240 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



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. Diifa 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 cock, 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 re- 

 fer to the noise it makes as 

 it persistently begs for food. 

 Origin. Domestic pigeons 

 are all descended from the 

 wild Blue Rock Pigeon of 

 the Old World. Although 

 many of the improved va- 

 rieties 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 iden- 

 tical, 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 



FIG. 183. Tame pigeons. (Photograph 

 from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts) 



