Our Feathered Friends

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS By Mark K. Allen Among the general public, it is thought that the pigeons used for carrying messages are carrier pigeons. This is a mistake. There is a pigeon called the carrier pigeon extant today, but it is not a homing pigeon. The carrier pigeons of today are large, fancy, show birds, and can fly no better than any other pigeon. The birds we are to discuss are those that are known as the racing, or flying homer pigeons. These birds were bred for their flying and homing abilities by the Belgians. The original flying homers were bred from two species of pigeons, one known as the Cumulet and the other as the English Dragoon. By selecting the birds with the greatest flying and homing ability and crossing and re-cross- ing them for many generations, our present day racing homer pigeon strains have been developed. Racing homer pigeons are of all colors, but the majority are blue. They are very beautiful. All good birds have fine, stately figures; the sheen around the neck reveals many colors when the sun-light falls upon it; the majority of homers are of a sky-blue color with the

824 IMPROVEMENT ERA exception of two well marked black bars across the central part of each wing. Homers are always on the alert, and by the quickness of their movements show the strength that is potential within their sturdy little bodies. They are very scrupulous about keeping themselves clean; they will bathe every day if water is available. The habits of racing homer pigeons around their home are very interesting. Homers are born fighters. The quarrelsome nature of these birds seems to be an essential part of the make up of such toilers and strugglers as they are. Before the young pigeons are out of the nest, their fighting instincts are manifest; and ever after they leave the nest, they will fight every other bird except their mates whenever it comes within striking distance. I have known two male birds to fight over a nesting place until neither was able to fly from the ground. Pigeons will nest almost any place there is room to make a small pile of straw or sticks. I have seen some nest on the floor directly in front of the door of the coop. They are very careless in the con- struction of their nests but they are very particular about having their rude structures disturbed. Pigeons will stand to have their eggs and even their young exchanged, but it is practically impossible to move one of their nests the short distance of six inches without having it deserted. Pigeons mate when they are about five months old. Two eggs are laid in three days, but the female bird knows her business and docs not keep the first egg warm until the second is laid — if she did the young would not have an equal start in their race for existence. The period of incubation is seventeen days. It is interesting to note that on the very day the young are to hatch, a milk, which consists merely of partly digested grain, forms in the crops of the parent birds. This milk is fed to the young in this manner: the infant bird slips its bill in at the side of the old bird's mouth and the old bird proceeds to cough the food up. The milk is fed to the young for about seven days, all of which time the food becomes coarser until whole grain is fed. Responsibility gives pigeons courage just as it does humans. I once had a very timid female homer who was more frightened of me than were any of the other birds in my loft. As time went on, this little bird mated up and began real life. As soon as she laid her eggs, to my surprise, she didn't fly from me any more. Now she was defiant, and fearless. I put my hand up to her while she was on her nest; the new mother flew at it terrifically. I threw her off the nest but she immediately flew back and resumed her fight for that which she loved and for that for which she was responsible. When the young pigeon in the nest is about ten days old, a seam- less registration ring is placed upon its leg. On the ring is a registra- tion number and the year in which the bird is born. As the bird grows in the next few weeks its foot becomes large enough to hold the band on, and then the band is there for the rest of the pigeon's

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS 825 life. Seamless leg-bands are valuable in that they help in keeping pedi- grees, in that they help prevent theft, and in that they are a good means of identification. The young bird upon leaving the nest, about four weeks after hatching, must be taught first to go out and fly around its home. If there are older birds for the young to fly with it is not difficult to teach the young that you expect them to take a regular flight of about an hour each day. After a few weeks of home training the youngsters become fairly familiar with the environment of their home. During this period of home training the youngsters are learning to "trap" well. The trap consists of any sort of a wire gate through which the birds can force their entrance into the coop. The best type of trap is that which consists of a few wires hanging from a rod and falling against the bottom of a small door thus making it possible for the birds to put their heads between the wires and force their way in but impossible to find their way back through the wires. After some train- ing, the birds learn to go through the trap as if there were no wires. After the young birds have become well acquainted with the en- vironment and with how to trap (by this time they will have already learned that as soon as they have completed their daily exercising their food has been thrown out and is being hastily consumed by the other birds all the time they are waiting outside), they can be taken away for a few blocks for their first return flight. According to how well they make their first attempt can the distance of their next flight be regulated. Under this kind of training, the youngsters soon grasp the idea of what is expected of them and then they may be taken a few miles away, a little farther each time — say, from three miles to five, from five to eight, from eight to twelve, and so on until they are able to home successfully from a station anywhere from a hundred miles to five hundred or even a thousand miles from home. Of course, by this time the birds have learned that it pays to come into the coop as soon as they arrive from a flight, since food is always left for them and since they have been taken away when they have been hungry. We have thus far considered the history, the habits, and the training of the racing homer pigeon. We shall now look into some of the accomplishments of our feathered friends. The flying homer pigeon fancy was well founded in Belgium and England long before there were many homers in this country, but today the fancy has become more extensive in this country than in any part of the old world. Long distance flying has reached its apex in the United States. Over fifteen hundred birds were shipped to Rome from England and Belgium. Possibly due to the awkwardness of the route, the first bird, which was from England, did not home for thirty-three days; the distance was a little more than a thousand miles. In the United States many long distance flights are staged, perhaps for the mere novelty. The world's record long distance flight was

82 6 IMPROVEMENT ERA made by a bird that flew from Denver, Colorado, to Springfield, Massa- chusetts, a distance of about seventeen hundred miles. The very long races or flights are not the most interesting to most American fanciers. The most popular flight is perhaps the five hundred mile. Many of the fanciers of the East consider a bird that is unable to make a flight of five hundred miles in a day not worth feeding. The world's record flight for a day was made during the latter part of the nineteenth century by a bird that flew seven hundred miles in a single day. One thousand mile flights have been flown in two days. It is not uncommon for a racing homer pigeon to make a flight of two hundred miles and make an average speed of more than a mile a minute. One of the writer's birds flew from Salt Lake City to Provo and made an average speed of fifty-four miles an hour. Mountains and storms are handicaps to the flight of pigeons but they are not barriers. A basket of homers was sent from Provo to bring the returns of the state tennis tournament at Salt Lake City. At the hour the games were to be played one evening, the weather was too unfavorable and the games were postponed. A message was tied to the leg of one of the pigeons and the bird was released even though the rain was drizzling. Just as it was turning night, the bird with the message arrived at Provo in the rain and darkness. Another bird was sent from Provo to Strawberry Valley, a dis- tance of practically sixty miles all of which is mountainous. This bird made its return flight to Provo in two hours. Three years ago the writer obtained a bird from Philadelphia. After a few months, the bird became accustomed to its new home and seemed willing to return to its new home whenever it was taken away for a short flight. After considerable training, this bird made a suc- cessful flight from Preston, Idaho, to Provo, a distance of one hun- dred and eighty-five miles. A few months after this bird made the flight from Idaho, it was sold to a man in Storrs, Utah, a town about ninety miles southeast of Provo. Even though the entire dis- tance between Provo and Storrs is very rough, the little bird was de- termined to have its old home in Provo, which it proceeded to find when it was given its liberty about five months after it had arrived at Storrs. The bird made the flight successfully, but it didn't find its old home and friends, for the coops were partly torn down and the other pigeons were all sold. This faithful little friend was again sent to Storrs, this being last August. Even though she was away from her old home for over seven months this time, her homer instincts did not die. About two weeks ago she returned again to Provo and found not a trace of her old home and friends. Even this did not discourage her. Alone she waited around the place that seemed fa- miliar to her. For over a week she was patient to wait around on the barns and fences until a place could be provided for her. She is still

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS 827 in Provo but will soon be shipped back to the "home" she seems to have no love for. How do they do it? That is the question none can answer. Some claim they return home by instinct, others say by the opera- tion of radio waves, but none knows. They return just as well when they are taken away in covered baskets as when they are taken in an open cage; they return just as well to shabby loft as to the well furnished coop. One thing that is sure is that they return home better when they have mates or young to be interested in. How the homer pigeon returns to its home is a problem that baffles the scientist and makes the common person ponder over the wonders nature performs. B. Y. U., Provo, Utah Never Mind Never mind. The Father knows All about your being; And the seeds that sorrow sows Are, no doubt, "congreeing" With a wise and perfect plan To exalt the soul of man. Never mind. The world is wide. If your heart is fearless, At the turning of the tide You will not be cheerless. Darkness did not come to stay; Mists of gloom will roll away; Bright will be the dawn of day When your eyes are tearless. Never mind. Thy hands of toil Will confer a blessing. Delving in the sullen soil Seems to you distressing? But the harvest is to be Love of God and liberty, And a dareful destiny That is most impressing. Never mind. The star of hope In the east is rising. On the summit of the slope, All that you are prizing Waits for you with modest grace, Waits for you with smiling face, Leads you to the happy place Of life's realizing. Alfred Osmond