Our Domestic Birds Part 16

=Description.= The common pigeon is about the size of the smallest bantam fowls. It is a plump, hard-feathered bird, with a short neck, a round head free from ornamental appendages, a short beak, and short legs. The prevailing color is a dull, checkered blue, varying in shade from a very light blue to nearly black. The blue is sometimes replaced by red with similar variations in shade. There are also white pigeons, black pigeons, and many birds in which all the colors that have been named are irregularly mixed.

The male and female pigeons are not distinguished by any regular differences of size, form, color, or voice. The males are usually a little larger and coa.r.s.er looking, and make themselves conspicuous by their vain posing and domineering ways, but none of these characteristics are reliable indications of s.e.x. The natural voice of the pigeon is a soft, gurgling coo repeated over and over with monotonous effect. It is sometimes heavier and more prolonged in the male, but except in the Trumpeter and Laugher Pigeons, in which the voice has been peculiarly developed, the difference in the voices of the male and female is not marked. Even in the two varieties mentioned, many males have such poor voices that the voice is not an infallible indication of the s.e.x. The most expert pigeon breeders are often in doubt about the s.e.x of some pigeons until they pair.

The name "pigeon" is from the Latin _pipio_ (to peep or chirp), and came into the English language from the French. The Anglo-Saxon name for the bird was probably _dufa_, from which we have the word "dove," which is still sometimes applied to pigeons. _Dufa_ was derived from _dufan_ (to plunge into). It seems probable that the name was given because of the pigeon's habit of dropping almost perpendicularly when descending from an elevated position. The male pigeon is called a c.o.c.k, the female a hen. Young pigeons are called _squabs_, _squeakers_, or sometimes _squealers_. The word "squab," which means "fat," describes the characteristic appearance of the nestling pigeon; the other terms refer to the noise it makes as it persistently begs for food.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 183. Tame pigeons. (Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts)]

=Origin.= Domestic pigeons are all descended from the wild Blue Rock Pigeon of the Old World. Although many of the improved varieties have been greatly changed in form, they are all perfectly fertile when bred together. The Blue Rock Pigeon is found in the wild state in Europe, Asia, and Africa. "Fancy Pigeons," by James C. Lyell, the best authority on the subject, contains this statement: "The British Blue Rock inhabits the rocks and caves on our seacoasts, as well as precipitous inland rocks, and certainly the difference between this bird and a common blue flying tumbler is very little. Their color is identical, their size almost so.... In the west of Scotland, where fanciers keep and show common pigeons, the wild Blue Rock domesticated is the bird so called."

It is by no means certain that these wild pigeons are a true wild race.

Considering the habits of the pigeon and its wide distribution in England centuries ago, it seems certain that many, if not all, of the pigeons now found wild in the British Isles are descended from birds once domesticated. Rock Pigeons of the same type, however, are found in many other parts of the Old World and, whether wild or feral, are plainly all from the same original stock. The American Wild Pigeon, also called the Pa.s.senger Pigeon, which was once found in enormous flocks in eastern North America, is often erroneously mentioned as the ancestor of domestic pigeons. The Rock Pigeon and the Pa.s.senger Pigeon are of different species and are very different in appearance and habits. The Rock Pigeon is what is called a shelf builder. It builds its nest on a ledge, or shelf, and will rarely even alight in a tree or a bush. The Pa.s.senger Pigeon is a wood pigeon, nesting and roosting in trees.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 184. Flock of Dragoon Pigeons[15]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 185. Flying Homer Pigeon[15]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 186. Silver Runt Pigeon[15]]

[15] Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts.

=Distribution in ancient times.= The pigeon was domesticated at a very early stage of civilization. Like the fowl, the duck, and the goose, it was well known to all civilized peoples of antiquity. To what extent the distribution of pigeons in domestication followed the early migrations of the human race is not known. It is probable that pigeons were domesticated before the Aryan migrations began, and also that the domestic stock was sometimes taken by Aryan colonists to their new homes; but it is equally probable that at various times in the history of the earth people coming to new lands domesticated some of the wild rock pigeons which they found there.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 187. Swiss Mondaine Pigeon[16]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 188. Splashed Homer[16]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 189. Blue-barred Homer[16]]

[16] Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts.

=Improved varieties.= Common pigeons are much alike the world over, and have changed little from the wild race, but in many different parts of the Old World the making of improved varieties began thousands of years ago, and in some places peculiar types were developed which were little known elsewhere until modern times. The varieties of the pigeon are so numerous that it is practically impossible to make a complete list of them. At the large shows in this country, cla.s.ses are made for more than one hundred fifty named varieties, in about forty breeds. In many of these breeds there are eight or ten princ.i.p.al color varieties, and an indefinite number of less popular varieties, specimens of which compete in a miscellaneous compet.i.tion in what is called the "any other variety cla.s.s." There are probably nearly three hundred varieties of pigeons bred in America and England. On the continent of Europe the number is very much greater. The Triganica pigeon has one hundred fifty-two color varieties, and it is said that another variety in Germany, not known in England and America, has one hundred thirty-eight color varieties. Where varieties are so numerous, many of the color differences are necessarily slight, and only those who know them well can readily distinguish the different varieties at sight; others are bewildered when they attempt to do so. In this chapter only the most p.r.o.nounced color varieties and the breeds of most interest to beginners will be described, but some of the most interesting of the others will be mentioned, to ill.u.s.trate the range of the improved types developed by fanciers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 190. White Hen Pigeons. (Photograph from Elmer E.

Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts)]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 191. Young Jacobin Pigeons. (Photograph from E. R.

B. Chapman, Stoneham, Ma.s.sachusetts)]

=The Carrier Pigeon.= The homing instinct--that is, the faculty of finding the way home after wandering or being taken away from it--is found in animals of all kinds. In some kinds of animals it is much more highly developed than in others, and some animals of each kind have more of it than is usual with their species. It is well known that migratory birds usually return to the same localities season after season, and that certain pairs often return to the same vicinity year after year and build their nests in the same places. When this instinct is highly developed in a wild bird, its habit of returning to the same nest is of great interest to those who observe it, but it has no particular value.

In a domestic bird the homing instinct or habit is of service because the owner of a bird relies upon it to make the bird return always to the place which he has provided for it, instead of taking shelter elsewhere or remaining where nocturnal enemies will find it an easy prey. In the domestic land birds the instinct has no further use than this, but in pigeons which, while thoroughly domesticated, retain full power of flight, the development of the homing faculty makes it possible to use them as a means of communication when it is necessary to transmit short letters with great dispatch.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 192. m.u.f.fed Tumblers with "saddle" color pattern.

(Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Ma.s.sachusetts)]

It is known that pigeons were used as messengers in war about the beginning of the Christian Era. An Egyptian bas-relief of about 1350 B.C. shows pigeons being released from cages just as they are now released in flying matches. The homing instinct is so strong in the common pigeon that any one familiar with its habits may easily suppose that pigeons were used to carry messages almost as soon as men had devised means of communication by writing upon any material which the birds could carry in their flight. There is reason to believe that in very ancient times pigeons were bred and trained especially for work of this kind in Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 193. Feeding pigeons on Boston Common. (Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts)]

The pigeon which in England and America now goes by the name of "Carrier Pigeon" is a type developed as a messenger pigeon in Persia and from that country distributed to many parts of the world. As bred in Asia it was larger and stronger than the common pigeon, and had a cere, or convoluted membrane, around each eye and at the juncture of the head and the beak. It is thought that this type of Carrier may have been taken from Asia Minor to England at the time of the Crusades, but nothing definite is known of it in Great Britain until the seventeenth century.

This old type of Carrier and several closely related varieties were used for messengers, and also in flying compet.i.tions, until the variety next described was developed. When the Carrier Pigeon was bred for carrying messages, no attention was paid to its color. Pigeon fanciers who were not interested in pigeon flying, but liked the Carrier for its other characters, early developed many distinct color varieties and also gave special attention to the form and carriage of the bird and to the development of the ceres around the eyes and on the beak. The Carrier Pigeon is now bred only as an exhibition bird.

=The Antwerp Homer.= Beginning sometime early in the last century, breeders of flying pigeons at Antwerp, in Belgium, developed a race which soon became celebrated for superior development of the homing faculty and for great speed and endurance. This race was at first called the Antwerp Carrier. When the invention of the telegraph made the services of pigeons as messengers on land unnecessary, pigeons that could fly long distances were still bred and trained for compet.i.tive flying matches. In these, as a rule, they carried no messages; the object was to see which bird would reach home first. So gradually the term "homer" was subst.i.tuted for "carrier," and the pigeons now called Homers, or Homing Pigeons, are the Antwerp Homing Pigeons. Good birds of this type are larger and stronger than the common pigeon, and have a bolder, more confident bearing and a more attractive carriage. They show their good breeding very plainly. Many of the pigeons called Homers are crosses or grades of the Antwerp Homer, and are not much better in any way than ordinary pigeons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 194. Flying Homer[17]]

[17] Photograph from C. E. Twombley, Medford, Ma.s.sachusetts.

The true Homer is also the most popular type of pigeon for the production of squabs for market. Its great prolificacy, strong const.i.tution, quick growth, and large size make it a favorite with squab growers. As bred for flying or for market, Homers are of various colors, and the color varieties are not distinct except as occasionally a breeder makes a specialty of producing birds of some particular color.

Many pigeon fanciers breed Homers solely for exhibition. The Exhibition Homer has many distinct color varieties--Blue, Silver, Mealy, Blue Checker, Black Checker, Black, Red Checker, White, Yellow.

=Tumbler and Tippler Pigeons.= The flying powers of pigeons have been developed for other purposes as well as for traveling long distances. In rising or descending in flight a pigeon sometimes turns a somersault in the air. This trait has been developed in certain races so that many birds will perform the feat very often. These races are called Tumblers.

They are found all over Europe and Asia and in a few localities in America. The common Tumblers perform in the air, usually at some distance from the ground, the tumbling of individual birds being an occasional feature of the evolutions of a flock circling about in the vicinity of its home. From this common Tumbler more highly specialized types have been developed. The breeding of these types has become something of an art, and in some cases the sport of flying them has become a well-organized recreation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 195. Squab-breeding Homers. (Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts)]

By breeding together specimens which performed well when flying, Tumblers were finally produced in which the tumbling propensity was so exaggerated that they could not fly but, after a few somersaults, alighted on their feet. These birds were called Inside Tumblers, or Parlor Tumblers, to distinguish them from the common Tumblers, which required more room for their evolutions than any ordinary building afforded. Although they are incapable of flight, the Parlor Tumblers can rise a short distance before they fall. The Roller is a Tumbler which turns many somersaults so rapidly that each revolution of its body is made in a very small s.p.a.ce. A high-flying Roller falls while rolling in the air. An Inside Roller turns over and over backward on the ground.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 196. Clean-legged Red Tumbler[18]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 197. m.u.f.fed, or Feather-legged, Tumblers[18]]

[18] Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Ma.s.sachusetts.

Breeders of common Tumblers do not give them liberty, but release them from their loft only when they wish to see the birds perform, and, by feeding them immediately upon their return, coax and train them to return to the loft soon after being released. A good performer is soon exhausted by tumbling, and is quite willing to return to the loft in a short time. But not all birds of Tumbler stock are good and persistent performers, and often birds that do not perform prefer liberty for a longer period to the food that is waiting for them in the loft. Birds have sometimes been compelled to remain in the air for a long time. As a result of this treatment of poor Tumblers a type of Tumbler has been produced which will perform more or less when ascending or descending, but which, having risen to a high elevation, will remain for hours circling over its home and perhaps occasionally flying away and returning. Tumblers of this type can remain in the air for five or six hours. In flying them for sport the object is to see which flock will remain in the air longest. The tumbling habit was gradually bred out of the high-flying birds, and after a time many of them did not tumble at all. Such birds were then called Tipplers ("tipple" having in some English dialects the meaning of "tumble"). The modern Tippler Pigeon is a bird in which the tendency to rise to a great height and remain there for a long time has been developed to the utmost, as the tendency to return home from great distances has been developed in the Flying Homer.

Performing Tumblers and Tipplers are usually bred for performance without regard to color, and the colors in a flock of the same breeding may be, and nearly always are, various. Exhibition stocks of Tumblers and Tipplers are bred in many distinct color varieties.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 198. English Owl Pigeon[19]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 199. English Red Trumpeter Pigeon[19]]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 200. English Saddle Trumpeter Pigeon[19]]

[19] Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Ma.s.sachusetts.

=The Fantail Pigeon.= The Fantail Pigeon originated in India. The fan-shaped tail, from which this variety takes its name, was developed by selection to increase the number of the large, straight main tail feathers. Normally a pigeon has from twelve to sixteen of these feathers; in the ordinary Fantail the number has been increased to twenty-four or twenty-six. Many of the specimens in which this character is highly developed have a much greater number of tail feathers. It is said that forty-two feathers have been counted in a tail. A tail in which there are so many feathers cannot be carried in the natural position; it spreads, forming a major segment of a circle, and at the same time it is elevated until, in specimens with very full tails, the highest tail feathers stand nearly perpendicular. To balance the large tail carried in this position the Fantail has to carry its head very far back. This makes the breast very prominent. The bird cannot fly well, and when walking about it appears to be strutting to make a display of its spectacular tail. Its appearance is in this respect deceptive, for it is a very modest bird and has difficulty in balancing itself in any other position. The Fantail is gentle and affectionate, and is the best of all pigeons for those who want birds for pets. It is bred in many color varieties. The White Fantail is the most popular, because it is the most showy and the easiest to produce with uniform color in a flock.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 201. White Runt Pigeon[20]]

[20] Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 202. White Pouter Pigeon]

=Pouter Pigeons.= All pigeons have in some measure the power of inflating the crop with air. In the Pouter Pigeons this power has been developed and its exercise encouraged to such an extent that in many specimens the inflated crop is as large as all the rest of the bird.

Pouters were introduced into England from Holland several hundred years ago. They were at first called Croppers. The common Pouter is a large pigeon with long legs. It usually stands in a very erect position.

There is a race of dwarf pigeons of this type, called Pigmy Pouters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 203. Fowl-like, or Maltese Hen, Pigeons[21]]

[21] Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Ma.s.sachusetts.