January/February 2026

33 – Purebred PIGEON many owners who had country houses and rural villas brought their pigeons to their suburban properties, while the more modest breeders had to settle for switch- ing to the sport of messenger pi- geons, which allowed the keeping of these pigeons even in cities. Social changes marginal- ized the recreational use of the Escampadissa and other local flying breeds until the resurgence of identity awareness among Mallorcan and Balearic society with the arrival of democracy in Spain in 1978. This period saw the appreciation and rediscovery of the islands’ own cultural traditions, including their pigeon breeds and animals in general, helping to prevent the disappear- ance of local breeds. However, the ownership of animals remained restricted except in rural areas, and the daily specta- cle of hundreds of pigeons flying at the same time at noon over the sky of Palma – at the time when work- ers returned home from their workday – was never seen again, a phenomenon that was even reflected in literary works such as La ciudad desvanecida of Marius Verdaguer and Es Colomer of Miquel del Sants. Two two chapters in the Verdaguer work were dedicated to narrate how activities and pedestrian traffic on the streets would stop so people could turn their eyes to the sky to watch how the peregrine fal- con (Falco peregrinus) and Eleonor’s falcon (Falco eleonorae) sometimes attacked flocks of pigeons, and their owners tried to drive them away with shotgun blasts or by firing rockets from the rooftops while cursing the birds of prey. That is why when the shots and explosions were heard, the inhabitants of Palma knew that the aerial combat show was on and would applaud when the Escampadissas emerged unharmed from the attack and were dismayed when the attacker won. These aerial duels and some accidents involving inexperienced birds of prey that died after crashing into rooftops created the myth that the Escampadissa was a falcon hunter, when in fact, more often than not, it was the pigeon that was being hunted. An- other part of the falcon hunter myth comes from the particular design of the roof of many Escampadissas dovecotes, as they had a lattice of slats through which pigeons could enter by folding their wings, with just enough space for the width of their bodies, allowing quick access in case of an attack by falcons, which sometimes perished by crashing into that lattice because their body width was greater. This phenomenon has occurred in other countries where Escampadissas are maintained and where this type of roof has been recre- ated in the flight area of the dovecote, although the intention of breeding this breed was never to kill hawks. N ame and characteristics of the breed Escampadissa in the Mallorcan language means that pigeon which scatters, going from flying in a flock after the ‘arruixada’ to scaring the