PIGEON PARAGRAPHS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 166, 19 August 1914, Page 2

PIGEON PARAGRAPHS.

(By "JACOBIN.")

Most of my readers will hare noticed the mention in the war cables of the use of homing pigeons in Belgium, but it may not be generally known that th%; country is the birth-place of the moder* homing and racing pigeon. The de* velopment of these wonderful birds ia quite a recent piece of ColumbaTian history, and a century ago '"Homers' } were quite unknown as a branch of the pigeon faanily. It is entirely owing to the Belgian fanciers, that this breed was originally started, and Belgian fanciers and English fanciers are entitled to the credit for developing a pigeon family in such wonderful vigour and strength.

A short time ago there was a paragraph in THE SUN 'S ca~ble news from England, saying that some Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Dumb Animals, had taken up a stjand ag&inst the racing of pigeons. They apparently contend that it is cruel to send pigeons so far away from and let thojw find their way back unaided. These ultra-good and wonderfully kind people would have us think that it is cruel to test the qualities of endurance; and speed of a racing pigeon. They surely do not know or, understand just how carefully the birds are prepared for their Jong races, and how they apparently enjoy to the full the big tests of their strength and fitness. I have seen birds return from a 500 mile fly as fit as can be, and as vigorous as possible, with a desire to '' boss'' round the whole loft, as if they were quite proud of their achievement. Certainly they, in .the vast majority of cases, feel no ill effects from the strain.

The strain is no greater than is borne by a race horse in a gopd twomile gallop, or by a greyhound in a good hot coursing match, but,l suppose that these precious S.P.C.D.A. members think that a racing pigeon is a more easy proposition for •■ them to tackle. How they must love these members of the S.P.CiD.Ji.. sßut why don't they tackle a game ithat is indeed cruel, the shooting of pigeon's in practically cold blood by the members of gun clubs. •*>>■■

The Canterbury Firing Club has been for some years now in the habit; of paying railage on their birds, to 'get' them to Auckland by the shortest ,and quickest, routes. . This club of course, have • taken advantage iof .>:<tbe' Railway Department's regulations ,anxl allowed the birds to go on ibther than express trains, but it properly 'jcorisidered that the birds were m«ire worthy of being sent to their liberating point with the least possible delay. for some time been a moot point with the best racing pigeon men; of 'church, whether it would not be fery mu£h better for. the Jttuest interests of the sport, if the Railway department did away < wit-htiie"eon>c«ssions.f«r v ßac i: ing Homers, and charged some fair »ate ! for the travelling of such birds on the, trains. 'Personally, I ain of the -tjpinion 'that ; the :; next alteration 6f the r&ilway tariff in New Zealand ■rwill nial?e some such move'''in this 1 direction/'and I feel, too, that the best section of' the Racing Homer fancy will be' o'tily tod glad to pay something for their birds' carriage. It is eertainly not conducive to an independent attitude, such as clubs of this nature should possess, when they ai'e. under a«n obligation to a Department, such as the present „system bf seeding their birds by rail.'

. A special prize in one of the most popular 500 miles races in England recently, was a'motor car. The race was won by the same man as won it last year, and his bird was well backed. The win must have amounted to a regular triumph. But that is the extent, to; which the sport has grown in the Old Country. '

Mr ■R. Charles Hall, a : well-known English breeder of Archangels, has the following to say in a recent issue of ''■ Pigeons'," *in answer to . Mr: J. \Cs Lyell 's argument regarding blue or biack tails in Archangels, recently mentioned in these columns • • '*' We who have bred'them: know that many of the most lustrous birds have black tails, and when ' the blue tail starts, if not sternly repressed, we get the bluish grey on the coverts,' and the chequered back, most horrible of faults, soon follows. This greyness will then spread to the wings, and we shall have the birdrshop 'Archangel' (?) in all its pseudo glory. Heaven forfend that novices should read Mr -Lyell's statement and be misled in their breeding operations. That'a bird can be lustrous with a blue tail I am quite'ready to adr niit, even down to the coverts, but pair two of them together and Heaven defend us from the progeny! " The same English paper : s sub-editor gives in a recent number his views of •the hand rearing of young pigeons. These views are very interesting, and I give herewith the "crux" of them: —

"One of the drawbacks to hand-feed-ing is that it is inclined to cause a squeaker to have no desire to learn to feed himself. So long as we are content to provide food for him, so long is he willing to let us do so. Wo must do all that we'can,-to' avert this by occasionally delaying his feeding, time, and endeavouring to tempt him to pick by placing before him s»all grains such as canary and hempseed. .►One reason why a home-reared youngster is feckless — to use a Scottish-' term —is because he has not usually the opportunity of seeing older birds eating, thus being prompted to imitate them. Now and again, then, we might place a hungry pigeon in an adjoining pen, provide it with corn, and allow it to eat as an object lesson for our orphan. When the latter begins to (lap his wings and almost tell us by his actions that he desires to be freed from his little prison and go out into the world, we can take him, some warm, sunny day into the nursery, there to learn the ways of other "more fortunate youngsters, and, incidentally, to eat as they eat. If he is a vigorous pigeon, he is soon able to do for.himself, and we have no further trouble with him.

"Not all hand-reaied youngsters do well in after life. Some are always backward, yet I could cite cases where artificially fed squabs have developed splendidly and acquited themselves creditably both in breeding loft and ■•show pen. Only a few weeks ago I saw a champion of its variety which, its owner told me, had beep hand-fed from a few days after hatching. But, after all, the fewer youngsters you have to hand-feed the more fortunate will you be."

A letter arrived from Mr M. H. Movie by this week's mail, in which he tells nie his impressions of a certain Sydney loft. Interesting portions are as follow : _Mi W. H. Walker has one or two very nice Muffs, much better than those he showed in New Zealand. One adult cock was very much to my liking. It had good type, plenty of muffs, short in body feather, very cobby, with good

head and eye, showing very little cere. I have not seen a better all-round Muffed Tumbler in New Zealand. He-also has one or two very nice Blacks, but they are rather bad in cere. I noticed a pair of White Fahtails, the hen of which is, if anything, even better than the white which Mr Crotty showed-over our way. A couple of short'Akces took my fancy very much; they have wonderful heads.

The -Maoriland Columbarian Assoeia-. tion 's Challenge Shield, in memory of the late Mr G. A. Macquarie, is already in the "designer's" hands. It is hoped that a really good trophy will be the, result, and one which if will be every pigeon man's ambition to hold for a time.. The association has not yet definitely fixed on the allotment of breeds, which will each year -compete for same, antß any suggestions will be gladly rereceived. It is proposed to divide the pigeon family into about five sections, and let each section compete for it one year.