PIGEON, a name of Norman introduction for certain birds of the family Columbae (see DovE). Perhaps the best known species to which the name is exclusively applied is the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migrarius) of North America. Formerly nesting in countless multitudes in the then "backwoods" of Ken tucky, Ohio, and Indiana, this bIrd is now extinct, the last speci men dying in Cincinnati Zoological Gardens in 1914. The passen ger pigeon was about the size of a turtle-dove, but with a long, wedge-shaped tail. The male was a dark slate colour above and purplish-bay below; the female, drab above, dull white beneath. The beautiful fruit-pigeons (Treron) of tropical Africa, India, and the Malay Archipelago are, perhaps, the most delicately flavoured of all birds.
The largest forms are the giant crowned pigeons (Goura) of New Guinea ; they have a beautiful filmy, fan-shaped crest on the head. The Nicobar pigeon (Caloenas) is remarkable for the long lustrous neck hackles and its peculiar gizzard.
Pigeons lay two or three white eggs and the naked, helpless young are fed by a secretion from their parents' crops ("pigeon milk").
the sport of racing homing-pigeons bred and trained for the purpose. It is of very recent date, although the use of birds as a means of carrying messages (see PIGEON POST) is of great antiquity. Belgium may be considered as par excellence the home of the sport, the first birds flown there probably coming from Holland. Long distance flying began in 1818, with a match of room., while in 182o there was a race from Paris to Liege, and in 1823 from London to Belgium. The Belgian contours national, a race of about 5oom. from Toulouse to Brus sels, was inaugurated in 1881, in which year the first regular races in Great Britain took place.
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 speed depends very greatly upon the state of the atmosphere. In the race from Montargis to Brussels in 1876 in bright and clear weather, all the prize-winners made the distance of 27orn. within 3+ hours, while in the same race in 1877, on a thick and stormy day, 3o hours passed before the first bird arrived.
Training.—The loft should be on a commanding site. It is best made in the shape of a large room, suitably subdivided, pro tected from vermin, and provided with drinking troughs, rock salt and crushed mortar for the birds' use. It should be fitted
with a sufficient number of nests about 2ft. long, loin. in breadth and height. Arrangements should be made for allowing the pigeons to 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 sound a bell and warn the owner of the arrival of a bird. The food of birds in training consists of vetch, beans, maize, peas, broken rice and millet, in various proportions accord ing to the country, climate and season of the year, the daily allowance for each bird being about 4o grammes weight.
Training should commence in warm weather, when the bird is about f our months old, and consists in taking it out in a closed wicker basket and liberating or "tossing" it at gradually in creasing distances from its loft, with several days interval of rest between the flights. The usual preliminary distances are, 1, 2, 5, ro and 15 or 2om. These tosses should all be made on the same line between the loft and, say, some neighbouring city, in order that a bird may always have to fly in the same general direction during the season. About room. may be expected of birds the first season ; they do not reach their full distances until about the fifth year. The Belgian fanciers generally 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 metal ring marked with the owner's name is slipped over the 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 homer ascends rapidly in spirals until, apparently descrying some familiar landmark on the 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 actually through the door of its loft.