Fig. 192. Muffed Tumblers with "saddle" color pattern. (Photograph from E. R. B. Chapman, Stoneham, Massachusetts)
It is known that pigeons were used as messengers in war about the beginning of the Christian Era. An Egyptian bas-relief of about 1350 b.c. shows pigeons being released from cages just as they are now released in flying matches. The homing instinct is so strong in the common pigeon that any one familiar with its habits may easily suppose that pigeons were used to carry messages almost as soon as men had devised means of communication by writing upon any material which the birds could carry in their flight. There is reason to believe that in very ancient times pigeons were bred and trained especially for work of this kind in Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
Fig. 193. Feeding pigeons on Boston Common. (Photograph from Elmer E. Rice, Boston, Massachusetts)
The pigeon which in England and America now goes by the name of "Carrier Pigeon" is a type developed as a messenger pigeon in Persia and from that country distributed to many parts of the world. As bred in Asia it was larger and stronger than the common pigeon, and had a cere, or convoluted membrane, around each eye and at the juncture of the head and the beak. It is thought that this type of Carrier may have been taken from Asia Minor to England at the time of the Crusades, but nothing definite is known of it in Great Britain until the seventeenth century. This old type of Carrier and several closely related varieties were used for messengers, and also in flying competitions, until the variety next described was developed. When the Carrier Pigeon was bred for carrying messages, no attention was paid to its color. Pigeon fanciers who were not interested in pigeon flying, but liked the Carrier for its other characters, early developed many distinct color varieties and also gave special attention to the form and carriage of the bird and to the development of the ceres around the eyes and on the beak. The Carrier Pigeon is now bred only as an exhibition bird.
The Antwerp Homer. Beginning sometime early in the last century, breeders of flying pigeons at Antwerp, in Belgium, developed a race which soon became celebrated for superior development of the homing faculty and for great speed and endurance. This race was at first called the Antwerp Carrier. When the invention of the telegraph made the services of pigeons as messengers on land unnecessary, pigeons that could fly long distances were still bred and trained for competitive flying matches. In these, as a rule, they carried no messages; the object was to see which bird would reach home first. So gradually the term "homer" was substituted for "carrier," and the pigeons now called Homers, or Homing Pigeons, are the Antwerp Homing Pigeons. Good birds of this type are larger and stronger than the common pigeon, and have a bolder, more confident bearing and a more attractive carriage. They show their good breeding very plainly. Many of the pigeons called Homers are crosses or grades of the Antwerp Homer, and are not much better in any way than ordinary pigeons.