CHAPTER XVII 

 PIGEONS 



The pigeon is the only species of aerial bird kept in do- 

 mestication to provide food for man. It is also the only useful 

 domestic bird that is able to maintain itself and increase in 

 numbers in populous districts without the care of man. 



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 varia- 

 tions 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 coarser looking, and make themselves 

 conspicuous by their vain posing and domineering ways, but 

 none of these characteristics are reliable indications of sex. 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 de- 

 veloped, 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 indica- 

 tion of the sex. The most expert pigeon breeders are often in 

 doubt about the sex of some pigeons until they pair. 



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