The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-02
PIGEON RACES.
More Than 1000 Birds In One Event
 Sixty Miles an Hour.

| -SlNLS MICS an hOuF,
 To find pigeon flights elassed under aeronautics is a surprise to the un- initiated, but that is the way it is done by the American Magazine of Aeronautics, which ought to know.
 It describes a pigeon flight as "the l first aeronautic event ay Jamestown" It was a race of 506 pigeons to Wash ington, D. c. Before leaving the ex- position grounds the pigeons circlod twice Rnd then disappeared in the di- rection of their homing station. Some of the birds wege not racers, and the fastest birds hung back with the 1 slowest. The speed wHs about forty 1 five miles an hour
 A remarkable feature of this and succeeding race to New York and Philadelphia was that the Washing ton pigeons flew to the west of a grand stand that was directly north of the releasing point, and the New York and Philadelphia pigeons flew to the east of it, correctly selecting the direction for their homeward flight to an exact degree in the points of the compass, although when they passed the stand the birds were flying so low that some flew under it's roof
 Only half dozen birds were non l plussed by the broad expanse of wa tor of Hampton Roads and Chcsa- peake Bay and turned back. The others without 'hesitancy went on to- orA ts,t ,s,aI, t1N brought in closed crates in express cars.
 The next event was the pigeon race in which 2,3O0 birds from New York and Philadelphia took part The birds were all thoroughbreds and the race was exceptionally successful. The same favorable weather conditions prevailed and the release occupied barely four seconds from the time the lids were thrown open until the last pigeon left the crutcs.
 The pigeon GOODS were arranged in a complete circle upon the backs of i benches about three feet above ground, The birds when released at 11:15 q. m. rose in a gigantic column and the sound caused by the violent beating of their wings was one not easily forgotten by those above whose heads the whirling pyramid of pigeons rose. An idea of the swiftness of their wing beat may he gained when | it is said that cameras which were able to depict a running horse sharp and distinct showed but blur of the moving wings of many of the birds. This lot of pigeons without hesitancy and without circling took a line straight to a point north by east and disappeared before the spectators could fully grasp that the event was over on the exposition grounds.
 The birds made remarkably fast time and reached New York and Phil adelphia in the early afternoon. They travelled at the rate of rlfty-nine and a fraction miles an hoar There was a slightly superior speed in rate of travel by the New York over the | Philadelphia birds, which is be- lieved to be due to the fact that all the pigeons followed the Atlantic sea- coast line and that the Philadelphia. birds turned inward whesr oposite that city, while the New York birds kept on the ocean front to New York city.
 There was considerable discussion among the pigeon fanciers present at the release on the exposition grounds as to which crates were best those whose tops opened upward or those whose front ends swung outward. Opening the entire top gave quicker release, while the pigeon fanciers in favor of front end opening claimed that in allowing the birds to rise en maSse there was danger of their beating their wings against each other and fracturing a pinion. The question was not settled by the race, as the point arose too late to take definite notes on the matter.