The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-03-26
PIGEON FLYING ON THE ROOFS,
A SPORT PURSUED on EAST SIDE
TENEMENT ROOFS.

nations OF the Art Of Flight Flying.
Flight flying Of pigeons begins now a. q
rooftop sport ia New York and Il kept up
until the snow hurTies blind the birds in
November and make the feathers wet and
heavy. It is a sport Of the tenements,
especially on the East Side.
A good flight pigeon will never aliRht
ave on q roof. Should one be 80 degen-
crate as 10 fly to the street, Of goes lis head
and the next stop Is In the pot. The fight
fanders are 20 keen in preserving the high
Ayens puro that they will not sell a fraud,
A. they call bird that viii light on the
ground 70 the neighboThood bird store,
although such shops serve as clearing
houses for their wagers as well as places
Of barter. A bird with white showing In
is tail, save the occasional all white birds,
Is also called fraud.
The wagers and much Of the bartering
are consequent on a game played by the
housetop fanciers, In which the trained
Jocks are the cards and stray fight birds
the prizes. The strays, when caught, are
held as forfeits. to be redeemed by the
owner, and as the oaptor and owner seldom
come to an agreement over the money
Is accepted as the referee,
The game Is a side recreation Of the
fights, the real fascination being In flying
the hooks under control 1t gives pleasure
unique In its way to the fancier-often a
cobhler who pokes away at the bench or a
bushelman who stitches on coats and who
gets his only taste Of fresh air In tending
his lotto watch the fight mount upward in
corksorew curves from the tenement roof
high above steeples. skyscrapers and the
oity's confusion Of sights and smells, until
the birds become almost invisible hecxs
Of color among the clouds, and then TO
summon down the flock by signs and calls
10 cluster at his feet There Is a sense Of
power In this control OF the birds Of tho
air by the toiler Of the tenement thai Is
uplifting In itself, aside from the other
pleasures Of the flights.
To learn TO control a flight entails long
study, and, as In the wiles Of woodoraft
In Turing turkeys or calling moose, there
are some who have an especial aptitude
for the work and control the pigeons much
more effectively than others. These are
generally the gray haired veterans Of the
pigeon fRnciers, but often boy in lCnicker-
bockers viii do as well with his birds.
The flight fanoiers say that their birds
are really the most intelligent Of all pigeons,
equal TO the homers In attachment to the
loft and the instinct TO return to It, with
the pertness and spanisl-lil1e appreciation
Of petting peculiar TO the pouters and fan
tails. They are an old breed in Europe,
but not recognized In the American breeds
and wholly overlooked by the fanoiers,
Nhnan ~. ha al -,,IN
There was q class for them, under the title
Of Highhyers, for the first time at the poultry
and pigeon show In Madison Square Garden
last winter but the half dozen on view were
not very good ones as 20 loolB.
In Europe the flights are called the Han
overian, or ablau bunte.' 1t Is a city bird,
pigeon bred ON the housetops for genera
tons until the instinct to descend TO the
ground has been entirely eliminated. Flight
Is the name for the breed In this city and
the generic term for tho hocks and the
sport Of flying them.
Have you any fights9' is the question
Of the loft keeper at the bird store.
The dealer VII show the inquirer to the
big cage kept for Rloh stock, and the in-
(lirer viii run his eye over the birds.
'Heloi' Win be the exclamation, IN tonaa.
Of surprise. you have soma good young
birds; thereiEadun that owned and cold
toHans throeyeaEsago; abluethst Ricardo
had last month, and, would you believe Il,
there IL my yenowdight. wonder how il
got hereI'
why. Bnly brought In that yellow hen
q a stray yesterday. You can have It
back for -. You might have had IL from
him yesterday for 80 cents, and you know
h.
Then barter begins and the owner viii
have TO pay the forfeit 10 get back his flight.
The preamble 20 this little comedy has been
the winning away Of the yellow flight by
Blly's birds. Billy scooped it In as a stray,
and, after be and the owner had failed to
come to terms, the flight had been left at
the neighborhood bird shop on sale.
1t is wonderful how the fight men know
their birds and also those Of the flights
near by. A flight flyer will often identity
at shop a stray he lost four or Ave years
before
The focks are usually kept confined In
eoops on the roofs. except when the fancier
comes TO enjoy q flight. The flights, which
vary in duration according to the weather,
from thirty minutes to three OF four hours,
~ hhdoAlg III Nuo carly HloInlnk OF ldle
afternoon. Flights owned near by are
TOWN at different times, the owners mean
time chatting when they meet about which
one would be the loser should the two focks
collide in midair. and on a certain day the
talk ends in an aerial duel Of feathers.
The loser on the last occasion Of such !
4 trial has been strengthening up his flight.
md when the time comes TO try again |
he waits until the rival flock IL up and then |
loosens his own flock. The hocks circle !
high aloft, each flight minding tie business |
and clinging together like a V-shaped |
book Of wild geese until, a. the circles grow
greater the inevitable blending or II may |
Be head-on collision Of the two companies
occurs.
II Is an anxious moment to the rival fan
siers, watching with eager eyes from the
ioofs far below, and TO their friends Of tho
iancy who watch from other ooigns Of want
age. The mix-up Of focks is over as quickly
y persons pass each other In the street.
The flights keep on in separate hocks,
seemingly as compact as before, and the
owners call down their birds.