The 
Racing Pigeon. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
(76) 
The Racing Pigeon. 
A Study in Pigeon Instinct and Endurance. 
By H. KENDRICK, Jun. 
The average Englishman has very little idea 
of what the Racing Pigeon can do. Its feats of 
endurance, its astonishing intelligence, and its 
astounding speed are not generally realised as 
anything out of the ordinary. In this article 1 
am going to point out some remarkable features 
of this home-loving bird, and to give you some 
photographs of pigeons which have done some 
of the best flying in the country. This is not a 
practical note on the method of keeping these 
birds, though the writer is guilty of having writ¬ 
ten a brochure on this, but it is an article con¬ 
taining authentic records, and is as free from 
technicalities as possible, so that others than 
fanciers may read and understand. 
In the Home of the Breed. 
First of all, let me explain that the Homing 
Pigeon is a bird which will return to its home 
from great distances and at great speed. 
Originally the sport of Belgium, pigeon-flying is 
now the hobby of this country, and attracts not 
only the commoner, but the nobility of the land 
as well. The Prince of Wales is the possessor of 
an excellent loft of these birds, and the sport of 
pigeon-racing may truly be styled “ the hobby of 
kings and peasants.” 
In Belgiuiyi, five hundred miles is by no means 
an extraordinary distance for a Homing Pigeon. 
Greater distances than these have been traversed, 
birds having been flown from Madrid to Brus¬ 
sels, about 835 miles. The flying of Homing 
Pigeons has made enormous progress in Bel¬ 
gium. Early in the last century amateurs risked 
their birds in races of from three to five hun¬ 
dred miles, but the birds flew at a speed half of 
that attained to-day. Now, in Belgium alone 
there are over two thousand societies formed for 
the purpose of furthering the sport! The num¬ 
ber of pigeons flown in the Belgian races is so 
large that special trains have to be employed 
to carry the hampers. In a race from Santeuil 
In 1886, the number of young pigeons compet¬ 
ing was 3,701, and a return shows that the num¬ 
ber of pigeons despatched from two Liege sta¬ 
tions during 1886 reached the enormous total of 
1,045,625. In November, 1887, the late Queen’s 
jubilee year, 20,000 were released at once in 
the Parc Leopold, and Belgium claims about 
twenty journals devoted exclusively to the Hom¬ 
ing Pigeon. This shows its popularity in that 
•country. 
Races from England to the Continent. 
England to Belgium has often been tried as 
a racecourse, and, speaking generally, the races 
have been successes, though England’s unrelia¬ 
ble atmospheric condition is against pigeon fly¬ 
ing as compared with the more equable condition 
of other countries. However, the records have 
it that in 1887 a society at Termonde arranged 
two races, one from London and one from Paris. 
Twenty pigeons were sent to Messrs. Hartley 
and Sons, of Woolwich, for liberation, and were 
tossed at 8.40 a.m. (English time) from the 
summit of Shooter’s Hill. The first arrived 
home at 1.14 (Belgian time), and nine others at 
1.45, not a single bird being lost. The velocity 
was 1,177 metres per minute. Twenty other 
pigeons were sent to Paris, which, of course, is 
not so far, and were liberated at 8 a.m. on the 
same day. The first arrived at noon with a 
velocity of 1,120, and was quickly followed by 
the rest. 
America to the Fore . 
It is interesting to note that the American 
flying records are well to the fore. “ Red 
Whizzer ” is the name of a wonderful bird be¬ 
longing to Mr. R. L. Hayes, which in 1888 
beat all previous records by flying from Pensa¬ 
cola to Philadelphia, a distance of 935 miles. 
In a pleasant little book called “ Belgian Hom¬ 
ing Pigeons,” it is recorded that ten birds were 
started in this memorable race, being liberated 
at 7.30 a.m. on July 21st. “ Red Whizzer” was 
found in his loft at 7.15 a.m. on August 2nd, 
having been out 15 minutes short of 12 days. 
A second bird, “ China Bill,” from the same 
city, was found in its loft on August 9th. It 
is remarkable to note that this performance was 
beaten in the same year by two birds belonging 
to Mr. S. Hunt, which flew from Montgomery, 
Ala., to Fall River, Mass., a distance of 1,040 
miles. These flies have been duly authenticated 
and can be taken as reliable records of what a 
patient, plodding pigeon is capable of. 
Some English Worthies. 
I must now turn to some English records, and 
before proceeding further I will introduce to my 
readers the pigeons, illustrations of which, taken 
from life by the camera, accompany this article. 
These pigeons are the property of Messrs. D. 
Hedges and Son, of Lytham, by whom the 
photographs have been taken and whose copy¬ 
right they are. I think it will be agreed that 
pigeon photography cannot be much improved 
upon, judging by the beautiful pictures now 
before us. 
First of all we have “ Lytham Monarch,” a 
famous flyer, which has won for its owners 
1st, Nantes, in the Lytham H.S.; 2nd, North- 
West Lancashire Federation, and 24th Lanca¬ 
shire Combine, in a fly of 8,500 birds last year. 
