The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-02-29

hke any kind of playing for keeps"
Even in kite-fying, they fix little hooks
to their kite-strings and try pull in
each others khes and count it fair keep any kite
that drops into their yards They will tell you that
4 kite or strange pigeon that to your place
If given takes away your family luck" So you
must tear the kite and keep the pigeon. But when
you see the town dandies sauntering with their
fans and bird-cages to watch the kite-fying
criticsng the focks and their tactics. and arguing
the fine points of decoying you guess that "faIailv
luck" has very little to do with their game. r
To decoy strange pigeons, pigeon keepers lnust
hrst train their focks to Fly in spiralsthst is to
rise steadily in circles without straying from the
home roof Pigeons naturally fly together circles
Even wild pigeons wheel about in hocks before stray
Cling off to the fields Chinese make their birds
eager for circling by keeping them shut up In
wicker house built on the ground around the dove
COTE and they cure their birds Of struggling by pet
ing them with pebbles when they try alight any
where except on one spot-the ridgepoe of the roof
facing their wicker house The flock aight here
In a bunch. and Immediately walk down to the
caves. This Is done to bring any strange pigeon
among them down within sight of the grain which
is then scattered the floor of the wicker house
Pigeons fed only after flying, for unless hungry
they are lazy and unmanageable.
In Picking, focks up at sunrise at noon
and just before shutdown. Neighboring focks always
join, and their keepers then try each to draw apart
his flock with cal-birds so to bring with it any
unwary pigeons from the other focks II a stranger
is brought to the roof the keeper with
his birds by throwing millet into the wicker
cage.
No demands back pigeon lost in this
way Two friends will sometimes play live pigeon"
that is, give back each others birds that may be
captured from the flock during the game; but the
rule is to play dead pigeon" or. boys say for
keeps"
THE CAPTURE AND RECAPTURE OF "MU VIVA
TOU."
Every morning when the all back from
housetops that stretched unbrokenly for miles the
bue-back city walls, Little American" had watched
small clouds of white winged pigeons circng high
overhead-so high, sometimes, that he would
have found them but for the faint singing the reed
whistles at their tails.
Mu Wha Tou one of Little Americans first ten
pigeons. They al tentses-white with black
tails, and each with black spot like watermelon
seed on its forehead On all of them high bred
pigeons must have it, the white and black met in
regular lines without struggling black feather
among the white a white among the black ex-
cept on Mu Wha Tou, whose name, meaning "She
Speckle-head," given her for rings Of black
on her neck. These rings, which grew out mystic
rously weeks after Little American had bought
her, very much cheapened her in the eyes of Lii Loo
the old gatekeeper, who had charge of the flock and
who taught Little American the Of pigeon
keeping. But the rings caused loss of caste with
the other pigeons with Little American and he
was sorely grieved when her very first fight
she dscoyed into captivity by his sly old neigh
Dor Kao Chun.