Pure Logic I

Jack Prescott
(Internet Published) Mar 2001

It is written that when a man no longer does anything just for fun, then he is tired of life. Men prefer "mumbo jumbo" rather than logic. There is no logical reasons why men keep pigeons and there is no hobby that is more afflicted with Mumbo jumbo and lack of logic than pigeon keeping.

Information coming out of India is just about as scarce as it is illogical. Dogma about the clipping of pigeons tails and wings and the pulling out of flight feather defy all reasoning when one considers the methods of British, European and North American fanciers. The poverty in India is unbelievable. I am told some men do not even have a loft but clip the wings of their Tipplers and Tumblers, to prevent flight, excepting for the brief contesting period. For this period all clipped flight feathers are pulled out and a full wing allowed to grow. In the mean time, such pigeons are kept in the house, probably in cardboard boxes. To the average European and American this is ridiculous. Nevertheless, it prevails in some parts of Asia. The lack of logic, to me, seems to be rife.

Furthermore, logic is what a man believes it to be. To a cannibal, cannibalism is logical. To a Frenchman, the eating of frogs is quite OK. To a China man Dog steak are acceptable, so we have to be very careful not to reject the logic of people World-wide.

Domestic pigeons did not originate in Sheffield, or Birmingham, England. They came from Asia where cultivation has taken place for many years before Europeans became interested in Pigeon affairs. There must therefore be a vast knowledge about Pigeons in India, Pakistan and places East of Suez. The fact that I have not absorbed one grain of logic over the past 4 years from Asia, signifies nothing. Much that it written about Rollers seems to be quite ridiculous to me even that which is written by Englishmen and Americans. Some aspect of contest Tippler flying leaves me astonished, even in England. Nevertheless, who am I to judge?

[Internet Published Mar 2001 at http://www.tipplers.com/jack/]