Pigeons: Part II

Our Westie

It was still fairly early in the year, March or April of 1966,  when a friend of mine, Sylvester (I don't remember his last name), gave me a pigeon.

I took it home, in a box, knowing full well that my father would make me take it back. I was always bringing something home; parakeets, cockatiels, finches, rabbits and dogs. I was told "No more pets!"

Still, I took the pigeon home, placed the box in the back porch and began figuring out how I was going to tell my father about the pigeon.

The situation was taken out of my hands while we were having dinner that evening. There was a scuffling noise outside, my father looked out the back door and there was the pigeon. Somehow, it got out of the box but because it's wings were clipped it could not fly. It just fluttered around not knowing what to do.

My father quickly opened the door and grabbed my pigeon.  I figured the jig was up and I was getting ready to be chewed out for bringing the bird home but I kid you not, my father was like a kid again. I don't remember his exact words but he was excited about catching the bird.

Somewhere along the line he started talking about keeping the pigeon so I decided right then and there to keep my mouth shut.

I built a small loft and in time I got a few more birds. A few months later, after scrounging up some scrap wood, I built a large loft.

Eventually we ended up with so many pigeons, my father built a larger and sturdier  loft than the one that I built.

My father loved that bird. Every so often he would talk about the day he caught it. I never had the heart to tell him I brought that pigeon home. It was a white lie and right or wrong, it gave him a little happiness.

We would find out later that she (it was a she) was a West of England tumbler. She was beautiful with black and white plumage and a beautiful white capped head (Bald). We eventually mated her with another Westie and she produced a few birds for us.

I'm not sure how old our Westie was when we got her but she lived about five years with us before getting sick and passing away. She was a sweet natured and friendly bird and one of the animal friends I'll always remember.