Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-09-30
awpRtE.s PIGEONS.
The Possibility Of Their Making the Home
ward Flight.


ward Flight.
The success that may attend Explorer
Andree's experiment with carrier pigeons
will 60 far toward settling the mooted
question of sight or instinct guiding the
bird on its homeward journey. The ad-
herents of each belief are stout In their
respective beliefs, with little more pos
itiveness. perhaps, on the side of instinct,
because there are more examples to be
cited In support of that theory No pig
cons have ever flown over such a vast ex-
panse of salt water and in such frozen
region, so that in forming a Judgment as
to the possibilities there is no precedent
to go by
The first pigeon supposed to be from
the explorer should not be taken into con-
sideration. The story was never fully au-
thenticated. and there hasn't been much
heard of it since doubt was first ex-
pressed. The last bird may have come
from Andree's balloon. The story is more
plausible than the first one, but far from
being satisfactory to the average fancier
and student in the habits of this most in
teresting of the pigeon family.
So far as can be judged from the mea-
ger information which has been received in
this country Andree's pigeons are the red
checker Antwerps but where they have
been trained or whether they are birds
with records is not stated. One of the
early dispatches that came after the pig
con had fallen exhausted upon the deck
of vessel commanded by one of the ex-
plorers friends, said that English carrier
pigeons had been employed to carry back
the news to the Norway coast, but this
was clearly erroneous. The English car
rier is not capable of sustained flight and
is in no sense of the word a homing
pigeon. That it could find the way home
to cote from a greater distance than ten
or twelve miles is exceedingly doubtful.
The English carrier is bred for show,
just as the toy terrier is and not for utl-
ity.
The Antwerps that are being trained in
the Brooklyn navy yard are given "flys''
at regular intervals over water. the dis
tance being gradually increased. until
now it is believed the majority of them
will make a journey of from 200 to SOC
miles from a war ship at sea that dis
tance. That bird released from a bal
loon sailing over icebergs and the open
sea, will be able to travel 500 or 900 miles
between daylight and dark is open to
question. 1t has never been accomplished
or even attempted up to this time and
fanciers generally believe that the exper-
iment will be a failure.
The best days work of a homing pig
con on record is the flight of A. McGuifl-
ness's registered "F'' from Gainesville
Ga, to Philadelphia. distance by all
line of 614.16 miles. The bird was released
at $40 A. M. July 4, 1896. and reached its
cote in Philadelphia at 7.42 P. NJ. Just as
twilight was falling. The probabilities
are that the bird took neither rest no1
food during the long journey. Its flight
averaged within a fraction of fifty miles
an hour. Six birds flying in company
have accomplished $40 miles between 90;
a. NJ. and 6.45 P. NJ This was on June IS
1892, from Elba. Va, to Providence, r.
The greatest distance ever flown by, a
homing pigeon was in August. 1892. when
the birds Darby and Joseph flew 1882 miles
from Pensacola, Fla. to Fall River, Mass
This took fifteen days. and was more re-
markable as an illustration of the mem
ory of the homing pigeon than it is fol-
speed. The flight averaged less thar
ninety-three miles a day. Flights of 25(
and 300 miles day are common. but al
ways over land route, and with which
the bird has been made familiar by re-
peated trial trips.
1t must be remembered in forming a
Judgment by analogy on what Andree's
birds are likely to do that no homing pig
con has ever flown a hundred miles to
its home over an unfamiliar route. and
this is the strong point made by the ''fy
by sight theorists. A bird that is to fly
from Philadelphia to Newark is first tax
en- to Elizabeth and liberate From that
point it will readily find its way home
The next fly will be from Railway OF
New Brunswick. the next from Trenton
the next from Bristol and then Philadel-
phia. In this way the route becomes fa-
milar If that same bird We're taken
ninety miles north. after its trial trips
had been from west to east. the chances
are twenty to one that it would never
come back.
The memory. or "oricatation." as fan
ciers are pleased to term it. of the hon.
ing pigeon is something remarkable, and
there are numerous instances of birds
having returned 200 miles to the home cote
IL year after they left it. w. j. Stanton
of this city, brought young hen from
Philadelphia to Newark and kept her in
confinement for eighteen months. In that
time she reared a half dozen broods. She
IN, Il sAr,6 flo
straight to the home she had not seen for
"a year and half in three hours.
The most interesting thing about this
performance was that the bird training
two years before had been in the winter
months. so that when she found her way
home in the summer the whole aspect of
nature was changed. The ground was
green instead of white or brown and the
trees, with their foliage. must have
seemed larger than they did when their
limbs We're bare. The form and color of
all vegetation was changed, and if the
bird directed her flight by familiar land
marks. she had nothing to so by except
the artificial ones furnished by man.
fewer. of course, than the natural.
At sea none of these conditions exist If
guided entirely by sight, with no land or
iceberg within 800 miles. it seems prob
able that the pigeon would fly in con-
Stantly widening circles to discover a
resting place, and long before the last
outer ring was reached darkness would
set IN ana the DlTu Woulu IAN lIllo tle sea
and drown. If. however, an iceberg
should be sighted. it would offer tenn
porary rest but no food or water Low
temperature is not likely to be serious
obstacle. as the pigeon family is capable
of withstanding intense cold without Sc
rious Inconvenience. 1t seems incredible
that if Andree's balloon still floats. and
has passed north Franz Josephs land
that any communication could be re-
Ceived from him with the homing pigeon
as the carrier.