HOMING.

Evening Star, Issue 12365, 1 December 1904, Page 3

HOMING.

[By tiik Squeaker.]

Members -will soon ba tossing their young birds. With, young bird racing there must divays be a considerable diminution of numbers of the competing birds as race after race is scratched off the programme, i'oung birds are, of course, the product of one season’s breeding. After the beginning of December the material to be employed in the competitions is a fixed quantity, which cannot with satisfaction be replenished should hard times be met with. Many are lost at each raos point, and many are put to one side by careful owners as soon as they have flown their 100 miles. Consequently the number of birds must of necessity suffer a big decrease as race after race is flown. It is said that extra long distances for young birds are useful in weeding out a doubtful surplus. I do not agree with this. To me it seems almost on a par with the witch-testing of the “ good old days.” If a poor old woman was accused of witchcraft she was thrown into a pond. If sho fleeted she was guilty; if sho sank she was innocent- But she was fortunate indeed if she escaped alive, whether she swam or sank. So, too, many youngsters are lost at the long distances, which, if kindlier treated, would make useful old birds. The better way is to race them up to 100 miles. Then, if their ranks need thinning, race them again and again from the same race points, and judge by average results. He is a poor fancier who can only weed by sending his birds beyond the measure of their strength and then trusting to Providence as to what turns up. •The Oulverden race ootnes off next Saturday. Penning up takes place at the dub rooms this evening. —Pigeons’ Plight— The remarkable flight of an American carrier pigeon which found 1 its way a distance of 900 milts in two days twelve hours and fifteen minutes hits awakened in. many minds the query how a homing pigeon finds its way bock home from far-away places. There have been two theories to account for these phenomena: First, some spedal sense which enables the animal to make dead reckonings, or is susceptible to magnetic currents; and, secondly, a theory that the animal is guided by observation. Tho evidence is strongly against any in<£flte sense of direction. Pigeons have been experimented upon -with magnetic and electric currents passed through their heads, but with no appreciable effects. Vision seems to be the thing that tells the carrier pigeon where to go. When, a carrier pigeon sets out on a journey, it first, drdes around in tlie air to get a general idea of the lay of the land. If it is foggy, then it circles around more than once before it finds its bearings. . A carrier pigeon am probably »s© at least 150 miles. A bird has to be trained to find its way heme. Tho breeder first takes it only a. few miles from home, bat gradually increases the distance. Even then a pigeon often has difficulty in picking its course. If bewildered by fog or storm the pigeon flies in a spiral search line until it catches sight of some familiar object. At night it alights because it cannot see. If pigeons are carried away from home in an open basket it is much earner for them to flv' back than if carried in a closed basket. Probably a pigeon may take note of , the direction of the sun. and use that as an aid in indicating a general direction. This is the way the Siberians do in finding their way on barren icefloes. Birds which fly at night can use the last light of the west as a guide, and then during the day the contour of mountain ranges and sea coasts and river courses' are guiding lines in its map.