Utility and Economy of Birds 



of its wounds, and although out in the wet all 

 night, the bird struggled home to its loft, a 

 distance of nine miles, and delivered its mes- 

 sage at 10.53 a.m. the following day, Octo- 

 ber 4th, dying shortly after its arrival (The 

 Field, 2.11.1918). The bird has now been 

 added to the museum of the Royal United 

 Service Institution, Whitehall, where it may 

 be seen stuffed in a glass case labelled "Died 

 of wounds received in action " (Daily Mail, 

 25.vii.i8). Had the feat of this PIGEON 

 been performed by a human being, it might 

 well have been rewarded by the V.C. 



It is impossible to estimate the value of 

 the " carrier " service to the Naval, Military, 

 and Air Forces. Not only were our PIGEONS 

 extensively employed on the Western Front, 

 but also at Salonika, in Italy, Egypt, Meso- 

 potamia, and elsewhere, and on innumerable 

 occasions they carried life-and-death mes- 

 sages with superhuman pluck and persever- 

 ance. Doubtless our enemies would speak 

 as highly of the services of their HOMERS. A 

 German pigeon-loft with thirty-five PIGEONS, 

 captured by the Canadians at Folies, near 



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