370 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the end of tlie empire. In the middle ages the news of the capture 

 of Damietta by St. Louis was announced to the Sultan by this 

 means. At a later date pigeons rendered important services in 

 sieges like those of Haarlem and Leyden. The pigeons of St. Mark 

 have been taken care of since the thirteenth century in recogni- 

 tion of the services which they rendered to the republic during 

 the siege of Candia by Dandolo. During the continental blockade 

 the financiers of the continent kept up communications with their 

 London correspondents by pigeons. After normal national life 

 was restored to Europe and as the improvement of communica- 

 tions went on, the service of the pigeon post was neglected till 

 the siege of Paris in 1870 called it to life again. But the fisher- 

 men of Boulogne, Dieppe, and Saint-Malo still send pigeons for- 

 ward in advance of their boats as they are returning home, with 

 reports of what their catch has been. 



The birds that stock our pigeon houses are of the Belgian 

 breed, which has been developed by centuries of selection from 

 the rock pigeon. This breed difi'ers much from its wild ancestors 

 in habits and instincts. The carrier pigeon is not quite so large 

 as the ring pigeon, but has a more expressive head, more elegant 

 form, and a more brilliant and more varied plumage. The train- 

 ing of the young pigeons begins when they are three or four 

 months old. They are let loose at gradually increasing distance, 

 all in one direction, from the pigeon houses. At six months of 

 age one should be able to return from a distance of two hundred 

 miles at a speed of fifty miles an hour. At the end of the second 

 year it should come back from distances of more than three hun- 

 dred miles, and of the third year from six hundred miles. Pigeons 

 return more rapidly from places lying in the direction in which 

 they have been trained. Training in one direction has some advan- 

 tages and several disadvantages in practice ; but as the trainer of 

 to-day is not seeking useful results, but simply to beat in the races, 

 he adopts the method best adapted to his purpose. As the races at 

 the same city always take place over the same course, why take the 

 trouble to give the birds a various training ? Under the stimulus 

 of the races and through the training for them, a great improve- 

 ment has been efi^ected in the quality and powers of i3igeons. 



Two interesting questions present themselves concerning the 

 length of time during which the pigeon can recollect the place of 

 his home and the distance from which he is able to find his way 

 back to it. Some birds have found their way home after five 

 years' absence ; and it is generally considered that good birds can 

 be depended upon for six months. Pigeons have returned from 

 Vienna and from Rome to Brussels, and others, sold to be carried 

 away to America, have made their way back to their original 

 owner in Belgium. 



