The carrier pigeon is a variety of the common domestic pigeon used for the purpose of carrying messages. Several varieties have thus been employed, but what is distinctively called the carrier pigeon is a large bird with long wings, large tuberculated mass of naked skin at the base of the beak, and with a circle of naked skin round the eyes. This variety, however, is rather a bird for show than use, and the variety generally employed to carry messages more resembles an ordinary pigeon.
The practice of sending letters by pigeons belongs originally to eastern countries, though in other countries it has often been adopted, more especially before the invention of the electric telegraph. An actual post-system in which pigeons were the messengers was established at Bagdad by the Sultan Nureddin Mahmud, who died in 1174, and lasted until 1258, when Bagdad fell into the hands of the Mongols, and was destroyed by them.
Carrier pigeons can be utilized in this way only in virtue of what is called their homing faculty or instinct, which enables them to find their way back home from surprising distances. But if they are taken to the place from which the message is to be sent and kept there too long, say over a fortnight, they will forget their home and not return to it. They are better to get some training by trying them first with short distances, which are then gradually increased. The missive may be fastened to the wing or the tail, and must be quite small and attached so as not to interfere with the bird's flight. By the use of microphotography a long message may be conveyed in this way, and such were received by the besieged residents in Paris during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, the birds being conveyed out of the city in balloons. Seventy-two miles in two and a half hours, a hundred and eighty in four and a half, have been accomplished by carrier pigeons. Large numbers of these birds are kept in England, Belgium, France, etc and now called racing pigeons, there being numerous pigeon clubs which hold pigeon races to test the speed of the birds. These pigeons were also kept in several European countries for military purposes, and were used during the Great War and the Second World War. Research Carrier Pigeon
Columbidae is the pigeon family of birds of the order Gallinae. They are characterized by the hind toe being nearly on the same plane as the others. The bill is moderate and deflected at the tip, the upper mandible covered at the base with a soft membrane. The tarsi are devoid of spurs and the tail is comprised of twelve feathers. They have considerable powers of flight, and perch freely on trees and rocks. They feed principally on grain, seeds and the leaves of herbaceous plants. The young are fed on a milky fluid secreted in the crop of the older birds. Research Columbidae
The Cuckoo (Cuculus) is a scansorial or climbing bird, the type of the family Cuculidae, now almost extinct in Britain. The note from which it derives its name is a love-call used only in the mating season. The greater number of species belonging to the genus are confined to hot countries, more especially India and Africa, though some are summer visitants of colder climates. In America no true cuckoos are found, the genus Coccyzus, to which the so-called American Cuckoo belongs, differing very essentially from them in its habits. The species best known in Europe, the Cuculus canorus, is a bird about the size of a small pigeon, though the length of the tail gives it at a little distance a strong resemblance to a hawk.
The adult bird is ashy-grey in colour, with a white breast barred across with narrow lines of grayish black; tail spotted and barred with white; bill black, touched at the gape with yellow; eyes and feet yellow. It appears in England about the middle of April, and in May begins to deposit its eggs in the nests of other species, giving the preference to those of the hedge-sparrow, meadow-pipit, or pied wagtail. The young Cuckoo ejects from the nest its young companions, and monopolizes the attentions of its foster-parents, which feed it for about five weeks after it is fledged. The young birds do not leave the country until the end of August or even September; but the adult birds commence their flight southward in July or at latest early in August. Their food consists largely of caterpillars (especially hairy ones), Cuckoos are one of only three species of birds that eat Cinnabar Moth caterpillars, with cockchafers, moths, dragon-flies, and other insects.
The female Cuckoo lays six or eight eggs, and each is placed in a different nest, by means of the bird's bill, as has been ascertained, being first deposited on the ground. Different strains of Cuckoo utilise different species of bird, each strain concentrating only on one species, and laying an egg which is identical in appearance to the eggs of the host species. Thus, one British strain of Cuckoo targets the nest of Reed Warblers only, and lays an egg identical in appearnce to that laid by the Reed Warbler, and it is possibly this factor which enables the Cuckoo chick to remain being cared for by its adoptive parents, even though the chick may grow many times larger than its parents. Research Cuckoo
The cushat or wood-pigeon or ring dove (Columba palumbus) is a common British bird. Their numbers exploded around 1900 to the present day epidemic in towns and cities due to the destruction of their natural enemies, the birds of prey. Research Cushat
The dinosaurs were a family of reptiles which lived on the earth millions of years ago. About 400 types of dinosaur have been identified. Dinosaurs ranged in size from about as big as a pigeon to twice the height of a giraffe. It is estimated that dinosaurs lived for between 70 and 130 years, and unusually continued growing for their entire life. The first description of a dinosaur was given in the book 'The Natural History of Oxfordshire' by Dr Robert Plot published in 1677, in which he included a drawing of a thighbone which he claimed came from a giant man, subsequently it has been identified as the thighbone of the dinosaur Megalosaurus. Research Dinosaur
The Dodo (Didus ineptus) was a huge, flightless bird of the pigeon order, Columbidae, formerly found in abundance only on the island of Mauritius. The Dodo had rudimentary wings, short, stout legs and a tail of soft plumage. The beak was strongly arched towards the end, and the upper mandible had a hooked point like that of a bird of prey. In 1644 when the island was first colonised by the Dutch the dodo was present in great numbers, but within forty years a combination of the loss of natural habitat to cyltivation and hunting for food led to the Dodo's extinction in the first and most famous ecological tragedy committed by Man.
In 2002 scientists at Oxford university, England extracted DNA from the only remaining Dodo tissue in existence and claimed to have discovered that the Dodo was a pigeon. However, this had already been known for at least 100 years, as evidenced by Lloyd'sEncyclopaediaDictionary, published in 1895 by Edward Lloyd Limited of London describes the dodo as 'A large bird, belonging to the order Columbidae, or Pigeons'. Research Dodo
The fantail is a variety of domestic pigeon, so called from the shape of the tail. The name fantail is applied in Australia to birds of the genus Rhipidura, in which the tail is spread in the form of a fan during flight. They belong to the family of flycatchers. Research Fantail
Fruit-pigeons are pigeons of the genus Carpophagus. They have brilliant plumage and are found in India and Australia. They are so named because they eat nothing but fruit. Research Fruit-pigeon
Ground Dove is a name given to several species of pigeon and especially the Chamoepelia of warmer parts of America. They resemble the gallinaceous birds in living mainly on the ground, their feet being better suited for walking than perching. Research Ground Dove
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Carrier Pigeon
