Couriers of the Air. 73 



been the supposed impossibility of making them 

 fly backwards and forwards between two points ; 

 they would only fly in one direction. Now, how- 

 ever, Captain Malogoli, the head of the Italian 

 military carrier pigeon depots, has, after immense 

 and unwearying trouble, succeeded in getting his 

 pigeons to fly backwards and forwards between 

 Rome and Civita Vecchia (seventy-two kilo- 

 metres). This practical success has shattered 

 the theories of various ornithologists, as Russ, 

 who have affirmed that pigeons cannot be made 

 to fly in two directions. The chief points to 

 be observed in the rearing of pigeons are 

 roomy, warm houses, facing toward the sun; 

 scrupulous cleanliness, light food, and abundance 

 of clean, fresh water. The smaller the birdpand 

 .the quieter its colour, the better chance it stands 

 of safety from human and other enemies ; among 

 the latter the falcon is the most dangerous. The 

 military pigeon-post is best organised in Germany, 

 Italy, and France. In the last French budget a 

 sum of sixty-eight thousand francs was devoted 

 to this branch of the service, and there are at 

 present in France twenty-two sub-depots, besides 

 the chief pigeon station. In Italy there are twelve 

 sub-depots, and five in the Italian possessions in 

 Africa. 



The following are the regulations as to 

 training and flying in connection with the 

 messenger war pigeons . in Italy. The posts 



