Bird Notes & News 



ISSUED QUARTERLY BY THE ROYAL SOCIETY 

 :: :: FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS :: :: 



Vol. VIII.] 



WINTER, 1918. 



[No. i. 



The First Flying Corps. 



Before the traditional Dove of Peace 

 definitely settles on the tree -tops of a world 

 so long submerged in war, and while British 

 gratitude to the three services of King and 

 Country is still burning brightly, it is not 

 too much to ask for some recognition of the 

 war-work of the birds, that feathered Flying 

 Corps which stiU transcends the marvels 

 of aeroplane and airship, and but for the 

 existence of which it is hardly probable 

 man's thoughts would ever have conceived 

 of aerial flight. 



For the first time, it is pretty safe to say, 

 in the history of London the Bird had a 

 definite place in the pageant of the Lord 

 Mayor's 8how of 1918. A travelling Pigeon- 

 loft was carried in the procession to remind 

 the public of the splendid achievements of 

 the Carrier-Pigeon, the most essential and 

 most renowned of the battle's feathered 

 soldiers. At the recent " Savoy Fair " also, 

 in London, a cote of war Pigeons was exhi- 

 bited by the Royal Air Force, and was in- 

 spected with special interest by the Duchess 

 of Portland, as President both of the Fair 

 and of the Royal Society for the Protection 

 of Birds. The Homing Pigeon first became 

 notable in war during the siege of Paris in 1 870. 

 At the beginning of the war in 1914 the 

 British authorities took a characteristic course 

 in dealing with these birds. They ordered 

 the internment or destruction of all Pigeons 

 along the coast. Thousands of lives of 

 men depended upon the reversal of that 

 edict, and upon the use instead of slaughter 

 of the birds. The minesweepers, as the 

 Times has pointed out, were the first to 

 realise the existence of a means of communi- 

 cation possible where all others failed ; and 

 an emergency Pigeon service was established 

 through private owners, by means of which 



minesweepers were enabled to send informa- 

 tion to shore of large minefields newly laid 

 and other dangers of the sea. " Many a 

 patrol-boat owed its continued existence 

 to the Pigeons." 



Not until March 1916 were the first 

 English Pigeons sent over to the Western 

 front ; but with the first test of their value 

 the demand flew over the length and breadth 

 of the European battlefield, and Pigeon 

 services were also established in Mesopotamia, 

 Egypt, and Salonika ; they were found to be 

 not only important but of vital importance 

 to the land forces, to the air forces, to the 

 sailor ; and the end of the war found the 

 three sections of the Pigeon service — naval, 

 military, and air force — a recognised part 

 of British warfare. 



Many stories have been told of these 

 Pigeons : of the messages brought by them 

 from Vaux Fort, from the battlefields of 

 the Marne and from AiTas and Verdun, and 

 many another critical point. " The officer 

 who commanded the first Tank Corps 

 battalion stated that Pigeons had frequently 

 saved the situation for him. Neither a gas 

 cloud nor a heavy barrage of artillery fire 

 deterred these messengers from bringing 

 their despatches." In the first break in the 

 German offensive in July last, in Champagne, 

 the rapid communication made possible by 

 " columbograms " was a deciding feature 

 of the attack ; the battle of IMonchy was 

 won through a flying message to the troops 

 at the base ; a counter-attack at Arras was 

 smashed by the same means. In Macedonia 

 the birds were described as an indispensable 

 help to our forces. 



The record of the British airman's debt 

 to his feathered comrade is still more 



