The record-union., 1895-03-09
FROM SACRAMENTO TO BERKELEY.
Homing Pigeon Flight From the
Capitol Dome To-day.
Interesting Facts About these Beauti-
full Messenger Birds-Their Speed
and Reliability.

There is to be a fight of homing pigeons
from the Capitol dome to-day, the home
of the birds being in the blue-and-gold
loft of A. Carlisle at Berkeley, Alameda
County. Mr.. Carlisle is member of the
Alameda Homing Pigeon Club, and is an
enthusiastic fancier for amusement and
not for profit.
Miss L. II. Fletcher, representing Mr..
Carlisle, arrived here yesterday with five
as handsome carrier pigeons as any
fanoier could wish to handle. Between
IL and I2 o'clock to-day Miss Fletcher,
assisted by G. NJ. Colgan, Will fly these
birds from one of the terraces of the
Capitol dome. The weather being clear,
and the air still, these birds should reach
Berkeley and enter the blue-and-gold
loft away inside of two hours from the
time of their release. The swiftest fight
on record is one Of mile in orty-eighJ
seconds, or seventy-hve miles an hour.
The birds Miss Fletcher has brought
here ara strong, young and vigorous, and
it is possible, If they speedily find a
landmark that some one of them may
make the distance TO Berkeley, which is
little short OF seventy miles, in an hour
and quarter, and possibly in less time.
Miss Fletcher will use for the messages
bit of strong paper or parchment on
which her letters will be photographed.
The paper will be rolled into cylinder
ab6ut two inches in length and an eighth
OF an inch in diameter.
Two tail feathers Of each bird will be
selected, and to the spine of these feathers
a cylinder will be attached by thread, the
fastening being at eacn end, so rs to pre-
sent the head Of the cylinder to the wind,
and thus least impede the fight of the
bird. The old method was TO tasten the
scroll about the leg of the pigeon, and
this is still adhered to in Turkey and
Belgium, whore the training of these
birds is pursued more thoroughly than
anywhere else.
Prior to freeing a bird, it is kept in a
dark place for some hours, and is spar
| ingly fed, but IS given all the water it
Will drink. Miss Fletcher has her Car
Isle birds in a basket, inside which is
| basket cover buttoned down.
In this day of telegraphs and telephones
the carrier pigeon has less practical USE
fulness, but IN time Of war, and at sea,
and where there are no lines of telegraph,
they are valuable.
The use of the pigeon as a carrier has
been known from the time of the ancients.
Nearly all civilized Governments en-
courage the raising and training of
hOming pigeons; Russia, France and
Geamany annually eXpend money in this
direction TO encourage the fanCiers. In
many of the Federal forts,of the United
States lofts are maintained. In France,
Russia, England and Germany there are
several hundred carrier pigeon clubs,
some of them very wealthy. There are
some thirty or forty clubs in the United
States. Some of the London and New
York newspapers maintain lofts, and use
the birds in connection with yacht races
and messages brought in from sea, and
the Government of Italy and Spain main
tain sea-coast services of pigeons to bear
messages from cruisers to the land. In
Belgium flying pigeons is a national
sport, and it has in late ears taken great
hold in Australia.
a recent illustration Of the practical
use of the bird was afforded by scientists
who assembled Mount Rainer to find out
the exact condition of that volcano. From
time to time as they assembled, and again
as they descended, the mountaineers ib-
Grated homers bearing messages which
interested thousands, and related in de-
tail the progress made.
The maximum distance for young.bird
is 200 miles, for a well developed homer
about 500 miles. Extraordinary per-
forlnances. as from Montgomery, Ala, to
Fall River, in 1888, a distance of ,O4O
miles, are not unknown.