The National tribune., 1899-12-28

ingenious. The pigeon is taught 10 -.
nounce its arrival at its loft by Knocking
with its beak against the closed trap-door
of the dovecote. This action sets in mo
ton machinery which filings open the door,
admits the bird. and at the same time rings
q bell that hangs in the attendants room
The greatest care and patience are neces
sary while training the birds. II might
seem superfluous in these days Of telephone,
telegraph, and wireless telegraphy to guitc
the trouble of training birds to carry dis
patches, but the wisdom of the action Ii
made manifest to-day, when the whole
world centers about the message pigeon
may be carrying among his feathers as he
wings over kopje and veldt on his way to
his dovecote on the waiting ship. -
You may care to know the way the dis
patches are carried-in times Of peace at
least. The message, it be long one.
is reduced from the original by photo
graphic process, by which eight octave
pages of writing or printing way be re-
duced to a mere nothing. The little photo
graph is then rolled and placed within a
quill, VIII ch is introduced among the tail
feathers of the pigeon and carefully bound
there. The officer at the receiving station
removes iiie dispatch, and with the aid of
the powerful oxy-hydrogen microscope
magnifies the writing TO more than its first
dimensions.
This process can hardly be in force just
now at Ladysnith, therefore the dispatches
are reduced To few necessary words or
lines. to which the reporter or correspond
ent applies the microscope of his imagina-
ton and We get the story magnified to more
than seven times its first dimensions. The
birds would fly direct from Ladysmith 10
the warship, where. no doubt, special pro-
vision has been made for the n There
can be hardly any doubt that the marines
brought the pigeons up with them when
they went TO reinforce Gen White, and re-
leased, the birds would make for their
dovecote.
To Italy belongs the credit of having first
recognized the utility of training pigeons
nearly every European Nation has its regi-
ment of homers. These birds are better
"stayers' than the carrier pigeon proper.
and some advance the theory that they are
more intelligent and easier to train. Com
mander Tufnell is the great English au-
thority on pigeons. and the training Of birds
is his hobby. For long time this gentle
man and few officers trained birds at
their own expense, and so successful were
their experiments that the intelligence de-
partment took hold of the matter officially,
with the result that it was proposed--and
may possibly be an accomplished fact by
this time-to fit out number of the armed
cruisers with pigeon coteS.
The loft at Devonport is built so high that
the birds can see it when a long way out
at sea. The cotes, which were planned by
Commander Tufnell, are cleverly con-
structed. The birds have general living
and sleepng quarters, with cells" provide
where birls Of doubtful character are
held over till their special sins are found
out. Each cote has its hospital, where the
sick post boys are carefully attended to.
The officers at the stations are very earn
est in their efforts to train the birds to
long-distance flying, and they apparently
have net with great success. As long ago
as 1896 racing birds which were flown at
Thurso. in Scotland, reached their English
homes. distance of 600 miles, in single
day, the fastest bird travelling at the speed
OF ], 400 yards minute. do not know the
distance between Ladysmith and Durbon,
but roughly guessing it from close study
OF the map, it appears to be something less
than 200 miles. If the pigeons on board Of
the Powerful-always supposing the ship
came out equipped with pigeon post-are
worth their grain, they would I've able to
make the journey from Ladysmith to their
post in three hours and half. German
military pigeons have the T flowing records
to their credit: Eighty-three miles in one
hour, 32 minutes, 30 seconds. Four hun
dred and forty miles in seven hours, AZ
minutes. Three hundred and fifty miles
in six hours and II minutes.