 Jean Desbouvrie ( c.1840 – 47 – ? ) was a French amateur bird trainer who believed that swallows could be put to use for military communications . During the late 19th century Desbouvrie persuaded the government of France to conduct a study on the feasibility of using swallows as messengers . His early demonstrations showed that swallows could exhibit homing behavior and that when they did so they flew much faster than homing pigeons . Desbouvrie also succeeded in curbing the birds ' natural migratory behavior . After obtaining authorization from the government for follow @-@ up testing , Desbouvrie delayed and did not follow through with rigorous experimentation . 
