Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1919 — Pigeons' Part in Winning War [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pigeons' Part in Winning War

by E.B.Reid

Uncannu Instinct of Homers Saved Lives of Manu Soldiers During Struggle Just Ended

r(j >RE records of this war are replete ' W ' with stories of the courageous work I performed by carrier pigeons while saving the lives of our soldiers, but I no incident better illustrates what A they have accomplished than their activities in the battle of Bethun- ' .court and Dead Man’s hill. An en- » tj re French regiment was cut oft from their comrades, completely surrounded for four days, and with no method of communicating word of their plight to the general in command. That fourth night one of the men scouting in No Man s Land stumbled over a dead comrade on whose back was strapped a basket carrying two little pigeons that during the four-day battle had been safeguarded by the body of their caretaker. Tenderly the scout brought the basket and birds back to the colonel on the hill. Early the next morning messages were written, affixed to the legs of the birds, which, exhausted and dustsoiled, but imbued with indomitable spirit and pluck, were liberated—wafted into the air by the prayers and wishes of the regiment, bearing with them the only remaining hope for these thousands

of men and the happiness of other thousands in tlK'ir families at home. Shortly afterward both birds fluttered wearily into their loft buck at headquarters; and in a sortie ordered by the gerj- • oral the enemy was driven back and the regiment saved. One of the officers of that regiment is now in Washington, and he has promised himself that Upw the war Is over he will have a loft of the best birds he can got. and the best care and attention that is possible will be but a slight part of his .measure of appreciation and gratitude-to —Hie little feiithered Trrrs«en-gery"towhom he and his comrades owe their lives. __ These little birds have been used in almost every conceivable way to get word back to the . -twswves--or—to-. headquarters . . .when ...all other . means of communication failed. .. ■ ..... Carrier pigeons are not only used by the infantry -and- the navy, but are used frequently- by the air service. At the Dunkirk hydroplane station they have an, enviable record. There has not been a single accident to a plane, nor the loss of a plaije in combat, where word of the occurrence was not brought back by the pigeons which are a part of the equipment of the planes. Instances of the value of the messengers could be multiplied without number, but it is more Interesting to recount how these birds are bred, reared and housed under war conditions. The pigeon’s ability to do all of these wonderful tasks lies in its faculty of orientation, that is, its power to know as soon as it i,s released in what direction its home loft is and to fly directly to itThe perfection to which orientation is developed in the highly bred and trained homer was recently demonstrated at a pigeon fly conducted by the pigeon section of signal corps, when 3,100 homing pigeons were released in Washington for a fly to New York city, 224 miles. To a single bird, these pigeons ran out of their coops and arose in the air with the speed of an express train, and after taking a half circle to get their bearing off for* New York. Every one of the pigeons was repdfted to have arrived promptly and the first arrival made the trip in 5 hours and 40 minutes. Surely it did not stop to read many sign posts on the weyr/Just how the homing pigeon developed this power of orientation is a moot question, but it is certain that it has been cultivated through centuries until now it is almost’ uncanny. What guides the pigeon ba ck Jo the lofFwhere it fir t •’took to the air” is a quality called by many names, and you will find that each person knows that he has the answer to the riddle. Some call it innate love of home; others attribute it to' faculty, atmospheric conditions, sight, or memory. Ptsnsonally, I cannot call it anything more or less' than instinct, highly developed. We find it in lesser degree in horses, dogs and cuts, and in other birds it seems to be developed a little less, markedly, but with sufficient accuracy so that they migrate annually thousands of'fniles without the aid of any other compass than their instinct. When we remember the potbnt selection and think of the years and generations of careful' breeding and selection which the homing pigeon has undergone it is not ,sq wonderful that they have developed the homing instinct to a high •Merrwi - "I 1 seen - tbow*-' fifghons, bred to such a degree of fineness that they weighed only a few ounces apiece and were .- . -

so nervous that they could not stand still —they were-like the hair-spring of a watch, constantly preening and ducking and on the move. In very early times homing pigeons were' in vogue in Egypt, Greece and among the Romans. Racing pigeons has been a royal and national sport in Belgium, France, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and England for Hundreds of years. It was introduced into this country in the seventies and has enjoyed „ a fair and steady growth until now there are three national homing pigeon : fssoel ffflon s w i th” a membership of more than 2.000 breeders. Much time is spent iu teaching the pigeon all of the tricks which~coTmt~wiien the bird is actuall-y- ---, racing- in compel iti on wit ii oth e r pi geons. It is.. taught to enter the loft immediately upon its return, for a bird that does not enter so that the message it carries can be taken ..front it is of very little value ;as a messenger. Nothing is more than to have the pigeon return and cool its anatomy and view the scenery for a half .hour before entering the loft. It is nearly sufficient cause fb make the trainer of pigeons lose his pigeon nature; besides it gives the neighbors a chance to make remarks about lire fullgrovvn men playing with birdies.; Once the bird is inside the loft it cannot emerge. since each loft is equipped with a z tnip through winch the bird can enter at any time hut cannot go out unless the trap is set for exit. The-ordinary barn variety of pigeon or those bred fdr the production of squabs for market and the racing homing pigeon should not lye confused. They are as distinct and have as many points of difference as have the big draft horse and the high-strung, nervous racing horse. The ordinary pigeon Sas very little homing ability, whereas the homing pigeon is* kept and bred exclusively for tiiat faculty. They are also bred for speed, and every muscle which is used in flight is developed almost at thy expense of the other muscles of its body. In races the actual speed recorded is almost bqyond Relief. Speeds of 1,850 to 1,900 yards per minute, or 00 miles per hour, have been made for short distances, and it is not extraordinary for a bird to cover Tn excess of 500 miles in a single day. The record for 1,000 miles is 1 day, 11 hours, 24 minutes and 11 seconds, and was made by a bird named Bullet, and the longest successful- .vtufe Wai Jmiles from _ Denver, Colo., to Springfield, Mass, (time 22 days, 3 hours. 22 minutes), although instances are recorded where birds sent from’ New York to the Pacific coast as breeders, have, on liberation or escape, returned from California, over the mountains atid plains to their old homes in New York. At various times in this country the army and navy have decided to use use carrier pigeons in thelr wprk, but with Indifferent success until the recent whir. Tfie old reports are rather amusing when considered in the light of present-day knowledge of what can lie done with the birds when handled properly. Pigeons were used in.the navy more than 20 years ago. hut Willed through lack of proper care. At the time of the Mexi<‘an border trouble pigeons were agnin tried.■ but with little success Tor the same” feusbn and through lack of time for -acclimatization. z „■ . Homing pl geons were first pu t on a businesslike basis in the' army In March. 1917. In, the jenstern department. In November or that year .the pigeon soclrtna. of tby Pal po'rps was organized, /and since then rapiij progress has been made In this country and

abroad. Hundreds of lofts have been built and equipped In this country, * and in the early days many pigeons were shipped overseas. M A “have been selected and trained - In the science of pigeon breeding, rearing and flying. Many of these have already found service overseas in the care of lofts and the birds of our armies. It has been necessary to train a large number of people in this work, as it was practically new to each person wjp took it up.' The training of officers and men in the use and care of the birds at the front and in the forwarding of messages all took time. Unfortunately the pigeons could only fly and could not talk, necessitating the writing of the messages. Some wag has proposed to improve the pigeon by crossing it with a parrot, thus elim-

inating the necessity of writing tne message*. However, the pigeon might have something to s*ay about the matter. , One of the most difficult parts of the work of introducing pigeons into the army service was to insYill into the minds of the officers and men the fact that the pigeons are reliable. That they are reliable is proved by the experience overseas, where the birds are retained in forward positions while any other method, whether telephone, telegraph, induction buzzers, wireless, w.igwag or rimner is available, and only when everything else fails, and only the birds remain, thru through. - barrage gtifr-Md- every other of—tlie diabolical inventions of war. more_tlian 97 per cent of the messages intrusted to our pigeo’ns are safely and speedily delivered by them to headquarters. These messengers are carried .to the front in especially constructed wicker baskets which can lie carried handily by the soldier intrusted with their care. Back of the'lines the pigeons are kept in either of two kinds of lofts or home, stationary or movable, but the essential feature of each is the same. Every effort is made to make each bird comfortable, happy and attached to its home. This is done most, effectively by the method of feeding, as the approach to the bird's affection Is through its storqach, the same as with genus homo. Each loft is equipped with a trap through which the birds are taught to enter and leave without fedr. Each time the bird enters the trap an alarm is automatically rung, notifying the attendant of the return of the bird, that the message may be immediately obtained and forwarded to headquarters. ' . Before the late war if you had told a pigeon fancier that you could movehls”pigebn Tdft as far as 50 miles and that the pigeons would return to it swiftly and accurately £e would probably have laughed at you and said something about, your being a novice in the pigeon racing and breeding game. The movable loft is one of the advances in pigeon lore that the war has brought out. This its a very as it Is "thaFfhe lofts always be near to mili t ary boadquarters and available for instant removal with headquarters as conditions may require. These movable lofts are very well constructed ami are interesting homes for these itinerant messengers. They are outfitted with nesting boxes, observation traps, storage space for feed. water, -and accommodations'for one or two aK ten du nts who are constantly on duty. In fact, they remind one of the’ciriyis A \vagons that travel with the smaller circuses about the country. l Amuher innovation' developed #vas the “owl ex- > press? There were pigeons at the front that developed the TncuTfy“'7br seeing at night and these were called veritable human night owls. -In fact, they enhie home much more steadily and •accurately, than some of their civilian brethren, who were wont to be habitual riders of the- “owl express.’* , • , The sport of racing and breeding pigeons is due to receive an impetus as a civilian .sport now that was IS “elided- itmt the qyrgress -made tinder *war*conditTons should not He allowed to lfip<te. Thousands of soldiers will have bedbtm 1 familiar with the birds 'and will have A warm regard for them-.-----ThCrgwill be many who - will share the feeling of the officer who was mentioned in the pi'zebns in the battle of Bethuucourt and Dead Man’s hill. • • <,