The Opelousas courier., 1893-10-14
FLEET HOMING PIGEONS.
VALUABLE ANIMALS THAT FLY
MANY MILES,.
Some Uses to Which They Are Put
Delightful Sport of Great Practi-
cal VaIue-Method Of Training.
DINING pigeons are frequent

as carrier pigeons, says the
6 Chicago Post. This is not
correct; the carrier pigeon is now kept
only for show. There is some differ
| ence of statement as to who introduced
homing pigeons into America. Fran
els Whiteley, of Newark, N. j., who
has a very large loft, says that he was
the first to own homing pigeons, and in
troduced them in 1865, when he built
g cote Ia New York.
Most printed works on the subject
say that John Van Opstai, of New York
City, had the first pigeons here, and
that he introduced them in 1872.
However that may be, it is certain that
the sport of flying homing pigeons has
now reached very large proportions in
the United States. Most homing fan
ciers belong to homing clubs, and the
clubs are united in two central bodies,
the American Federation of Homing
Clubs and the League of American
Homing Clubs.
One hundred years ago pigeons were
regularly employed in England by
commercial men and others to carry
messages and for record flying. It is
likely that the old carriers, dragons
and horsemen were used as message
carriers then. Pigeons had been SO
employed in all parts of the world
from time immemorial.
Belgium then, as now, devoted most
attention to the flying pigeons, and it
is in that country that the superb
birds once called flying Antwerps, but
now known as homing pigeons, were
developed.
This wonderful breed has been pro-
duced by the fusion of many strains,
including the English dragon, a Bel.
gian pigeon called the smerle, which
from its round head and occasional
frills was probably of owl parentage ;
a round-headed, high-fying bird
called the cumulet, the barb and
others.
The homing pigeon was brought to
0 degree of perfection sufficient to
drive all other birds from the field
about fifty years ago. The method of
breeding was of course to pair the best
performers regardless of color or type.
It follows naturally from such an adj
mixture of breeds that there is much
variation of type among the homers
of the present. These characteristics,
however, persist nall frst-class flyers;
the head is broad and we'll developed,
the waffle is small, the breast and
shoulders are deep and broad, and the
hinder part of the bird tapers grace
fully.
Perhaps the best performance re-
corded by homing pigeons was a flight
from OAK, France, of 562 English
miles, at the rate of seventy-two feet a
second, or nearly twelve hours on the
wing, or 14-17 miles per minute. A
carrier could cover about $50 miles in
the same time.
The use of pigeons as regular car
riers of messages, of course, declined
and almost ceased upon the introduce
ton of universal postal and telegraph
service, but they have frequently been
called into requisition during later
years when, for one cause or another,
neither mail nor telegraph could be
used. Most Governments, including
that of the United States, now keep
birds in trainingfo for military purposes.
It has even been proposed in some
quarters to keep lofts of birds regu'
larly on the ships, and it has been
imagined by those unfamiliar with the
subject that it would be. possible to
train birds to find the ship to which
they belonged, no matter where it
might be located.
The quality that renders the homing
pigeon valuable as a flyer is his love of
home and wonderful memory. If he
be liberated at any point, no matter
how far removed from his home, he
will try to find it. But if the route
from the place of liberation to the
home left be one with which the bird
is entirely unacquainted, it is a ques-
! ton of chance as to when it will re-
turn. if ever.
It is for this reason that fanciers be-
fore allowing their birds to make long
flights test them with shorter flights in
the same direction from home as the
location Of the 'Ftossing" point for the
longer journey. It is the common
practice of pigeon fanciers to lay out
these training points in as near an air
line as possible.
When a homer is liberated in a
strange place it will first rise to a con-
siderable height and fly in widening
and rising circles until its keen eye
catches some feature of the landscape
that is familiar. When this occurs the
homeward fight begins at once and is
continued without cessation till home
is reached or night, storm or hunger
brings the bird to the ground. The
homer's greatest enemies are the hawks
and pot hunters, and it is through
these agencies that many birds are
lost.
The rules governing the flying of
homers forrecords are simple. Records
are kept by the Federation of Ameri-
can Homing Clubs and the League of
American Homing Clubs. A bird from
which a record is desired must wear
upon the left ankle what is known as a
seamless band. They are furnished
both by the league and federation upon
the application Of any f%ancier, whether
he be a member of 6 club affiliated with
the central body or not.
Upon the band are stamped the
birds number, the year it was Matched
and the initial of the owner. The
band is slipped over the foot soon af.
ter the shell is shattered and in a few