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Show I ' IB Parachute for Carrier Pigeon Cage Designed IB ior. Use. in .JSending Pigeon to - IB Beleaguered Men. N Ik By Nelson Lamar B t U'iHE Important part In the war game played Wv by carrier pigeons gives special interest to a Bj A new invention designed to facilitate (he hand- B ling of pigeons and to make it possible to transmit B- them to groups of men cut. off from, communica- B Unless a fighting group thus shut off had a Bv carrier pigeon at hand, which would seldom he HI llkcly,they would, bo shut also from this .valuable Saving Soldiers With PigQons I Feathered Heroes of the War Front and the New Indention Thai Permits an . sfnB ' j Individual Cagei'' A. De Corte, Inventor of the Carrier Pigeon Cage. Carrier "' Pigeon in Cage Carried by Small Balloon. .... means of sending' a pigeon message. An invention inven-tion by A. De Corle provides a pigeon case which, witli the aid oP a parachute, may bo dropped with safety by an aviator.' The little basket designed by this inventor provides penf il and paper and the message may haaUnched .toijhe -"bird Jef ore, iL is released. Haying, wnllen' pnd atficlied..tho message the operator opens t'.io cage arid thj pigeon "homes" with whatever" information the shut off group chooses to send. The use of the invention, has .even a wider application, ap-plication, for the portability of the .'cage makes It easy to carry a bird to the front lines, and calls for more ammunition or any other information may quickly be sent back. v .. , Pig.cori3 by Balloon. . ' - - -- Mr. De Corle has also devised a small balloon .of a carrying capacity jiat Siifficierit to support tho pigeon cage. When the wind was 'favorable It would, according to tho h: vendor,- be possible to H ArSubniariiie Officer Sending Out a Carrier Pigeon. The Photograph Is Taken from the Gonning Tower; . ft j8f ' iSsteifeli-- JESS ' A K ' NcWHiiuper feature Service. J0t8. . L"' " ........ ' : J B Here Is a Camouflaged Carrier Pigeon Coop, so Painted as to Produce an Effect Merging B It with a Stone Fence and the Vegetation Seyond. B drop a cacc In any desired spot by the measuring of the gas. As the plan would bo simply to furnish fur-nish '.he bird its capture would !.e no calamity. "When the message is attaclietl the bird does its , own travelling and is very seldom brought down. The recently tried De Cortc pigeon coop is a .marvel, of . ingenuity. One phonograph on this page shows the portable coop as it appears when camouflaged so as to merge its lines intoa stone fence. Of course the camouflage system implies 1 an alteration of the painted "facet to fit any situation situa-tion where the coop was to be placed in daylight hours. When a pigeon re-turns homr- it alights on : an extension hoard in order to enter under the roof. His fo alighting rings a Aell. which is a iigna! for investigation of tho receptacle In which messages are carried. The interior appointments ,t of the coop provide completely for the feeding and comfort or the little war me.sengrs. Pigeonsn War The use of homing pigeons to car,ry messages s f13 Jld .s Solomon. ..H'he ancient. Gregkssed rKohvtb carry t'o vnrK&pc'ilios tho names of-the Olympic winners, and they are said' to have been ued in warfare by the Persians before Rome was founded. From the very beginning of the present war the carrier pigeon has played an important pari, iis most important duty being that of eor.veylag messages from Iho rrpnt-lhie trenchep to field headquarters while lh'o: hostile armies arc engaged. en-gaged. When the five is heavy it is sometimes impossible (o use the telegraph or telephone, and when smoke and gasca are thick or a fog settles down the ue of signal-; U out of the question, aiid it is then thai the hcm'in- pp-eoa -supplies tho ::cc-ded Imk in the Hnos of communication. . The pigeons are ueed aUo in ca.es whero mer' by accident .or the sudden turn of batUe arcwl ofT from tholr comrades and prevented by the fury of tho rombnrdmcnt and machine-sun fire to com nuimcate in any other way with the main force if they have been provided with pigeons. One case of Uus kmd is recorded where a (ompanv of allied troops was cut off fiom the rest .v a curtain of fire. Every man attempting to . break -through and rejoin. Hie main line was shot uown. Linally, under th.e bodies of some soldiers' who had been dead two days, a basket of pigeons was discovered. The birds were jn very bad cor- dition, but the men cre desperate and, risked sondmg a call for relief. In a few hours hclo came. Tlio pigeons had passed through what no man could face. IB A Pigeon Hero B Then there Is the case of "Dapaume Billy," a brown checker that brought back a message which saved a whole " battalion cut otf near Bapaume. jH And the well known story of the so-called "Vic-toria, "Vic-toria, Cross bird," which, after bringing a message jH of tho greateJt importance, fell dead in the pigeon IH t loft. The general in command at tho time was so impressed that he ordered thejjird to be stuffed, and It !s now in the war museum in Iondon. These are only samples of the many, many storlet told, of the persistence, courage and faithfulness tM of these wonderful little war messengers. When the forces of the first line trenches gT into battle -a large, number of pigeons; are iui plied for the use of the propcr'ctfi'cers in sending -. Voi'n-of prosronsba'clc- to headquarters-and in calling for" rp-enrbrcewoht3. supplies and po on. jH . As a rule, six copies. ff raeh message are made and.'sach is attached to one of a hair-dozen bird , liberattid. The pigeons immediately start for th home loft or for the field headquarters, and if only one of them succeeds in reaching its destination, the heaiiquartoi staff is satisfied, While" tho greatest number of pigeons are irert 'by the ground -units of the lighting forces, the-are.used. the-are.used. too. by the aviation section quite cxte; cively, Nlany. of. t,hc birds" arc. taken aloft in tig airplanes and l-elea.sed with messages which thr IH carry back to their 'lofts at b'ac headquarters of the v irious armies. Some idea of the importiwicc of the ho-r.in ' pigeon as a messenger can he gatherod from the report or recent teats '.hich showed thai on .-her - IH distance flights the birds can surpi'.sr. U:c wircls in .speed hen tljc message is of any length. The value of the new invention l!es in the pro-vision- it-m.akes fjr carrying a single bird ur.il' ' conditions not injurious to the, bird and extremal conATe4iient fo the fighting unit. A- baske o' birds' i" by no tnean.s easy to transport under cci-' cci-' tain conditions, wlicreas the portatle. single c:'" B makes the matter eaay. jH |