The herald., 1896-09-13

convenient to spend any time with the
hobby, the fancier will not be out in the
least, for young homers five weeks old
are excellent for the table, and there
would be plenty of chancs to sell young
sters, until the time comes when the
fancier is not so busy, when he may
again start flying the birds. If the
birds are not to be flown they need not
be fed at all if given their freedom.
Some of our pioneer fanciers, such as
Francis Whiteley, Newark, N. j.; VIM.
Verrinder, Jersey City; Mr.. Wagner,
Boston, have been in the fancy since the
70s, and are still enthusiastic members
of clubs. They at first thought they
knew all there was to learn about these
hardy birds, but admit that they are
continually learning some new point in
the way of breeding and training.
The late millionaire, George w. Childs,
had his loft and was a member of club
and donated many prizes.
Anyone wishing to get pointers from
one of our distinguished fanciers will
do well to buy a little book called The
Breeding, and Training of Homers. 1t
Is s. sold for % cents by Charles F: Hoser,
4522 Thorps Lane, Germantown, Pa. Mr..
Hosers is the editor of the Homing Ex-
| change, the best journal in America
devoted exclusively to the sport and
announcing all official records.
There are several organizations in
America. The largest is the National
Federation of American Homing Pig
con Fanciers 1t contains twenty-one
officers, the president being T. Fred
Goldman, Brookland, N. Y; secretary
William Verrinder, Jersey City, NJ. j.;
and the race secretary, Charles H. Jones
of Philadelphia, Pa. The federation
issuedfin 1895 over 10000 bands to its
| members all over the states. tt
| West of the Rockies is the California
Homing club. Its officers are w. j.
Bryan. president, San Francisco; T. w.
Leydecker, vice-president, Alameda:
H. F.. Whitman, secretary and treasurer
2045 Alameda avenue, Alameda; VIM. p
Archiba dir. San Francisco, race seq
retary and librarian; DR.. Iglehart Ala
media, veterinary surgeon.
Seamless bands with letters represent
ing the year are sold by the secretary
to members for 21a cents and to nom
members for 5 cents each. No birds
can compete in the young bird races
unless they wear the federation band.
Many are the wonderful records we
hear Of in our daily papers, but how few
are not exaggerated greatly?
A few months ago the papers had II
that birds belonging to T. w. Leydecker
a city trustee of Alameda, had some
birds fly from Ashland. Or, to his home,
a distance of 700 miles in only eight
hours. Mr.. Leydecker's birds did
AiiohC q WOhuChIaA n.y. O0I tAC OluCldl
results obtained from the race secre-
tary were: From Ashland, Ore, to Ala
media, an air line distance Of 1903 miles
covered by Mr.. Leydecker's bird in ten
hours and thirty-eight and one-half
minutes. Mr.. Leydecker is the king
Of fanciers up north and had bird re'
turn from Portland, Ore, to his home,
over 600 miles, with an official record
of eight days, which is an excellent
record for Californias mountainous
country. ~
Most people seem to think that II q
bird will fly 400 miles in one day why
not 800 miles in two days? 1t seems
living is all a bird can stand until he
gets q few days rest.
Some Of the best records are cham
pions Darby. Joseph, Johanna,w who hold
the worlds records for longest distance
Darby covered the distance from Pen