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PIGEON

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 597 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PIGEON (Fr. pigeon,' Ital. piccione and pipione, See also:

Lat. pipio, literally a nestling-See also:bird that pipes or cries out, a " See also:piper "—the very name now in use among some pigeon-fanciers, though " squeaker " in the more usual See also:term). The name pigeon, doubtless of See also:Norman introduction as a polite term, seems to See also:bear much the same relation to See also:dove, the word of Anglo-Saxon origin, that mutton has to See also:sheep, See also:beef to ox, veal to See also:calf, and pork to See also:bacon; no See also:sharp zoological distinction can be See also:drawn (see DovE) between dove and pigeon, and the collective members of the See also:group Columbae are by ornithologists ordinarily called pigeons. Perhaps the best-known See also:species to which the latter name is exclusively given in See also:common speech' is the See also:wild pigeon It may be observed that the " See also:rock :pigeons " of Anglo-See also:Indians are See also:Sand-See also:grouse (q.v.), and the " Cape pigeon " of sailors is a See also:petrel (q.v.). Management.—The brood sow should be lengthy and of a prolific See also:strain, known to See also:milk well. She is moderately fed and put to a See also:boar of her own See also:age when large enough, i.e. seven to eight months old. She remains in a See also:state of oestrum for about three days, and if not pregnant comes in See also:heat again in three See also:weeks. Breeding See also:swine, male and See also:female, run most of their See also:time at pasture and receive a liberal See also:allowance of See also:green See also:food or raw roots. The See also:period of gestation is sixteen weeks. Six to eight pigs are reared of the first See also:litter, and ten to twelve afterwards. Many brood sows are fattened to greatest profit after the second or third litter. Two litters are produced in one See also:year, as pigs are usually weaned at two months old, and the sow will take the boar at from three days to a See also:week after the pigs are removed, according to See also:condition. A convenient See also:sty to hold five or six pigs has a See also:southern aspect, and consists of a covered compartment and See also:outer See also:court, each to ft. square.

When the animals are fed outside the inner court is kept clean and dry, and there the pigs See also:

lie. The labouring See also:man's See also:pig is his See also:bank, and is fed on scraps, small potatoes and See also:waste products. In connexion with See also:cheese dairies pigs are largely fed on sour whey thickened with mixed See also:meal produced from any or all of the grains or pulses, the choice depending upon the See also:market See also:price. Food may with See also:advantage be cooked for very See also:young pigs; but, with the exception of potatoes, which should never be given raw, roots and meals are best given uncooked. Meal mixed with pulped roots for a few See also:hours improves in digestibility, and a sprinkling of See also:salt is an improvement. Meal derived from leguminous seeds makes the flesh See also:firm and improves the quality. Fattening pigs are fed or passenger pigeon of See also:North See also:America, Ectopistes migrarius, which is still found in many parts 'of See also:Canada and the See also:United States, though now almost See also:extinct and never appearing in the countless See also:numbers that it did of old, when a See also:flock seen by A. See also:Wilson was estimated to consist of more than 2230 millions. The often-quoted descriptions given by him and J. J. See also:Audubon of pigeon-haunts in the then " backwoods " of See also:Kentucky, See also:Ohio and See also:Indiana need not here be reproduced. That of the latter was declared by C.

See also:

Waterton to be a See also:gross exaggeration; but the critic would certainly have changed his See also:tone had he known that, some See also:hundred and fifty years earlier, passenger-pigeons so swarmed and ravaged the colonists' crops near See also:Montreal that a See also:bishop of his own See also:church was constrained to exorcise them with See also:holy See also:water, as if they had been demons). The passenger-pigeon is about the See also:size of a common turtle-dove, but with a See also:long, See also:wedge-shaped tail. The male is of a dark See also:slate-See also:colour above, and purplish-See also:hay beneath, the sides of the See also:neck being enlivened by See also:violet, green and See also:gold. The female is drab-coloured above and dull See also:white beneath, with only a slight trace of the brilliant neck-markings.2 (See See also:plate See also:illustration under DovE.) Among the multitudinous forms of pigeons very few can here be noticed. A species which might possibly repay the trouble of domestication is the wonga-wonga or white-fleshed pigeon of See also:Australia, Leucosarcia picata, a bird larger than the See also:ring-dove, of a slaty-See also:blue colour above and white beneath, streaked on the flanks with See also:black. It is known to breed, though not very freely, in captivity, and is said to be excellent for the table. As regards flavour, the See also:fruit-pigeons of the genus Treron (or 1'inago of some authors) and its See also:allies surpass all birds. These inhabit tropical See also:Africa, See also:India, and especially the See also:Malay See also:Archipelago; but the See also:probability of domesticating any of them is very remote. Hardly less esteemed are the pigeons of the genus Ptilopus and its kindred forms, which have their headquarters in the Pacific Islands, though some occur far to the westward and also in Australia. There may be mentioned the See also:strange Nicobar pigeon, Caloenas (see plate illustration under DovE), an inhabitant of the See also:Indian Archipelago, not less remarkable for the long lustrous hackles with which its neck is clothed than for the structure of its gizzard, which has been described by See also:Sir W. H. See also:Flower (Proc.

Zool. See also:

Soc., 1860, p. 330), though this peculiarity is matched or even surpassed by that of the same See also:organ in the Phaenorrhina See also:goliath of New See also:Caledonia (Rev. dezoologie, 1862, p. 138) and in the Carpophaga latrans of See also:Fiji. In this last the See also:surface of the See also:epithelial lining is beset by horny conical processes, adapted, it is believed, for crushing the very hard fruits of Onocarpus vitiensis on which the bird feeds (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1878, p. 102). The See also:modern giants of the group, consisting of about See also:half a dozen species of the genus Court' and known as crowned pigeons (see plate illustration under DovE), belong to New See also:Guinea and the neighbouring islands, and are conspicuous by their large size, beautiful filmy See also:fan-shaped See also:crest, and the reticulated instead of scutellated covering of their " tarsi." A very distinct type of pigeon is that represented by Didunculus strigirostris, the " Manu-mea " of See also:Samoa, still believed by some to be the next of See also:kin to the See also:Dodo (q.v.), but really presenting only a superficial resemblance in the shape of its See also:bill to that extinct See also:form, from which it differs osteologically quite as much as do other pigeons (Phil. Trans., 1869, p. 349). It remains to be seen whether the Papuan genus Otidiphaps, of which several species are now known, may not belong rather to the Didunculidae than to the true Columbidae.

Pigeons are now regarded as belonging to the Charadriiform or See also:

plover-like birds (see Blahs) and are placed in the sub-See also:order 1 Voyages du See also:Baron de la Hontan clans l'Amerique septentrionale, i. 93, 94 (2nd ed., See also:Amsterdam, 1705). In the first edition, published at the See also:Hague in 1703, the passage, less explicit in details but to the same effect, is at p. 80. The author's See also:letter, describing the circumstance, is dated May 1687. 2 There are several records of the occurrence in See also:Britain of this pigeon, but in most cases the birds noticed cannot be supposed to have found their own way hither. One, which was shot in See also:Fife in 1825, may, however, have crossed the See also:Atlantic unassisted by man. Columbae, near the sand-grouse (q.v.). They are divided into three families, Dididae, which includes the Dodo (q.v.) and See also:Solitaire, the Columbidae, which includes the doves and pigeons, and the Didunculidae, of which the curious tooth-billed pigeon, of Samoa is the only example. The See also:body is always compact, and the bill has a soft skin or cere covering the nostrils. The pigeons are chiefly See also:vegetable feeders and have a hard gizzard, and all drink much water; they See also:perch, and have a See also:note of the nature of a " coo." The See also:nest is a rough See also:platform or is in holes on the ground or in rocks. The eggs are two or three and white, and the young, which are helpless when hatched, are fed by a secretion from the See also:crop of the parents.

(A. N.) PIGEON-FLYING, the See also:

sport of racing homing-pigeons bred and trained for the purpose. It is of very See also:recent date, although the use of birds as a means of carrying messages (see PIGEON See also:PosT) is of See also:great antiquity. See also:Belgium may be considered as See also:par excellence the See also:home of the sport, the first birds flown there probably coming from See also:Holland. Long-distance flying began in 1818, with a match of Too m., while in 182o there was a See also:race from See also:Paris to See also:Liege, and three years later the first race from See also:London to Belgium. The sport is now a favourite one in Great Britain, the United States, See also:France, and, to a less degree, in some other countries, although nowhere attaining the See also:general popularity which it enjoys in Belgium, where nearly every See also:village has its Societe colombophile, millions of pigeons being sent over the See also:French border to be raced back. The See also:annual Belgian contours See also:national, a race of about Soo m. from See also:Toulouse to See also:Brussels, was inaugurated in 1881, in which year the first See also:regular races in Great Britain, from See also:Exeter, See also:Plymouth and See also:Penzance to London, took See also:place. The velocity attained at that time was about 1250 yds. per See also:minute, but this was soon surpassed in the races of the London Columbarian Society, one of the winners in which attained a See also:speed of 1836 yds. per minute. The sport was introduced into the United States about the year 1875, although regular racing did not begin until 1878. Since then it has gained widespread popularity, the See also:American See also:record for old birds at 300 M. being 1848 yds. per minute and for young birds (yearlings) 1665 yds., while the distance record is 1004 M. The American " blue ribbon " See also:champion-See also:ships are held at See also:loo, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 m. The speed of homing-pigeons depends very greatly upon the state of the See also:atmosphere.

In the race from See also:

Montargis to Brussels in 1876 in See also:bright and clear See also:weather, all the See also:prize-winners made the distance of 27o m. within three and one-See also:quarter hours, while in the same race in 1877, on a thick and stormy See also:day, See also:thirty hours passed before the first bird arrived. Training.—The See also:loft should be on a commanding site. It is best made in the shape of a large See also:room, suitably subdivided, protected from See also:vermin, and provided with drinking troughs, rock salt and crushed See also:mortar for the birds' use. It should be fitted with a sufficient number of nests about 2 ft. long, 20 in. in breadth and height. Arrangements should be made for allowing the pigeons to See also:fly out daily for exercise; and they should be trained to re-enter the loft through bolting wires, which open inwards only, into a small chamber, to which an electric arrangement may be fitted so as to See also:sound a See also:bell and warn the owner of the arrival of a bird. The food of birds in training consists of See also:vetch, beans, See also:maize, peas, broken See also:rice and See also:millet, in various proportions, according to the See also:country, See also:climate and See also:season of the year, the daily allowance for each bird being about 4o grammes See also:weight. Young birds may be fed on rice in the husk and See also:bread. They are called " squealers " for a week or two after See also:birth, and then " squeakers " until about three months old. Each brood consists of two eggs, on which. both parents sit in turn, the See also:cock only for a few hours in the See also:middle of the day. When the young are being brought up, only one of the See also:parent birds is taken out at a time. One meal per day, given before the birds are let out in the See also:morning, is sufficient. Training should commence in warm weather, when the bird is about four months old, and it consists in taking it out in a closed wicker See also:basket and liberating or " tossing " it at gradually increasing distances from its loft, with several days See also:interval of See also:rest between the flights.

The usual preliminary distances are 1, 2, 5, Io and 15 or 20 M. These tosses should all be made on the same See also:

line between the loft and, say, some neighbouring See also:city, in order that a bird may always have to fly in the same general direction during the season. About Too m. may be expected of birds the first season; they reach their full distances only about the fifth year. It is considered better to See also:train the young homers alone, so that they may become See also:independent of the older birds. When thoroughly trained they may be flown over long distances about once a week. The Belgian fanciers generally See also:divide their birds into two classes, one for breeding and the other for racing, though the latter are allowed to breed within certain limits. Some fanciers always choose birds with chicks in the nest for long journeys, claiming that they return faster with this incentive. A seamless See also:metal ring marked with the owner's name is slipped over the See also:foot of the pigeon when only a few days old, and during its racing career the longer wing-feathers are stamped with the bird's records. At the start of a race the competing birds are tossed together by a starter who takes the time. Upon being released the See also:homer ascends rapidly in spirals until, apparently See also:des-crying some See also:familiar landmark on the See also:horizon, it will fly straight and swiftly towards it. As the birds enter their home-lofts the time is taken by the owner. A bird is not considered to have got home " until it has actually passed through the See also:door of its loft.

End of Article: PIGEON

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