New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-03-01
ERIAL MESSENGERS.
TARRIERPIGEONS OF FRANCE AND HE
FRENCH POSTAL SYSTEM.
r,cyox PHOTOGRAPHIC DIsPATCH-THE BEL
GIAN AND PARIS BIRDS
,,,,l,, 90, spvct.r CORRESPONDENCE

FRENCH POSTAL SYSTEM.
A PIGEON PHOTOGRAPHIC DISPATCH-THE BEL
GIAN AND PARIS BIRDS
TPROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Fp,~KFoRr-o MAIN, Jan. 2S.-The pc
.r value OF the carrier letterpigeon as means OF
communication has since the days of the old Crusaders
r leen SD preGminenly displayed rs at the present
time when it has proved itself the only messenger able
T., take news from the French provinces into the be-
Iracnered capital The mpossibhy at present expert
enced Of guiding the balloons back 10 Paris. nOtwth
standing the many prizes that have been offered, has
cccstaed the calling in the aid of this bird messenger
which the days Of railroads and telegraphs, has
almost gone ont OF general memory bearer OF COM
munications. There time, not so many
decades aga, when the pigeon in uniyer-
sal use as bearer Of dispatches; the great
gold men AMI spectators Of the Continent used the
carrier-pigcon when quick communication OF events
was necessary and the European newspaper editors did
not desp~e the puny postal messenger when 1t brought
IN the first intelligence of battle or horserace. The
European teegraphic agent Reuter- made good use OF
them as messengers when the teegraphic communca-
tion establishing between Aachen and Berlin
and gap still existed between Aachcn and Brussels the
birds carrying the dispatches from city to the other
in the space OF about hour To this day they are in
great demand in Belgium, in Holland and the lands Of
the Lower Rhine as well the English raceeOurses
The Belgian newspapermen are great pigeonfanciers
and have frequent occasion to make Of the birds for
the transmission reports. few months ago Be gian
provincial newspaper correspondent to Brussels in
report aud transmit the Kings opening
speech Parliament, furnished with two carrier
pigeons by which 10 send home duplicates OF his copy
Arriving at the capital he aghted AT Of the hotels
gave the brdcagc into the hands of waerand
orcred good breakfast for himself The meal was soon
ready ana quickly devOured the correspondent beng
especially delighted with the taste Of two delicate brdS
But he was not well pleased whom, after completing
his report he called for his pigeons and was told that he
had eaten them for breakfast II is the French, now
ever. who have now come to know best
tine extraordinary value of the carrier pigeons
Nay one can make of this means of communicating
with Paris by payment OF cenmes per word for let
t,r>no exceeding 20 words These letters, being col
I',{d in the provisional capita-Iours Bordeaux, or
wherever th, may be-are legibiy transcribed upon
lrcc sheets OF paper, like newspaper colWuns-th' col
lcctvc letter then beng phoogIaphicaly reduced 10
the most minute dimensions before being inrustcd 10
The hrd.po- The system was first introduced in Tours
on the .th of November and the day the first
journal ~ dispatches received 10y the authorities in
Paris who have the task of enarGins the dspatch and
Transmitting and forwarding the letters their dc,tnton
The first dispatches prepared in Tours contained only
some 30 letters it is uncommon thing to hear of
2OoO or $4,000 dispatches being taken into Paris by
su-lc bird
The space into which these messages can he photo
graphically compressed something wonderful whole
newspaper page easily DE reduced TO the size Of an
inch square; and % Photographic pgeon-post dispatch
Wien ready for Transmission, has the size, shape and
appearance Of the following diagram: