Utility and Economy of Birds 



vants than the HOMING PIGEONS of his army 

 and navy. 



It is of interest to note that PARROTS were 

 employed, early in the war, at the Eiffel 

 Tower to announce the approach of hostile 

 aircraft. It was found at first that the birds 

 gave warning fully twenty minutes before 

 an aeroplane or airship could be identified 

 by the eye or heard by the human ear. The 

 birds, however, which could never be trained 

 to discriminate between a French and a 

 German aeroplane, appear to have grown 

 indifferent or bored, so that they ceased to 

 be trustworthy (Daily Mail, i.ii.iS). 



It is well known that CANARIES, being 

 about fifteen times more sensitive than a man 

 to poisonous gases, are used in mines and 

 in mining disasters to test atmospheric con- 

 ditions and save miners or explorers from 

 gas-poisoning. The Government Mines Com- 

 mittee recommended that two or three birds 

 should be kept at rescue stations for the 

 testing for carbon-monoxide. Our soldiers 

 on the Western Front are said on one occa- 

 sion to have been warned, by the behaviour 



22 



