Passing of Arthur

Wherever Thomas Ross, famed carrier-pigeon expert (TIME. Aug. 11), went, his old brown bird Arthur was indisputably king of the roost, for Arthur had a didactic turn of mind. Expert Ross joined the Army to train its Signal Corps pigeons. When he was transferred from Philadelphia to Fort Monmouth, N. J., it took Arthur some two years to get used to the change. But when he did consent to rule the Fort Monmouth roost, Arthur astounded the signalmen. He would help them teach a flock of young "squeakers" to home, by swooping down and herding the novices in.

Tame and intelligent, Arthur became the playmate of soldiers and of schoolchildren from the surrounding countryside. Only with his subject pigeons was he harsh, and that defect last week proved fatal.

When he returned to his nest, he found it occupied by several of his pupils. Angrily he pecked them off; perkily they refused to go. Like a true king, he would rule or perish: he fought. When the fight was over he, aged 18, was dead.

Successor is his grandson, Young Pete, a dark checker pigeon. Twice has Young Pete beaten a field of 3,200 pigeons in races from Washington, D. C.

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