PIGEONS FROM THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11544, 1 December 1900, Page 6 (Supplement)

PIGEONS FROM THE WAR.

At the Royal Aquarium lately, there was a show of carrier pigeons. Six of them came from Lady smith. They have been sent by Mr. Arthur Hirst, chief of the pigeon post in South Africa. When Ladysmith was invested it was these winged messengers alone that enabled Sir George White to talk over the head of the enemy. One of the blockade-flyers is a red cock, with "white flights." His name is White Nose, and it is ho wonder he has a hint of scorn in his eye foi less distinguished pigeons. For it was White Nose that carried the first despatch from Ladysmith to Durban on November 8, flying in Durban to the loft of one Mr. Booth. Another is a light chequer hen. Her achievement was to carry the last message from Ladysmith to Durban. Two of the other four were liberated, but did not arrive. These were the messengers that failed. Carrier pigeons are judged, like other pigeons, by their points, and by their record. One pigeon at the Aquarium ha« flown 630 miles. In America a pigeon has been known to fly 1000. America has this advantage over smaller land-areas that its vast expanses permit a carrier pigeon to rest. Flying over water is the hardest of work.