Arizona republican., 1891-10-13
NAVAL HOMING BIRDS.
Experiments Showing the Practi- cal Value of Carrier Pigeons.
intelligent Creatures That Can Be Taught to Perform Valuable Service During war-Time-Never Mistake
 Their Owners.

The late maneuver or the French feet of evolution at Toulon. says the New York Herald, have demonstrated inc usefulness and advantage of homing nireons for naval purposes. During sham attack on the port of Toulon the trained pigeons of the. central sta tion were distributed among the scouts and torpedo cruisers which were stationed to watch the approach of the enemy's fleet. The pigeons were re- leased at intervals, thus enabling the prefet maritime of the port of Toulon 10 be speedily informed of the approach and movements of the attacking fleet and to keep in constant communication with the ships of the fleet defending the port The naval messenger pigeon service was established in France by Admiral Bergasse Dupetit-Thouars several years ago with headquarters at Toulon. Every man-of-war leaving Toulon is provided with an outfit of homing pigeons, which are released at various distances according to the stage of their respective training. With a few ex- captions they return to their home lofts the bearers of cipher dispatches at tached in the customary manner in their wings or tails.
 A loft has been established on board the gunnery practice ship St. Louis with the view of accustoming the pigeons to the report and smoke of guns They follow the vessel in her cruises, and never mistake her for an other,
 Their usefulness has been especially demonstrated whenever the ships of the squadron were beyond the range of tn heliograph, as they enabled the com mander of the fleet to commu nicat with the shore at long distances whe no other means of communication were available.
 The ordinary service which the pigeon unconseiously performs by car rying letters, orders, reports and similar dispatches is based on the natural in- stinct of the pigeon to return to its own home, to which its nest mate and food attract it. In "there-and-back" flight, however, the task is to induce the same pigeon-which, unless carried away, as rule never forsakes it's own loft-to fly to another with which it has been previously made acquainted in order to provide itself there with its accustomed food and water and then return to its proper home.
 In this manner a pigeon carries dis patch to a certain spot with view of obtaining food there. The first mes sage is then removed and an answer substituted, which the pigeon on the completion of it's feeding carries back to its own loft. In this way it is possi- be with a single loft of ten birds trained for this particular work to keep in constant communication by messages two places, either or both of which may be besieged or blockaded
 After several successful experiments in Italy with homing pigeons on a "there-and- back" flight continuous service was established between Rome and Civita Vecchia, the latter being se- lected for these experiments be- cause of it's strategic impor- tance. The distance between Rome and Civita Vecchia is forty miles. This remarkable means of communication was obtained only after long and care full training.
 Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Portugal and Canada maintain numerous pigeon service establish ments, which form an important de- partment of their naval and military organizations. Several of them employ pigeons in connection with the defense of the coast as we'll as on board war and dispatch vessels.
 So far no organized service of messen- ger pigeon has been established in the United States navy. It is to be hoped that such a service will soon be estab- lshed, as numerous experiments have demonstrated that homing pigeons can fly several hundred miles at sea; that they can be bred aud trained on board ship; that they can recognize their own ship among others, and that they can be relied upon to carry news from the fleet to the shore, and under favorable circumstances from the shore to the fleet and from one vessel to another, when beyond the range of heliograph and electrograph.
 A naval messenger pigeon service cannot be improvised on short notice, as the pigeons require long and careful training before they can be depended upon to carry dispatches. War vessels employed in defending a coast are ire quently without the means of trans hitting information of the utmost i'm portance to the mainland. By means Of trained messenger service they coulc send communications on shore over . distance of several hundred miles, sig nal the approach of an enemys fleet and report quickly all his movements ! WHO ARE THE HAPPlEST7
 Aording toOne Authority People Whose Lives Are Devoted to Science.
 The earl of Derby answered thi: question recently in an address to tho scientific and Technologicar school ot