Evening star., 1896-03-21
CARRIER PIGEONS in WAR.
The Service Rendered by These Birds
In Various Foreign Countries.

The Service Rendered by These Birds
In Various Foreign Countries.
From the New York Tribune.
The practical utility of the homing pigeon
was first demonstrated during the siege of
Paris. The Parisians, the large majority Of
whom had never heard of the capabilities
of pigeons. were amazed at this unexpected
success of the first experiment.
At first the dispatches carried by the
birds We're written by hand on small pieces
of very thin paper and on one side only.
IT was. however, long and toi1some meth
cd, and quite unsuited to the transmission
Of the enormous number of dispatches
which had to be sent into Paris. It was
then suggested that the size of the dis
patches he reduced by photography, where
by also large number of copies could be
secured without risk of error. The dis
patches were accordingly first copied In
handwriting in large characters, then past
ed one under the other on large sheets of
cardboard. These large sheets were then
fixed to wooden panels about two feet by
three and quarter feet. and the panels,
covered with two or three columns OF mes
sages. were photographed and reduced to
one and a half inches by two and half
ir ches, a reduction of one three-hundredth
in surface. The photographs were on very
thin paper and one side only. They
We're checked under a microscope before
being fastened to the pigeon. Among the
first disDa atches sent were several cuttings
of the Moniteur newspaper, which at once
demonstrated how much more considerable
the reduction would be If all the dispatches
were printed before being photographed.
The next step in advance was, therefore. to
set up the dispatches In type. and to pho
tograph them on each side of the small
paper messages. Shortly after this a still
greater reduction in surface and weight
was effected by photoRraphing messages on
a thin film of collodion, each Aim contain
ing on an average OF $500 dispatches. One
bird could easily carry a dozen OF these
films. making thirty thousand dispatches.
1t is estimated that 10000 official dis
patches snd 100000 private dispatches
were carried by pigeons into Paris.
Thus 1t will be seen that the mission Of
the carrier pigeon has been something more
than the mere pleasure of the fancler: and
s'lch a record of usefulness as that during
the siege Of Paris leads to the belief that
the army and navy may be had at an al
most insignificant annual expenditure for
its maintenance
Pigeon Service in Many Armies.
Indeed. the European governments were
not slow to take advantage of the lesson
learned at Paris. The organization Of reg
ular military pigeon systems in almost
every continental nation of Europe soon
followed the Franco-Prussian war. The
military budget of France assigns a credit
of SNe1O for the annual cost of signaling
and pigeon lofts. In accordance with law,
the military authorities have also the right
to requisition messenger pigeons and the
president consequently directed that once
a year a census he made of all messenger
pigeons. The Germans at once recognized
the Importance of the services that pigeons
had rendered their adversaries during the
siege of Paris. and were one of the first
nations to establish military lofts; they
have provided for communication between
different parts of the empire by sucn ju-
dicious distribution of the stations that
their system Is the most extensive and
complete in Europe. The annual credit for
pigeons and visual signaling is $500. Rus
sIa places such dependence upon the sys-
tenn that sum epproximating $4,000 Is
said to be annually appropriated for this
purpose.
Italy has an extensive military pigeon sys-
tenn. and the birds are trained out to sea
with view to their employment as messen-
gers from the cruisers off the coast. The
SDanish government has established pigeon
idea being to emr1oy the birds to communi-
cate between different stations and also
between the shore ard cruisers.
In 1887 a hnminr pigeon station was es-
tablished at Kew West hy the signal corps
Of the army. The position Of the island
with respect to the possessions Of other
powers was considered to be advantageous,
and communication from the ships Of
SQUADRON cruising In the neignborhood was
desirable. The Secretary Of War made
available one Of the unoccupied store
houses Of the Key West barracks, which
was converted into a cote upon approved
plans. In the experiments which followed
1t was not designed that great speed should
he developed or exceptional flights undertak-
en- at the expense Of hardness and trust
worthness. The greatest care was taken
in the training Of birds. and by judicious
mating the qualities most desired were
combined and reproduced. In the first sea-
Young birds were trained al a distance
Of 100 miles from home. In the second sea-
son 1T was intended that the distance be
increased. and that in subsequent years a
return from a distance of 400 miles and
even more should he accomplished regu-
larly. Unfortunately. the experiments at
Key West were discontinued. and at the
present time the only pigeon station in
which officers Of the government are ex-
perimenting is the one at the Naval Acad-
ernv at Annapolis.
The officers of the practice vessel Of the
cadets. when starting their summer
cruise on the ocean or their short cruises
down Chesapeake bay. have taken baskets
OF birds trained at the Naval Academy for
the first time to fly over bodies Of water
The superintendent Of the Naval Academy
has favored the experiments with enthusi-
asrn, and has allotted for use as a pigeon
loft the tower Of the new boat house at
the eastern end of the grounds.