Show TRAINING CARRIER PIGEONS an aerial I between lot angeles and santa catalla op witt C lockwood writes an ac count of the carrier pigeons ct santa catalana Cata llna describing the rapid mail service established between tha places in the september st nicholas he says it must be understood however thai in certain pigeons especially those known as the belgian variety too hony ing instinct is developed in a remarks blo degree and if is the intense love of home anil the almost unvarying certainty of their return thither after having been fatten some distance away and then released which makes them valuable a 3 carriers the methods used in training a pigeon for special service are not by any means similar as many people seem to think to those employed in teaching a dog to run after a etick or a white spotted pony to dance the polka A carriers education consists in carrying him away from home and letting him go when he simply flies back to the loft where he belongs this sounds almost as thrilling as the story of the enterprising mouse that first ran up the clock and then ran down again and of course it conveys no idea of the immense amount of care and patience involved in the rearing and breeding of the birds the special cultivation of those qualities which produce the host results and so on in training alie birds for catalina three or four were usually placed together in a pasteboard bos perforated with holes about the size of a two bit piece a quarter of a dollar then they were carried to a spot a mile or so from the loft in a direct line for the coast and catalina Co talina and released A few days later the same birds were taken a greater distance away say three or four miles from home and liberated in this manner the several succeeding journeys were gradually lengthened until san edro the seaport of los angeles twenty two miles distant was reached then the pigeons were taken aboard the steamer and set at liberty a few miles out at sea increasing the distance upon the four occasions that followed until at last alie end of the route was reached and the birds would fly without fail across the sea and over the land to their home while these birds were taking their first lessons in geography another set was being domesticated on catalina and later were taught by the same process to convey messages the other way that is from los angeles to avalon |