Utility and Economy of Birds 



brought wanted news then ; so do the 

 CARRIER PIGEONS of the war zone bring 

 their messages now" (New York American, 

 28.iv.i8). A recruiting message from Lady 

 Reading was carried in May 1918 from 

 Washington by three CARRIER PIGEONS to 

 New York, where it was read at a mass 

 meeting under the auspices of the British 

 and Canadian Recruiting Committee (The 

 Times, 3O.v.i8). In the pageant of the 

 Lord Mayor's Show of 1918 a travelling 

 pigeon-loft took part in the procession to 

 remind the public of the splendid achieve- 

 ments performed by members of the Carrier 

 Pigeon Service, which has been not inaptly 

 dubbed the " First Flying Corps" (Bird 

 Notes and News, vol. viii. p. 25). Before 

 April 1919 the demobilisation of the PIGEONS 

 and their attendants in France had taken 

 place with the exception of birds and men 

 selected for the Army of Occupation. Some 

 9,000 to 10,000 birds that had served their 

 country well had to be disposed of. They 

 would have been a drug on the English 

 market if they had been sent home and the 



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