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Helmet – Page 44 – Purebred PIGEON
Breed of the Issue - Helmet
By Jan de Wit
U
lisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605)
born in Bologna, Italy was a
nature researcher and one of the founders of modern
zoology. In the
Ornithologiae Lib. XV
he described several
pigeon breeds, amongst which the Draiiers, Helmets, Kappers,
Shortbecke, Kroppersdue and Querslagers. He used Dutch breed
descriptions, so we may understand that he wrote about Dutch
Helmet pigeons. The Dutch Helmet is one of the oldest rare
traditional Dutch fancy pigeon breeds since 1603. They probably
came originally from Persia (Iran) transported by the Dutch
traders of the United East Indies Company around 1600.
In the Dutch book
Beschryvinge Der DUYVEN
by the
Dutch writer Johan van Vollenhove, printed in 1686 in Utrecht,
there is a poem written about the beauty of Helmet pigeons.
The oldest picture of the Helmet pigeon can be found in the
German book de
Vorstellung der Vogel in Deutschland und Bey-
lauffig auch Einiger Fremden, mit Eigenschaften Beschrieben …
und Nach Ihren Naturlicher Farben
by Johann Leonhard Frisch
and Baron Friedrich August Zom von Plobsheim 1743-1763.
There are several different breeds of Helmet pigeons in
Europe and other countries.
Charles Darwin researched many fancy pigeon breeds on
shape, behaviour, sound and flying style. He described in his
Origin of Species
(1859) that the Rock Pigeon, Columba Livia
can be seen as the father of all fancy pigeons. Pablo Picasso
(1881-1973) was the son of the famous pigeon painter José Ruiz
Blasco and became probably the most famous pigeon painter.
TheNederlandseHelmduif –