398 THE ZooLoGist. 
“When reports were circulated a few days ago that an ingenious Frenchman 
was training Swallows for the work of carrier-pigeons, most people put them 
down to be mere canards ; but for once the sceptical were in the wrong, and 
the Swallow as a winged messenger has become almost an accomplished 
fact, as will be seen from the details which I subjoin. They are furnished 
by the trainer himself, M. Jean Desbouvrie, who lives in a village near 
Roubaix, and who has just been visited by an ornithological friend. It is 
now more than thirty years since he began his task. He was then a lad of 
of eleven. Being passionately fond of birds, he determined to try his hand 
on Swallows, and to show that, in spite of the universal belief to the 
contrary, they could be tamed and reared. At that time he served as 
errand boy to his father, and in the course of his rounds robbed all the 
nests he could come across. At length he succeeded in training a dozen 
or so to follow him about wherever he went. They would fly round his 
head and perch on his shoulders in the open street. To-day he has not 
only been able to tame them, but also to rear them, to make them keep to 
their cage, to fly in and out like pigeons, and, what is more extraordinary, to 
acclimatise them. ‘If the Swallow leaves us at the end of summer,” he 
says, “it is less from fear of cold than from lack of nourishment. As 
everybody knows, it lives on insects. Now, when the fine season is over 
the air ceases to be full of insects, and the Swallow migrates to escape 
starvation. Give him a shelter exposed to the south, and food which he 
can eat, and he will remain with us throughout the winter as in summer.” 
What the food is the trainer reserves to himself as a valuable secret. 
M. Desbouvrie has not yet begun to hatch the Swallows, which he assures 
us would be easy for him todo. He confines himself at present to obtaining 
the young ones from their nests. The upper storey of his house is set 
apart to them entirely. ‘There are two rooms; one is transformed into a 
large cage, the other adjoining it opens on a balcony, and serves as a kind 
of ante-chamber. ‘The cage contains twenty young birds; twelve of them 
are allowed to go in and out at leisure, the other eight are kept in captivity, 
and sold to fanciers. The carrier Swallows are easily recognised, having a 
small bit of coloured silk on their feet, and the age and quality of each bird 
are registered. For example, a red piece of silk indicates a Swallow perfectly 
trained, while a blue piece signifies one whose training is not yet complete. 
Four of the little prisoners, the oldest not more than twenty days, were let 
loose. It was raining in torrents at the moment, a circumstance by no 
means favourable to the trial. The birds rose in the air, flew round the 
house several times, and then darted off into the country, disappearing on 
the horizon. Twenty-five minutes after the youngest returned and perched 
on the balcony; the other three did not come back before an hour. They 
all then entered the cage-room, when M. Desbouvrie gave them some food, 
which they ate out of his hand. Capt. Degouy, who has been commissioned 
