The record-union., 1892-01-18

senger Pigeons Wonderful HON.
ing Faculty = How the Birds are
Trained.
In these wonderful days, when not
only our written messages but our very
voices may be instantaneously trans
United many hundreds of miles, it is
worth being reminded that only half
century ago there was no more rapid
means of conveying intelligence than by
pigeon post, and that even now there are
conditions of affairs under which the
birds still hold the advantage over steam
and electricity.
The use of pigeons as postmen goes
away back TO classic times. Early navI-
gators, when they neared the shores, sent
up birds to convey the good news OF their
home coming. In Greece the carrier
pigeon was the messenger employed to
spread abroad the results of the Olym-
plan games, and in Egypt the pigeon
post was public institution. The State
columbaries were distributed all over
the country, and it was owing to con-
slant communications between the sew
eral stations that public order and safety
could be maintained in the extensive
Syro-Egyptian empire.
In more modern times the pigeons
were used for purposes OF commerce and
speculation as well as war. In l110
shrewd Italian had the winning num-
bers in the lotteries thus sent to HIM, and
it is a well-known fact that the London
branch of the great Rothschild banking
house was able, by means OF carrier
pigeons, to receive news OF the victory at
Waterloo three days in advance Of the
Government, and to realize an enormous
profit by buying up Government stock,
then very much depressed, and selling
again when the rise came.
OF course, after the railway and tele-
graph had spread their wonderful net
work of iron and steel over the earth and
under the sea, the services of the pigeon
cas- a news-carrier were no longer neces-
Sary in the same degree, and their train
ing might have become lost art had not
the love of sport come TO its rescue. Peo-
pie of means and leisure found them
more interesting pets than greyhounds
or race horses, ana their systematic rear
ing and training for purposes of friendly
competition rapidly developed until the
extraordinary services rendered by the
birds during the siege of Paris in 1870
established them once for all on firm
footing as a recognized institution of
vital importance.
The popular title for the birds that can
be made 10 do duty as postmen is carrier
pigeons. But this is not correct. The
true carrier" says Colonel Cameron, who
has made thorough study of the whole
subject. lis not suited to this purpose. 1t
is essentially q fancier's show bird-tall,
erect and bold in carriage. The homing
faculty, or power to satisfy a desire to
trace its way homeward, is not possessed
in any high degree by carrier pigeons.
The birds used on messenger service are
common looking pigeons, undistinguish
able by unframed sight from the ordinary
house pigeon bred for the table. Such
birds are known in German as 'brieftau-
ben'-letter pigeons; in French as voy-
ageurS,' j, e., travellers, carriers, homing
and messenger pigeons"
The last name Is perhaps the most APP
propriate, indicating as it does the Serv-
ice TO which the bird is put. Upon what
the messenger pigeons wonderful faculty
of finding it's way homeward over great
distances depends, opinion differs. Some
ascribe it to an exercise of highly devel
oped intelligence, others to an almost in
conceivable perfection of sight, and yet
others TO instinct or intuition. The fact
of the matter is, it is one Of those myster-
les of nature that perhaps will never be
revealed, and stands side by side with the
action OF the grilse or young salmon,
which finds its way back unerringly to
the same stream that it left nearly three
years before as u I1uy paET.
The points to be desired in a messenger
pigeon are brainy heads-that is, broad
between the eyes, and full at the back;
bright, intelligent eyes, and wings that
show length, breadth and firmness of
pinion webs, together with a straight
alignment of the wingfeather tips when
fully expanded.
There are remarkable instances on rec
ord of what the birds have done. A
French bird captured near Paris was
taken to Berlin, 500 miles away, and kept
there for four years. 1t escaped somehow,
and at once made a straight line for home,
safely reaching the loft in Paris where it
had been reared. Colonel Cameron re-
lates that he purchased in Toronto two
birds which had never been flown east
ward of that place. From Toronto they
were taken to Kingston, 100 miles due
east, and there kept for some time. They
were then sent to Sharbot Lake, nearly
fifty miles north of Kingston, to be
flown. Instead of returning to Kingston
they went westward l50 miles direct to
their old loft at Toronto. As they had
been, in the case of both moves, con-
veyed in closed basket, they had no
chance of seeing the intervening country,
so that sight evidently had nothing to do
with their return. There are numberless
instances of birds in training making
their way swiftly and safely back over
100, 300, and even $50 miles of utterly I'M
known territory.
The method of training is TO take the
young bird few miles from its home
lott and liberate it. The distance increases
with each successful lesson, and after a
tifty-mile journey had been accomplished
the stages may be doubled, thus 100 miles,
200 miles, and SO on. Among the regular
long single-day courses which have been
flown on the Continent are: Mechlin
from Tarbes, 554 miles; Client from Bay
onne, $50 miles, and Liege from Lourdes.
565 miles.
Some famous flights may here be men
toned: San Sebastian, in Spain, and
Liege, in Belgium, are 6l5 miles apart,
yet in 1862 bird traversed this great dis
lance in one day, making record that
still stands unbroken. Fifteen other
birds thrown at the same time arrived at
their loft early the following morning.
a splendid performance was that OF
the pigeon which in 1865, on being sent
up from Abingdon, in Virginia, flew sos
miles TO Brooklyn at the rate of mile in
one minute, forty-two seconds. Another
bird flew from CreSson, Pa, to New
York, 243 miles, at the rate of mile in
5S.5 seconds; another from Etampes to
Loyain, on the Continent, 2l5 miles, al
the rate of mile in 50.4 seconds, and still
another from Arras TO Antwerp, so miles
at the rate of a mile in 4S seconds.
Compared with such speed as this the
most brilliant achievements OF locomo-
tives, ice-boats and race-horses sink into
insignificance, and unless the problem oil
transporting ourselves by telegraph is
ever solved, it is pretty safe to say that
the messenger pigeon will remain mas
ter of the situation.
Perhaps even more remarkable than
the speed with which this interesting
bird makes its Ivav hack To its home are