Crossword clues for homing pigeon
homing pigeon
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Homing \Hom"ing\ (h[=o]m"[i^]ng), p. a. Home-returning; -- used specifically of carrier pigeons.
Homing pigeon, any pigeon trained to return home from a distance. Also called carrier pigeon. Most are bred from the domestic pigeon Columba livia. Homing pigeons are used for sending back messages or for flying races. By carrying the birds away and releasing them at gradually increasing distances from home, they may be trained to return with more or less certainty and promptness from distances up to four or five hundred miles. The birds typically do not stop on their way home, and may average as much as 60 miles per hour on their return trip. If the distance is increased much beyond 400 miles, the birds are unable to cover it without stopping for a prolonged rest, and their return becomes doubtful. The record for returnig from a distance is close to 1,200 miles. Homing pigeons are not bred for fancy points or special colors, but for strength, speed, endurance, and intelligence or homing instinct. Although used since ancient times, homing pigeons have been largely displaced for practical purposes by radio and electronic communications, but they are still used in some special situations at the end of the 20th century. They were used in military operations as recently as in World War II.
Wiktionary
n. A variety of domesticated rock pigeon (''Columba livia'') that has been selectively breed to be able to find its way home over extremely long distances.
WordNet
n. pigeon trained to return home [syn: homer]
Wikipedia
The homing pigeon is a variety of domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica) derived from the rock pigeon, selectively bred for its ability to find its way home over extremely long distances. The wild rock pigeon has an innate homing ability, meaning that it will generally return to its nest, using magnetoreception. This made it relatively easy to breed from the birds that repeatedly found their way home over long distances. Flights as long as have been recorded by birds in competitive pigeon racing. Their average flying speed over moderate distances is around but speeds of up to have been observed in top racers for short distances.
Because of this skill, homing pigeons were used to carry messages as carrier pigeons or messenger pigeons. They are usually referred to as " pigeon post" or " war pigeon" during wars.
Usage examples of "homing pigeon".
The richness of our linguistic recall may be biologically no more mysterious than the capacity of a homing pigeon to navigate precisely over hundreds of kilometres or a dog to distinguish and remember thousands of different odours at almost infinitesimally low concentration.
A homing pigeon averaged forty miles an hour, Gunther had told her, so Margo would reach him within six hours.
Wiz was a long way from a homing pigeon and he didn't have the faintest idea where they were.
But if Arabelle can requisition the 'Homing Pigeon' when it sits on Secundus, then you can do the same on Tertius.
And yet here I was, going back to him like a bloody homing pigeon to its loft.