The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-12-04
POStn1en Of the Air.
Work Of Carrier Pigeons in Peace ano n
War--EngIand Discards Them.

again the bird would obtain its bear
ings, possibly cast its eye round until
it saw the advertisement on Dewar's
chlmney-stack on Waterloow Bridge,
which was near its last point of liber-
alton, and then take a straight course
to its home at Tit-Bits office The next
point of liberation would probably be
a further ten miles away. AS in the
first instance, the bird would make
straight for home. After reaching
the twenty stage, the stages are
| increased ten miles a stage until fifty
miles is reached, after which they are
still further increased by twenty-five
miles at time. The usual journeys
for young birds are from 100 to $50
miles, but young pigeons of from five
/ to six months have flown from Banff
to London, 430 miles, and it is no UNI
common thing for a bird twelve
! months old to fly from Nantes to Lam
oashire-450 miles, but is more usual
to wait until they are three or four
years old before setting them these
=
II must not be supposed that the
use OF pigeons for utility purposes is
entirely thing of the past, for MANY
medical men and numerous business
firms still continue to use them with
advantage. In Lancashire more than
one mill owner has loft at the mill
1or the purpose of intercommunica-
inn hot =
or, when the telegraph Office is some
distance Off, pigeons will fly home
with message from place four Or
live miles away, and much more |
quickly than it would be possible to
get into communication on the teie- |
phone or reach the telegraph office.
In Wales there are still neWspapar |
offices that rely on the pigeon post to
bring them results of football |
matches, athletic sports on Saturday
afternoons and other news of meet
lngs, for the reason that many of
these take place at distance from
telegraph office, and the pigeon can
arrive home with the result much
more quickly than the reporter could
reach the telegraph Office, much less
his message.
The simplest method of attaching
the iimsy is by binding it round a
birds leg and placing over this rub
Der ring, known as the "rosoor" ring,
and as the birds are taught to wear
lhe rubber ring when flying out from
the loft they feel no irritation fol its
being placed over a message that is
being carried. There are, of course.
other methods Of attaching the mes
sage, but the one mentioned is by far
ne most simple and effective, and
was adopted by the naval authorities.
Provincial medical men have made '
md are making considerable use OF
pigeons in connection with their prac- I
ice. They will take with them a bas-
ret OF pigeons in their motor cars. .
After visiting the patients, the neces- 8
AIRY prescription is written out and ,
orWarded home by pigeon post; the i.
dispenser ct once makes up the pre- ,
crlption, and practically before the
physician has finished his rounds. and
ong before he has reached home !
GAIN the boy in buttons starts off to
oliver the bottles of medicine on his
lcycle car. In many provincial dis
riots 1t is, Of course, useless to write
ut prescriptions to be sent to the To- y
al chemist, for the nearest is often
ONE miles away. a