At the billet the birds of the Army Pigeon Service have their individual well appointed quarters. Here they are rested after a “lesson” and their flights; it is also here where the young are reared. Only a baby, but in the course of a few months this young pigeon, seen being cared for by a Corporal of the Army Pigeon Service, will have learnt its job. As in the last war it was the same during WWII, the Army Pigeon, Service provided its usefulness. The Royal Corps of Signals had its own pigeon unit each under the control of a Pigeon Officer, usually one accustomed to handling pigeons in civilian life. Most of the birds had been loaned by pigeon fanciers for the duration of the War. Carrier pigeons were used by Signals units in cases where the utmost degree of secrecy must be observed, and also in emergencies when radio communication was impossible and other means of signalling had broken down. They would fly round storms or over heavy concentrations of gas, they never stopped for' a meal, though if very thirsty they would have come down to take a drink of water they have spotted from the air. A good homer flew at the speed of 40 mph, though exceptionally a bird could cover 60 miles in an hour’s flight. Pigeons were used during the siege of Paris in 1870, and during the Great War both French and British maintained an excellent pigeon service on the Western Front; the first birds were sent across the Channel from England in March 1916… Off they go! Taken some distance from their billets, the pigeons are released from the basket; and at once they set out on the homeward journey. A good homer could cover 40 miles in an hour. Messages were carried in little metal cylinders which (as seen in this photograph) were attached to the pigeon's leg.