Pigeon post

Pigeon post or pigeon mail used homing pigeons to dispatch messages on very thin paper ("flimsies"). These provided fast (and therfore premium) service for places like relatively isolated places without regular connections.

Aside from the usual shorter distance messaging including military usage, examples include:
 * The Siege of Paris, September 1870 to January 1871. Paris was encircled but homing pigeons could be sent out by hot air balloon to get letters into Paris. After a time, messages were put on microfilm to get more content sent. Another method was the use of boules de Moulins, capsules containing letters that floated just below the surface of the Seine River that could be caught by nets in Paris. The ballon monté (hot air balloon) service was used for outgoing mail, with the balloons landing in random spots.
 * New Zealand's Great Barrier Island Pigeongram Services connected that island with Auckland, over 110km (over 65mi) away by ship. This service lasted under various operators from 1897 to 1908.
 * Various local post services including:
 * Herm Island to Guernsey (1949). See: Herm Island.
 * Santa Catalina Island to Los Angeles (1894-98)

Available references

 * Pigeon Mail Through History, by Salvador Bofarull
 * Sale No. 854 — Siegel Auction Galleries: The Oded Eliashar Award-Winning Collection of Worldwide Pigeon Post Mail, pdf for the cancelled sale.





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