PIGEONS 



243 



FIG. 190. White Hen Pigeons. (Pho- 

 tograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, 

 Massachusetts) 



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 dif- 

 ferent varieties at sight ; 

 others are bewildered when 

 they attempt to do so. In 

 this chapter only the most 

 pronounced 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 

 illustrate the range of the improved types developed by fanciers. 

 The Carrier Pigeon. The homing instinct that is, the fac- 

 ulty 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 spe- 

 cies. It is well known that 

 migratory birds usually re- 

 turn 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 



FIG. 191. Young Jacobin Pigeons. (Pho- 

 tograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stone- 

 ham, Massachusetts) 



