The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-04-02 00:00:00

CARRIER-PIGEONS AT SEA,

A correspondent throws out the following hints in
a London newspaper :
I have read with much interest tide morning, in your
article concerning the unfortunate City of Boston, your pro-
posals as to employing carrier-pigeone for the purpose of
transmitting messages from distressed vessels and as I
have some acquaintance with the subject, you will, perhaps,
afford me space for a few remarks. A great deal of popular
misconception exists with regard to the powers of pigeons
to perform great distances. It is commonly supposed that
it is only necessary to take carriers to a distance of several
hundred miles from home, and they will unerringly re-
turn. This is contrary to the fact. Although pigeons
of the carrier breed possess wonderful instinct, and
are endowed with extraordinary " homing '• power', yet,
to enable them to fly great distances, they must be
regularly trained. When properly trained, however,
there is no doubt that they can perform marvellous
journey. At the present day, with the powers
of the electric telegraph at our command, we do not utilise
the instinct of the pigeon nearly so much as was done in
former Unice when no telegraphs existed, lint even at the
present day our neighbours on the Continent cultivate the
powers of the carrier much more than we do. In Belgium
the annual pigeon fly causes as much excitement and is the
subject of as much betting as the Derby. Last July upwards
of 1,200 carriers were sent from Brunel, to a place 620 miles
southwards, near Toulouse, and the winning bird, starting at
five o'clock on a Saturday morning, flew into Brussels at
eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, having performed the dis-
tance of 52d miles In about twenty hours. More remarkable
instances than this are on record. The journey from Idealists
to London-200 miles—was performed by carriers in about
three and a half hours. . .

..—....._._
My own opinion Is that the experiment you propose is
well worthy of a trial. As foreign bound vessels usually
take the same route. it would be very easy to train a large
number of pigeons of the best breeds by regular stages
outwards, starting them from any prominent point on
our tout. At a given point, in as straight a line as pos-
sible with the course of the outgoing vessel, a dovecot,
should be erected, and, every time any vessel made the
journey, a number of pigeons should be taken on board,
and tossed up twenty or thirty miles from land ; and this
distance should be increased gradually by thirty or forty
miles at a time ; and if this were carefully done, I think
there is no doubt that the birds might be relied on for
performing journeys of several hundred miles. A bird bay-
ing once performed a distance of say 500 or 690 miles would
be certain to do the same again. The best breed of carriers
for flying purpose. is considered to be a cross between the
the Antwerp and the English Dragon Each outward bound
vessel could be provided with suitable places for keeping the
birds, and Rome one who understood their habits could be
entrusted with the care of them. The proposal to employ
them as messengers in the ease of distressed vessels appears
feasible, and the experiment is, at any rate, worthy of a
trial.

Another correßpondent writes:—
Sir John Ross employed pigeons as messengers from the
Arctic regions, and In a letter of Sir John Richardson's
(quoted in siarrel's British Birds") this gentleman says,
"With respect to Sir John Ross's pigeons, as far as I recol-
lect, he despatched • young pair on the fith or 7th October,
1550, from Assistance Bay, • little to the west of Wellington
Sound, and on the 13th of October entireoa made its appear-
ance at the Dovecot in Ayrshire, whence Sir John had the
two pairs of pigeons he took out. The distance direct
between the two places is 2,000 miles. The pigeon was
caught and at once recognised by the lady who gave it to
Sir Jolt. Ross ; but to put the matter to the test it was car-
ried to the plgeon-house, when out if the many niches, It
went directly to the one In which it had been hatched. No
doubt remained in the mind of the lady of the identity of
the bird..