ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



Published by the Neiv York Zoological Society 



Vol. xxi 



SEPTEMBER. 1918 



'6\ 



THE DOVE OF WAR 



By Lee S. Crandall 



AT a time when every force for good is 

 rallying to the cause of freedom and jus- 

 tice, we may look for strange things. 

 Men whose interests have centered in business 

 and sports, women whose thoughts have seldom 

 wandered from home and shopping, have risen 

 to undreamed-of heights of sacrifice and devo- 

 tion. That the dove, the popular symbol of 

 peace itself, should assume the guise of a mes- 

 senger of Mars, is perhaps the most astounding 

 of all. 



As a matter of fact, pigeons and doves are 

 far from being confirmed pacifists. Tradition 

 and the proverb maker have conspired to give 

 them a reputation which mere earthly creatures 

 find difficulty in maintaining. Five minutes 

 spent before an aviary containing doves of as- 

 sorted species, or in a loft of domestic pigeons, 

 may well result in a lifetime of wondering why 

 the idealized bird which represents this group 

 was chosen as the emblem of peace. The idea 

 has been a great help to cartoonists, but the 

 dove has been placed in a false position. It is 

 true that it has no teeth, claws or wing-spurs, 

 with which to fight, but otherwise it does the 

 best it can. The beak and the wings are the 

 doves' onlv offensive weapons; but woe betide 

 the columbine trespasser on nesting sites, or the 

 misguided squablet that strays from its parent- 

 al box. 



And so it happens that our great war has 

 given a sturdy race of birds a rare opportunity 

 to show its spirit. News reports teem with the 

 praises of the stout-hearted little bird which 

 already has won itself undying glory on the bat- 

 tlefields of France. What greater praise could 

 be given the erstwhile dove of peace than its 

 new and well-won title of "war pigeon"? 



The pigeon is not entirely "new to war. There 

 are hazy references to its use as a messenger 

 by the ancient Egyptians and Persians, when 

 its owners were engaged in warlike as well as 

 peaceful pursuits. The cultivation of the hom- 

 ing instinct, from the time of the Romans down 

 to the present day, is a matter of history. For 

 centuries the development of this faculty was 

 confined to Eastern peoples, and it was not un- 

 til a considerably later, though indefinite, period 

 that the birds were brought to Western Europe. 

 They then became popular, and were widely 

 kept, particularly in Holland, Belgium and 

 England, where they developed various breeds. 

 Pigeon racing finally became a national sport 

 in Belgium, and we are indebted to that coun- 

 trv for the production of the modern homing 

 pigeon. 



The blood of the ancient strain gradually be- 

 came mixed with that of others, so that the di- 

 rect line of lineage has been lost. Early in the 

 18th centurv we find the Belgians in possession 

 of a short-beaked, frill-breasted pigeon, known 

 as the Smerle. This bird probably represents 

 the original Eastern homer with an infusion of 

 the blood of a round-headed African breed, 

 possessed of great intelligence and powers of 

 flight, which was known as the Owl. The Smerle 

 was a fairly efficient flier, and traces of its char- 

 acters are still to be seen in modern birds. 



The English, in the meantime, had produced 

 from their importations various closely related 

 breeds used for homing purposes, chiefly the 

 Dragoon, Horseman and a cross-breed known 

 as tin- Skinnum. These were large and power- 

 ful birds, heavily wattled about the eyes and 

 beak. Some of these birds, probably Dragoons, 

 found their way to Belgium, where they were 



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