There is a new staff of inspectors keeping a beady eye on things down at the ball bearing factory.

Products rolling of the assembly line are being checked by educated pigeons.

And their bosses claim that they are just as good as any humans at making sure the finished article is up to scratch.

The pigeon’s eyesight is so good that they can spot the slightest blemishes in the steel balls, which are produced in the Moscow factory.

They have been trained to peck a special plate when one bearing looks different to the others, even if it has only a fingerprint on it.

A reject sign lights up, the bearing is taken away, and the pigeon gets its ‘pay’ – a few millet seeds.

The Russians say the birds can be trained to peck out the rogue balls in three to five weeks.

They can inspect between 3000 and 4000 bearings an hour, claims an article in the Soviet Weekly.

And they never try to get extra wages by pecking out of turn.

Any attempt to bring feathered inspectors into this country is unlikely to get off the ground.

An executive for one of Britain’s largest ball bearing manufacturers said, " It really sounds like one for the birds.

I shall be interested to read the Russian report, but in Britain we rely on electronic inspection and the trained human eye.

I would much rather depend on a competent human inspection than a bird anyday.

I know that there are a lot of pigeons flying around, but it has never occurred to us to train any for this kind of work "

But support for the Russian idea came from pigeon expert Dr Ronald Morton, of the national environmental research council.

He said " scientifically its quite possible

Pigeons, like other birds, have remarkable eyesight and they are quite easily domesticated.

The Russians have simply put them to work for economic ends. "

The pecking, of course, is a conditioned reflex, and the Russians have been very keen on conditioned reflexes ever since Pavlov and his dogs.

Daily Mirror 1974