The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-02-07


acquired confidence in their wings tau.
are taken a couple OF kilometers from
home and released. The distance d,
| increased daily to 300 kiOme.rf-
on the thirty-fourth day. After tA,
pigeon is fully trained, SO that /.
, can find its way home from any point
Of the compass from a distance %
900 kilometers, 1t is exercised DAN
morning and afternoon. except when
there is rain. snow or fog. Car.,I
records are kept Of each birds per-
Torrance. Celluloid bands giving tie
birds number, corps to which attached
| and it's home loft are attached 90 i..
| leg.
Dispatches are written on strips .
paper three inches wide by four AMI d.
half inches long. triply folded and ...u
rolled. or else they are photograph.
from manuscript on films two i-ru..
long by an inch and a half wide. q.
the French army two methods OF Co.,.
taching the message to the pigeon a..
used. In one a goosequill an inch and
a half long is slipped over one Of ,...
tail feathers, then the message j.
serted and held in place by a t..
wooden plug. The other method j. r..
attach a tiny aluminium cylinder con.
I
maintain that the best way is to Us.
strip Of very thin strong paper six
inches long by three-fourths Of an inch
wide. which is simply rolled about one
leg and held in place by a rubber band
| When a message is attached to o tail
feather so as to annoy the bird he Us
| liRely to alight aad pull the feather
| with its message out and then go on
Any ordinary homing pigeon can be
relied upon to cover a flight Of $50
miles in five to seven hours few
can make 500 to 500 miles. Some Of
| the finest records have been made By
American birds. One OF these remark
able birds. named Nym. owned by II
Husson of Cresson. Pa, made the flight
| OF 243 miles between New York and
| its home town in 237 minutes IN 1850
which figures out at the rate Of a mile
in 5sk seconds. The fastest trains
make the run Of ninety miles between
New York and Philadelphia IN w.
hours, at an average speed Of forty
five miles an hour. Two railroads hayr
cut the time between New York arl
Chicago to twenty hours. the distance
in one instance being 9l2 miles, in
another 94s miles. which also is sub
stantially forty-ive miles an hour
The average speed OF these trains wa
maintained by Francisco. a homlne
| pigeon owned by L. Walfelear Of H
boken in 1879 for the distance O. 81
miles between Steubenvile Ohio, ami
New York. Indeed, Francisco did
trife better. for he covered the d!stanC"
in eight hours and eight minutes. or
course the speed is much less than tina.
made by Nym, but the distance was
greater and the wind. which seriously
affects a pigeon, not so favorable.
Another famous flight was made 10y
Ned Damon, owned by T. F. Goldmau
Of Brooklyn in 1885. Ned covered III"
distance of sos miles from Abingdon,
Va, in II hours and 25 minutes, while
was an average of n little more than
thlrty-five miles an hour.
Atlanta, owned by Samuel Hunt uf
| Fall River, Mass, made the flight from
JonesborO, Tenn. to his masters HON,
n distance OF rs miles. in nine days IN
1885. The longest flight recorded for
homing pigeon was from Montgomery.
Ala, 10 Fall River. l,040 miles. made I'm
1885 by Alabama, also owned by Mr.
Hunt. Alabama was twenty days on
the road.
The marvellous feature OF the flight is
not that it was made in twenty day
but the intelligence thar enabled tho
bird to find It's way home at all TIL
almost supernatural intelligence Of III
homlng pigeon has interested scen;l~'-
for years. All sorts of theories hl'.
been advanced to account for Il. The
latest theory is that Of a French sayau'
who after long and elaborate study. oh
servation and experiments, has sue
ceeded in convincing himself. at leasr
that the homing pigeon is guided solely
by its wonderful vision. This explain
ton may answer in the case OF pigeon
deliberately trained over gradually I'm
creasng distances for nearly the range
of their flight, but 1t fails utterly boo
Alabama's case. This pigeon never saw
more than an incons.derable fraction
his route near his home before h. S..
turned loose at Montgomery TO find
way over a strange country for m"
than a thousand miles. Balloon
have found that their range Of v!s..a
is increased TO a remarkable degree
high attitudes, but no one will yen,"t'
to maintain tina. Alabama could Sec @
thousand miles.
The most reasonable explanation
that made by a French scientist W..
after series of experiments consis.
, of the elimination or deadenlng OF 'a.
> | senses or sight, nearing ana smell 40
= cided that the pigeon depends upon ta'
latter sense. Pigeons blindfolded uH
. their ears closed with wax found Then
way home. But closing their nos'u-
with wax rendered them helpless ever
. for short distances. His eXplanat.oH
, was that each locality has its .nd!v.dd'
: odor and the pigeon, by circing up
l. gets into an air current bearing the '-
4 | and follows In home
:, Homng pigeons have made some
u teresting altitude records too, notw...
> standing the fact shat the rrrlied
: mosphere at great heights reni..
: flight difficult. During a balloon as.
by Gay-Lussac in 1850 hom,ng plg.
@ were released at an altitude at % o'.
l. feet. They fell heavily until 'h.
v reached denser air, but ghen heN
q straight home. Other pigeons throw.
v out from balloons at high attitudes hat'
q been frozen to death in their 81
q through the cold rare air and fell lN'
: stones to The earth. Leo stevens a.
, American aeronaut, has released lNm