DOMESTIC PIGEONS lOS 



mained, however, the pigeon; and once more the 

 birds came into their own. By the day the actual 

 siege had begun, the military authorities within 

 the city had exchanged numbers of pigeons for 

 others from outlying districts. They had re- 

 organized the long forgotten and wholly defunct 

 pigeon post. 



Thousands of despatches were delivered and 

 received during that siege. The letters at first 

 were inscribed on ordinary paper and photo- 

 graphically reduced to thinner sheets. Later 

 they were printed in common type and micro- 

 photographed on filmy sheets of collodion. So 

 light were these films that 50,000 despatches could 

 be sent by one pigeon.^ Upon arriving at their 

 destination the films were projected upon a 

 screen and the message, thus enlarged, was copied 

 off. Later still, a sensitized screen was used and 

 the message was developed directly upon it. 



It is not to be supposed that the Germans were 

 entirely unaware of this system of transmitting 

 news from the beleaguered city, or that they took 

 no precautions agaiast it. As they knew that the 

 birds could be flown only in daylight, expert shots 

 were stationed on all high ground and in tree- 

 tops over which the pigeons might fly. What the 

 toll taken by these men amounted to history fails 

 to state. But it does say that the Prussians went 

 so far as to train hawks to capture the pigeons, 



1 "Encyclopedia Britannica"; article on "Pigeon-Post.'' 



