The Alaska citizen., 1913-11-10

. beans, peas and yetches, which have
+ been gathered a year The individ
ual daily ration consists of abcut IL
+ ounces of this mixture. divided into
three meals. given at dawn. noon
and p. m. The pigeons are also
provided with clay. old mortar fine
river sand. salt and egg shells or
oyster shells. ground and mixed In
equal parts. This mixture. which is
called sailed earth" is left perman.
emily in the cages.
In pair NJ. care must be taken
not 10 mate two birds of very light
c loring. or of very close kinship
or strong resemblance. Pigeons diff
fering in color of plumage or eyes
should be mated. and crosses should
be made between large and small,
old and young. shy and tame birds.
After marital concord has been es.
taiished by few days of enforced
cohabitation in seclusion the couple
is allowed the liberty OF the COM
partment. Two eggs are laid with
in fortnight after mating and are
Matched Il days later. When the
young pigeons are three or four
weeks old and have begun to feed
themselves they are separated from
their parents and placed in COM
partment which has a southern ex-
posture and receives the max mum
amount of sunlight The young
birds of the second or autumn brood
are not usually preserved, because
they are less robust and moult alb
normally. The military training of
carrier pigeons begins with exercises
II flying about the pigeon house
Every bird is required to fly. during
an hour at least twice daily. These
trial flights are supervised with
great care. When the cages have
been opened. the soldiers drive out
The pigeons and prevent them from
perching upon the roof of the pigeon
house. The few birds which set a
dangerous example to Their fellows
by alighting IN neighorng roofs are
shot without conjunction Well
trained pigeons have a range of
flight which occasionally carries
them out of sight Young birds be-
in with a fight of few minutes
duration, which is gradually increas-
ed to 6ne hour at the age of three
months. In order to make the birds
understand what is required of them.
the same signals are always given
for the same evolutions. The pig
cons are induced to leave the
cages by shouts, clapp;ng of hands
and striking the partitions of the
compartments, and they are re-
called by whistling, after the man
gers have been filed and grain has
been strewn on the floor.
The flying exercises are followed
by training in carrying dispatches
over progressively increased dis
tances. In case of mobilization the
pigeons would be transferred to some
place which must be kept in COM
munication with the army, in the
event of invasion 1t would seem
logical to carry on the training in
connection with this place where the
birds are Table to be confined during
several months when all other means
Of communication have been des-
troyed. This procedure. however,
is not deemed to be quite regular,
and as a rule the practice flights
take place in every direction around
the pigeon house.
The flights are not attempted in
rain. snow or fog. Hence the winter
months are deemed unfavorable, while
February, March and April are de-
voted to the foundation and care Of
the young birds. The training OF
carriers. therefore, is restricted to
the period between April and No
vember.
The pigeons are divided into class
es, according to age Those OF the
first class. or the corps of mobili-
cation. from Is months to s years
old make daily flights to their
places of confinement They are re-
leased singly or in small groups,
sometimes all at once. but a rota-
ton Of individual flights Is careful
oserved. in order to subject each
bird in turn to this method of train
ing. Some of the pigeons are con-
fined for long time at the place
f mobilization. and even a regular
daily service over a given route is
maintained for a definite period
The length of the course is in
creased from 20 kilometers (12h
miles) on the first day to 80 kilo-
meters on the third day so on the
sixth. so on the fourteenth. 1870 on the
twentieth, 210 On the twenty-seventh
and 800 on the thirty-fourth.
The yearl'ng pigeons undergo near
ly the same training. during six
weeks. After few preliminary re-
leases in the vicinity of the pigeon