Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-09-11

Pass CARRIER PIcEoxs.-One OF the most
curious incidents connected with modern
journalism is the regular employment of
carrier pigeons in collecting intelligence for
the daily and weekly newspapers. In the
competitive exertiOns to procure the --latest
intelligence" it has been found that for
short distances newspaper reports can be
sent reader, che'per and quicker by press
carrier pigeons. flying mile per minute,
than by the postal telegraph These aerial
sportsmen are entrusted to resident CORES
pondents in various places, ready to be dis
patched at any moment, whilst Others are
sent out by reporters I" places where in
portant events are tran>piing. 1t il no
uncommon thing to see reporters at police
courts, inqaests, public meetings, etc, dis
patch folio after folio Ol copy by pres
carrier pigeons tossed through the nearest
window, or thrown out Of II train or steam
er going at full speed. The attachment of
these birds to the place Of their birth, and
their ability to find their homes from mar
vellous distances, are of course their dis
tinguishing characteristics. A'columbier''
or home Is established at the various news
paper Offices, and whenever bird arrives
its cot sets call-bell ringing in the eiitor's
room, the bell machinery continuing in uo-
ton until attended 10. Press carrier
pigeons owe their origin tn Darwin's prin-
ciple of natural selection. or The '.SuIyival
Of the fttest.
In the struggle for liie ia connection with
the compulsory flying powers Of long dis
tances, the homing and flying powers of tho
pigeons are developed 10 = large degree.
whilst the birds which cannot do the dis
tance are necessarily lost and eliminated.
The surviving or winning vOyagers become
thus educated to the highest standard OF
perfection, and this system being continued
through many generations (the flying dis
tanceS increasing every year), race Of
pigeons have been produced with powers
which a few wears ago would have been
thought impossible. Press carrier pigeons,
though as Il rule only used for short dis
tanceS, in competition with the electric tele-
graph, can be specially trained to distances
of 800 miles, and frequently tly 10 England
from Dublin, Brussels. Paris, Lisbon and
even Rome. The utilization of The instinct
of birds FOX press purposes is being carried
even further than this. An ocean hOming
bird, of great docility, intelligence and splr-
it has been found in Iceland, which flies at
a meteor-speed Of $50 miles an hour, and is
able to find its home, over sea and land,
from any part OF the inhabitable world. A
pair OF these birds, few days ago, brought
dispatches from Paris to lonely spot, con-
genial to their nature, in wild and rocky
part of Kent, within ten miles of London.
in one hour and quarter Press carrier
pigeons took the dispatches on to the citv.
the whole distance from Paris to London,
by parcel made of Conveyance, being done
within an hour and half If the expert
ment at present being made in training and
educating them continue successful. 1t Ii
hoped by next summer TO establish daily
miniature ocean mail between America and
Europe, the whole distance to he traversed
between sunrise in one hemisphere and sun
set in the other.