PIGEON (OF. pigeon, pipion, Fr. pigeon, It. piccione, pippione, pigeon, from Lat. pipio, squab, young bird, from pipire, to chirp, onomatopoetic in origin). A name applied, like dove (q.v.), to all members of the family Columbidæ. Although members of the group differ greatly in size and color, with a few exceptions they are easily recognized. They are chiefly medium-sized or rather large birds. Most of those of temperate regions are plainly colored with gray, brown, or slate, and some black and white, but some of the tropical forms show brighter shades of blue and purple; while the fruit-pigeons of the far Orient are gorgeous in green, yellow, orange, red, violet, and blue. The wings are usually long and pointed; the tail more or less elongated. The crop is large and double; during the breeding season it becomes glandular and secretes a milky fluid upon which the young are in part fed, or at any rate it moistens the food given them by their parents. The plumage of pigeons is generally very dense, quite smooth, often reflecting metallic lustres; the feathers entirely lack the aftershaft. Pigeons are monogamous, and the birds seem much attached to each other, and share mutually the labors of nest-building, incubating, and caring for the young. The nests are always flimsy structures of a few twigs in a tree, and the eggs, almost always two in number, are pure white. The young are naked and helpless when hatched. Pigeons are vegetarians, and eat fruit, grain, seeds, and the like, and are therefore often destructive in cultivated fields. Their notes are soft, low, and rhythmic—well described as ‘cooing.’ The flesh of most species is good eating, and they are ranked game-birds and are much
hunted. The flesh is nutritious, and that of the
young, or ‘squabs,’ from twenty to twenty-five
days old, is particularly delicate, and in some
parts of the United States great numbers of
domesticated doves are reared for market. One
establishment near Los Angeles, Cal., kept in
1901 more than 10,000 to supply the demand for
this delicacy.
More than 300 species of pigeon are known, of
which nearly or quite half are the so-called
fruit-pigeons of the East. The geographical
distribution of the pigeons, living and extinct, suggests some of the most interesting inquiries in zoölogy. One interesting fact is that pigeons are generally absent from regions where monkeys abound, as these nimble thieves rob their open, unprotected nests so persistently that the two races of animals cannot dwell in the same district. Twelve species have been taken within the boundaries of the United States, but eight of these are West Indian or Mexican species, found only occasionally along our southern boundary. The remaining four are the little ground-dove (q.v.); the common ‘mourning’ or Carolina dove (Zenaiduru macroura), abundant throughout temperate North America; the band-tailed pigeon (Columba fasciata), a large stout species, with a noticeable black bar across the bluish-ash tail, common from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific; and the formerly very numerous ‘wild’ or ‘passenger’ pigeon.