EVOLUTION OF THE CARRIER PIGEON. 369 



EVOLUTION OF THE CARRIER PIGEON. 



By M. G. EENAUD. 



THE exhibition at tlie Trocadero and the dispatches of pigeons 

 recently made at sea have attracted public attention to what 

 may be called columbophilism. They have, moreover, revealed 

 the existence of many flourishing societies that display their 

 activity in the training of hundreds of thousands of pigeons. It 

 is worth while to inquire into the motives which have provoked 

 this enthusiasm concerning these birds. 



Messenger pigeons are certainly of great service in time of war 

 as means of communication between different parts of the army 

 and the country when the telegraph lines have been broken. But 

 this does not account for the great extension which has taken 

 place in the last few years in pigeon-training. Belgium, for ex- 

 ample, has as many pigeons as all the other European countries 

 put together. Bat in selecting and training the best varieties of 

 pigeons the Belgians have not been actuated solely by considera- 

 tions of national defense. Their interest in their favorite sport is 

 largely determined by the excitement of gaming, and their Sun- 

 day pigeon matches are occasions of much betting. Very few 

 persons think now of utilizing the pigeons for purposes of daily 

 life. They have the telephone, telegraph, and mail ; why should 

 they go back to so primitive a method of correspondence ? Hence 

 an excuse is devised for relegating the pigeon to the category of 

 luxuries. We hope to show that it is something more important. 

 We believe that relations of every kind would gain much in con- 

 venience if the pigeon was employed concurrently with the most 

 improved means of correspondence. This useful messenger might 

 in many cases supplement or even take the place of the post and 

 telegraph. The most elaborate system of telegraph lines can only 

 serve places of a certain degree of importance, and they are not 

 built to effect connections the use of which is not constant or 

 profitable enough to justify the expense of constructing and main- 

 taining theni. 



Most valuable use has been made of carrier pigeons in the 

 past. The ancient civilized empires of Asia included many per- 

 haps relatively well settled regions infested by robbers and exten- 

 sive deserts through which well-armed caravans passed but incon- 

 veniently and where the most secure means of communication was 

 by means of these birds. The Greeks borrowed the use of pigeons 

 from these nations, and an Eginetan athlete sent home the news 

 of his victory at Olympia by means of one of them. The Romans 

 had a system of optical telegraphy and supplemented it by pigeons. 

 The use of this aerial post became more and more general toward 



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