English

The King of the Doos—the English Carrier [blue black-barred] (also called Old English Carrier, Carrier Pigeon, Carrier)

Alternative forms

• English carrier

Noun

English Carrier ‎(plural English Carriers)

1. Columba livia domestica, an old breed of fancy pigeon (with huge beak wattles and eye ceres, similar to the Barb and Dragoon), developed in England and Scotland from ancestors imported from the Middle East.

Usage notes

• The term carrier pigeon is often used, especially in newspaper and magazine articles, for a homing pigeon or racing pigeon that carries messages. Many pigeon fanciers (particularly homer men and homer women) consider this to be a misnomer because the term is outdated and originally referred to the ancestors of present-day Old English carriers. These "carrier pigeons" were formerly used to carry messages before the modern homing pigeon was developed in the 1800s (initially in Belgium and Britain), but is today strictly an exhibition pigeon or show pigeon that has mostly lost its strong homing instinct. The "carrier pigeon" was also one of the breeds used to develop the modern homing pigeon and therefore does have some "carrier blood" in it.^[1]

Synonyms

• Carrier
• Carrier Pigeon
• English Carrier Pigeon
• The King of Pigeons
• The King of the Doos
• Old English Carrier
• Old English Carrier Pigeon

Derived terms

• English Carrier fancier (Carrier fancier)
• English Carrier fancy (Carrier fancy)

Translations

See also

• Australian Carrier Club (ACC)
• Barb
• Bagdad of Nuremberg (Scandaroon)
• Carrier
• carrier pigeon (a common misnomer for the modern homing pigeon)
• Dragoon
• Franconian Bagdad
• French Bagdad (Bagadais Français)
• homer
• homing pigeon
• Horseman
• Nation English Carrier Club (NECC)
• National Pigeon Association (NPA)
• Persian Wattle Pigeon
• racer
• racing pigeon
• Spaniard
• Steinheim Bagdad
• wattled pigeon (wattle pigeon, pigeon with wattles)

References

1. ↑ The Carrier, or certainly the Horseman, was the first breed used in England for message-bearing purposes. The name, “Carrier Pigeon,” is still used today erroneously by many writers, especially in newspapers and periodicals, to describe the true Racing Homer. The Carrier today has been developed into a show bird alone, its homing propensities having long since ceased to be developed. — Wendell M. Levi, The Pigeon, 1941 (Renewed 1968), 1946, 1957, and 1963; p57.