I approached this book with the mindset that a pigeon is a “rat with wings.” However, through Courtney Humphries’ careful and broad research, my mind made a paradigm shift. I was fascinated that Charles Darwin used pigeons for research animals. I was also fascinated by Humphries’ discussion of domestication of animals. It might be not that man domesticated pigeons (and many of animals) but that they just moved in with our long ago ancestors.

I was especially impressed by author’s annotated bibliography at the end of the book. I did keep seeking an analysis of the criticism of urban pigeons as the carriers of many diseases other than the fact that there are often just so many of them that they leave considerable fecal waste.