The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1901-08-17
Abost Carrier Pigeons.

"The New Popularity Of the Carrier
Pigeon" IS the title of an article by
George Ethelbert Walsh. which ap
pears in the st. Nicholas.
Both in war and peace the carrier
pigeon has won new laurels In the
past year, and its popularity as well
bred pet and domestic messenger has
become as great as its usefulness as
a carrier of eJar dispatches where tel
egraph and telephone lines are not
established. That SO innocent cr-3a-
ture as the dOve-like carrier shoEl Z
be selected ior important war pur'
poses, and taken into the service fox
furthering the bloody conflicts Of mod
ern armies seems out OF keeping witt
the aims Of nature and an abuse OF
ly a peace-loving bird and its nature
IS SO different from those OF the
screaming eagle and falcon that as an
emblem Of war it should be total
failure. Nevertheless. the timid l:rd
has served armies in times Of need,
and is cultivated for It's practical war
usefulness to an extent never dreamed
Of for either the falcon or eagle. In q
sense 1t is the war bird OF the day.
The pigeon post at Durham. In
South Africa. was the beginning OF
the pigeon experiments conducted In
recent campaigns between the Eng
llsh and Beers, and scores OF mes
sages were carried from one part OF
the English army to another by means
Of the birds. Colonel Hassari of the
Royal Engineers. a staff-of1icer at the
Cape, has made a life study OF the
carrier pigeons, and before the war
broke out he had established pigeon
posts between most of the beleagurcd
cities. From Ladysmith, Kimberley,
and Mafekin:-, pigeons early in the
sicges regularly brought messages
from the English soldiers coored up in
the towns. Sir George Whites first
message from Ladvsmith was carried
by a pigeon, and this means Of COM
municating with the outside world
continued until the number OF birds
In the city vas exhausted.
1t was only short time before the
outbreak of the war in South Africa
that the English government had de-
cided to establish service of carrier
pigeons. In the navy, pigeon posts
were recognized means Of carrying
information rs early as 1896, and
there are over a 1000 birds recorded
on the books Of the royal navy. The
first naval loft was at Portsmouth and
now there are two others. In the
English army the posts have been con.
fined almost exclusively to the Cape,
where the nature Of the country
makes the homing-pigeon service Of
more value than in England.
The development of the war homing-
pigeon service throughout Europe has
been more rapid than elsewhere, and
army posts support large numbers of
them. Strict laws are male to protect
those in private lofts. AS great mill
tary camp, Europe looks upon the
carrier-pigeon as menace to tho
country II not held under strict mill
tary control. In Germany, for in.
stance, every pigeon raised by private
breeders must be registered, and the
pigeon cannot be taken out of the
country or sold without permission
from the military authorities. In the
event of var the German authorities
reserve the right to claim and take
possession of every carrier-pigeon in
the land In addition to this, every
fortress and camp on German soil has
it's pigeon service, and over $4,000 is
appropriated annually for the support
of this service. There are upwards
Of 10000 pigeons belonging to the war
department, anil every bird is careful
ly trained and tested.
The United States military and nav
al authorities have approved of the
pigeons as aids to the regular tele.
graphic means of communication, and
there are several posts established in
the west and along the Atlantic coast.
But on the.whole this country depends
more upon private breeders for its
supply of carrier-pigeons than upon
the birds already in the service Of the
army or navy. Our great distance by
sea from all other powerful nations
makes 1t unnecessary to arrange for
the services Of carrier-pigeons as the
European countries have done There
Is little chance Of any foreign army in.
vading this country and destroying
the railroad and telegraph lines con-
Meeting the big cities. Pigeon breed.
ing and training have therefore been
carried on in the United States more
in the interest. Of peace and pleasure.
There are hundreds Of enthusiastic
owners in every state of the Union.
and probably in no country has the |
work of rearing the birds hnnn aA