is evident that thar pigeon is
guided to certain degree by sight in
the homing process, as the Belgium fan.
cicrs always contriyc to make the homes
as conspicuous as possible, even going So
far AS to suspend reflector outside tht
loft. OF recent years the training and
exercising of homing pigeons has bccom,
| quite fashionable in Enefor,, o;f;n- -.