HOMING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2902, 27 October 1909, Page 61

HOMING NOTES.

Bt Mausta Mealt.

The Dur.edin Homing Pigeon Club flew off an interval race from Oamaru last Saturday. Twenty lofts were represented. Mt Alf Clark, of the Bank of Australasia staff, liberated the pigeons a/t intervals of five minutes. He wired as follows : — "Weather clear; strong south-east wind; all away to time." The race resulted as follows : — W. Niven's Young Havne (time, lhr 47^inin; velocity, 953 yds 2ft 7in) ... 1 A. Hunt's Armlet (time, lhr 54min ; velocity, 931 yds 2ft 9in) 2 13. J. Finnegan's Jean (Ja randy II (time, lhr 55m in ; velocity, 917 yds llin) ... 3 W. Yates's bird (time, 2hr; velocity, 854 yds lft) ". 4 J. Roach's Miss Eunic (time, 2hr 3(feec ; velocity, 847 yds Oft 4in) 5 The winner was in No. 5 pen. Next Saturday's race will be flown from Cape Campbell. The chief officer of the Maaowai will liberate the pigeons off Cape Campbell. The r>un«din Homing Pigeon Club's race from Cap? Campbell has, I fear, ended in a bad smash. The 95 pigeons wero liberated at 7 a.m last Sundiaj from the steamer Maori. Tine chief officer. Mr Walton, wired from Wellington on Sunday evening, as fol'ows':— '" Liberated at 7 a.m. 10 mibs abreast- cf Cape Campbell; Btromg south- w€r>t ; clear." It was blowing a howling- south-wet'b gals at Christchurch, with heavy showers, acid there was the f=aine kind of woathsi- in Dumedin. Up to 9 a.m. on Monday morning no pig-cons had ai rived. Ths race committee mat on Sunday evening a.nd decided to keap the resra open until Men.day Mght. It no birds arrive it will be ke]>c c/pav another day. It was unanimously agreed by all tho c»mpat.ipg owners that the pigpors wore to bo liberated in any weather. I don't know if it was wife to do this, but as ono member remarked-, " What is tho use Of keeping birds for fine weather tos«es? There is too much pamperin.g for fine days." The club are greatly indebted to the Union Stesmi Ship Company and their officers for tiratfishipping the pigeons at Lyttelton from the llonowa-i co the Maori, is ihe former vessel* was detained owing to b?<l wcaithwr at Lyttolton. How to feed squeakers. Young pigeons nnisl ha fod if they have been abarxlorjsd by their parents, or if th<s latter are racing, or again if one does not desire ths producers w> get too run down. There are two ways of feeding. The first consists in steeping beans in wp.tor or milk, then raking the squ&aker in the Isft hand and putting it on the talfk, the palm of the hard on the ba/2k, fch-e beak betw«©n the thumb arwl first finger; with tho right 'hand take the beans a.nd; piush under th-a palate, tailing oars not to lift up tho tongue, wiih which the bird might perish from asphyxia. The second plsai is more summary, and is employed in the Ppiris market. It consists in blowing th/ 3 gram into the beak of the youngster from the mouth of the feeder. Tho bird absorbs it then as if being fod by its pa rents. — Revue Colombcp-hile. I often read in pigeon papers discussions on the stvbjecfc of tho formation of soft food in the p'\geon rearers. My learned friend, Wittonell, agrees with his eminent predecessor, Chapiiis, who said this soft food is produced i.n ewry case towards the 17th or 18th day of inculwion. \v.b<-thor tho egg^ be fertile or not. The ]aio Smol-Delloj-e Raid tihat the secretion of the soft food only commences when the eery;-; are beginning to hatch, awl M. Ro-^oor. of Tourcoinj, says diiipctly tlie younsr commence to movn in th-» slipll. Wo believs that M-es c ';s Wittonell ard Gb'vpins are ri'2fht. and we will explain vuhy. Lot «om« piigecns sit for 18 or 19 days unon wooden egg-~, a:i<l eo'isequently inert, then give to them a squ-eaker with an empty crop, withdraw it in loss than a quxnter of an hour after, a>nd you will find it completely L 3 d with soft food. Does that not prove that the food was ready, although the eg<rs wore artificial.— Dixit Moniteur Colombophile.