XII 

 PIGEONS 



I. In Past and Present Times 



Though the pi^foii comes at the end of 

 this work, and consequently after many other 

 of our domestic animals, both quadrupeds and 

 bipeds, it is not because it is less worthy of 

 esteem. Unlike the gallinaceous tribes, the 

 pigeon, by its docility and its readiness to 

 approach man, is a better domestic animal in 

 the literal sense of the word than most of our 

 other feathered friends. Yet the pigeon has a 

 quality that enables him, whenever 

 he chooses, to break off instantly, 

 and with far more ease than 

 our other domestic birds, the 

 ties of friendship that unite 

 him to house and family. 

 He can fly with a rapidity 

 and to a distance unat- 

 tainable by man — so 

 long as the science of bal- 

 looning is in its infancy. 



It is difficult to say when 

 the pigeon was first known as 

 a domestic animal. We know for 

 certain that he was such in prehis- 

 toric times, so that his taming must date 

 back to the youth of our planet. All 

 pigeon races descend from a wild pigeon 

 still existing, the rock pigeon, called also the 

 wood pigeon, or ringdove. This species is spread 

 throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa ; but it is 

 found especially, and in vast numbers, among 

 the islands of the tropical seas. In view of the 

 incredible variety of species, it is almost incom- 

 prehensible how they could all have come from 

 one stock ; yet the fact was proved by Darwin. 

 The earliest mention of tamed pigeons is, 

 according to Professor Lepsius, the famous 

 Egyptologist, during the period of the Third 

 Dynasty ; consequently, three thousand years 

 before Christ. 



The Dr.\gox 

 Pigeon 



The wild pigeon is noted for its very bad 

 nests. Legend says that, finding it impossible 

 to make a good one, and seeing the skill with 

 which the magpie made hers, he asked her to 

 be so good as to give him lessons. The mag- 

 pie consented to this on condition that the 

 pigeon should give her a cow. The pigeon 

 agreed ; but after watching the magpie a few 

 moments he said he had learned enough, and 

 refused to keep his promise. A judge was sum- 

 moned, and having decided that the 

 pigeon had no right to receive 

 further instruction, the latter 

 has, ever since, made shock- 

 ingly bad nests. 

 Tame pigeons, so frequent 

 in Greece since the end 

 of the fifth century before 

 Christ, were long before 

 that held sacred in the 

 countries of Asia. They 

 were kept in great flocks 

 around the temples of Aphro- 

 dite, and in S}'ria no one dared 

 to lay hands on them. They first 

 came to Europe through Italy, where 



great numbers of white and colored 



doN'es were kept around the temple of 

 Eryx in Sicily. From Italy they spread through 

 Europe, following the power and civilization of 

 the Romans. Christianity adopted them as its 

 symbol, while popular belief regarded the white 

 dove as the bearer of souls to heaven, and feared 

 his colored brother, the rock pigeon, as a bird 

 of ill omen. In Venice, that semi-Greek city, 

 clouds of pigeons still inhabit the cupola of the 

 church of San Marco and the roof of the Doges' 

 palace, and woe to him who tries to catch or 

 to harm them ! 



Nevertheless, in spite of these honors and 

 of the affection he inspires, the pigeon has 



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