the pigecins some time to work back, but barring accident, 

 they will turn up at our place some time, for that is the 

 working of the instinct of Homer pigeons. 



The young Homers when five months old are strong 

 enough to be trained to fly. Take them in a basket (having 

 omitted to feed them) a mile or two away, and liberate them 

 one by one. They will circle in the air, then choose the cor- 

 rect course. You should have left grain for them as a re- 

 . ward for their safe arrival home, and an inducement for their 

 next experience in flying. Two or three days later take or 

 send them away five miles and repeat. Next try ten miles, 

 and so work on by easy stages up to 75 or 100 miles. If you 

 have a friend in another city, you may send your birds in 

 a basket to him with instructions to liberate certain ones at 

 certain hours, or you may send the basket by train to any 

 express agent, along with a letter telling him to liberate the 

 birds at a certain hour and send the -basket back to you. 



If you wish to have the bird carry a message, write it on 

 a piece of cigarette paper (or any strong tissue), wrap the 

 •paper around the leg of the bird and tie with thread ; or, you 

 may tie the tissue around one of the tail feathers. A thin 

 aluminum tube containing the message may be fastened to 

 a leg, or to a tail feather. 



A trap window should be constructed to time the arrival 

 home of birds. This is an aperture about six inches 

 square closed by wires hanging from a piece of wood at the 

 top of the aperture and swinging inward, but held close to 

 the aperture by its own weight. The pigeon cannot fly out 

 but on its return home (if you have sprinkled grain on the 



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