Ancient and Modern History Quiz for 9 January 2012

A new history quiz is available each week. Try our daily general knowledge quiz or work through our archive of daily and themed quizzes.

Question 1: In the late 19th century, Jean Desbouvrie, an amateur bird trainer, persuaded the government of France to conduct a feasibility study to use what birds as messengers after early demonstrations showed that they could "home" and flew faster than pigeons?