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PIGEON POST
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See also:PIGEON See also:POST . The use of homing pigeons to carry messages is as old as See also:Solomon, and the See also:ancient Greeks, to whom the See also:art of training the birds came probably from. the Persians, conveyed the names of Olympic victors to their various cities by this means. Before the electric See also:telegraph this method of communication had a considerable See also:vogue amongst stockbrokers and financiers. The Dutch See also:government established a See also:civil and military pigeon See also:system in See also:Java and See also:Sumatra See also:early in the loth See also:century, the birds being obtained from See also:Bagdad. Details of the employment of pigeons during the See also:siege of Pans in 1870-71 will be found in the See also:article POST AND POSTAL SERVICE: See also:France. This led to a revival in the training of pigeons for military purposes. Numerous private See also:societies were established for keeping pigeons of this class in all important See also:European countries; and, in See also:time, various governments established systems of communication for military purposes by pigeon post. When the possibility of using the birds between military fortresses had been thoroughly tested See also:attention was turned to their use for See also:naval purposes, to send messages between See also:coast stations and See also:ships at See also:sea. They are also found of See also:great use by See also:news agencies and private individuals. Governments have in several countries established lofts of their own. See also:Laws have been passed making the destruction of such pigeons a serious offence; premiums to stimulate efficiency have been offered to private societies, and rewards given for destruction of birds of See also:prey. Pigeons have been used by See also:newspapers to See also:report yacht races, and some yachts have actually been fitted with lofts. It has also been found of great importance to establish See also:registration of all birds. In See also:order to hinder the efficiency of the systems of See also:foreign countries, difficulties have been placed in the way of the importation of their birds for training, and in a few cases falcons have been specially trained to interrupt the service in See also:war-time, the Germans having set the example by employing See also:hawks against the See also:Paris pigeons in 1870-71. No satisfactory method of protecting the weaker birds seems to have been evolved, though the See also:Chinese formerly provided their pigeons with whistles and bells to scare away birds of prey. _ In view of the development of wireless telegraphy the See also:modern tendency is to consider fortress warfare as the only See also:sphere in which homing pigeons can be expected to render really valuable services. Consequently, the See also:British See also:Admiralty has discontinued its pigeon service, which had attained a high See also:standard of efficiency, and other See also:powers will no doubt follow the example. Nevertheless, large See also:numbers of birds are, and will presumably continue to be, kept at the great inland fortresses of France, See also:Germany and See also:Russia. See L. de See also:Puy de Podio, See also:Die Brieftaube in der Kriegskunst (See also:Leipzig, 1872); Brinckmeier, Anzucht, Pflege, and Dressur der Brieftauben (llmenau, 1891). PIGEON-See also:SHOOTING, a See also:form of See also:sport consisting of shooting at live pigeons released from traps. The number of traps, which are six-sided boxes, falling See also:flat open at the See also:release of a See also:spring, is usually five; these are arranged 5 yds. apart on the arc of a circle of which the shooter forms the centre. The distance (maximum) is 31 yds., handicapping being deter-See also:mined by shortening the distance. The five traps are each connected by wires with a See also:case (" the puller ") ; a single See also:string pulled by a See also:man stationed at the See also:side of the shooter See also:works anarrangement of springs and See also:cog-wheels in the " puller," and lets fall one of the traps; it is impossible to know beforehand which See also:trap will be released. At a fixed distance from the centre of the traps is a boundary within which the birds See also:hit must fall if they are to See also:count to the shooter. This See also:line varies in distance in the various clubs; the See also:National See also:Gun See also:Club boundary being 65 yds., that of the See also:Monaco Club being only 20 yds. The See also:charge of shot allowed must not exceed 11 oz. The best type of pigeon is the See also:blue See also:rock. From the start of the Hurlingham Club at See also:Fulham in 1867 pigeon-shooting was a favourite sport there; it was, however, stopped in 1906. The See also:principal pigeon-shooting centre in See also:England is now at the National Gun Club grounds at See also:Hendon. The great See also:international competitions and sweepstakes take See also:place at Monaco. An artificial See also:bird of See also:clay, now more usually of a See also:composition of See also:pitch, is often substituted for the live pigeon. These clay birds are also sprung from traps. This sport originated in the See also:United States, where, under the name of " trap-shooting," or inanimate bird shooting, it is extremely popular. At first the traps invented threw the birds with too great regularity of See also:curve; now the traps throw the birds at different and unknown angles, and the skill required is great. In clay-bird shooting the traps usually number fifteen, and are out of sight of the shooter. The Inanimate Bird Shooting Association in England was started in 1893. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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