Birds as Messengers 
week, but they require rest after them. It 
has been calculated that as many as 100,000 
PIGEONS were employed by the British forces 
during the war, and their demobilisation 
was announced in January 1919 (Daily News, 
22 1.29). 
In November 1914 the German invaders 
of France issued orders by which it was ‘‘ ex- 
pressly forbidden to keep live PiGEons of 
any breed,’’ and a penalty of fifty francs for 
each bird was imposed. The wretched in- 
habitants reluctantly killed all the birds 
they could, but many escaped and were 
driven to the fields. Here they were shot 
at by any passing German soldier, and if 
they alighted on some peasant’s roof they 
were driven off with volleys of stones for fear 
of incurring the penalty of a fine: PIGEONS 
had a hard time of it. It has been estimated 
that a million Belgian PIGEONS were stolen 
by the Germans during their occupation ; 
just before the Armistice some 25,000 were 
taken, of which only 5,000 were found at 
Spandau. Little hope is entertained of re- 
covering the remainder of the missing birds, 
7 
