[tllee8622]

To what do you attribute, Master Piet, your enormous popularity throughout the world of the pigeon fancy?

Perhaps it is because I know how to select pigeons successfully. People believe that I can "see into" them. It is nothing like that, of course, but I do have a good idea about certain things.

Where did you learn this?
Through practice and training.

Having written numerous articles and published five books, what were you in the end, Piet, a writer about pigeons or a selector?
First and foremost a selector. Writing was more of a hobby. If people liked to read my articles and my books, I put this down without doubt to my perfect knowledge of the pigeon. I predicted things which actually came about five years later. I told fanciers who had presented their pigeons to me that they would be finished in three years, but nobody believed me. The most important thing, as I have never ceased to stress, remains that an owner must be able to form worthwhile pairs of breeders, or else be doomed to failure. The first time he came to see me-this was over twenty years ago, and there were three of them-Raymund Hermes asked: "How long will it take me to become a champion?"
Always well informed, he suggested to me: "I should like to buy your three best pigeons, and nothing else." I pointed out to him that I needed them just as much as he did, and he added: "You could always get some to replace them." "It's not as simple as that," I said. I had just bought "Piet", a son of the well known breeding pair belonging to Karel Meulemans of Arendonk. This is how it happened. An American from San Francisco had come to see me to buy some pigeons. He did not have many dollars to spend. I took him to see Meulemans because I was interested in having a look at his birds. For five years Karel had bred some "stars" from his breeding pair. The American wanted to know which were the best, and when I told him that "Junior" and "Cadet" had the best prize lists he wanted to know if they were for sale. "Yes," replied Karel, "for 200,000 francs." He must have said to himself: "If Piet is bringing a Yank to see me it means that I can push my prices up." My American did not want to know, and objected that they were too expensive. I was not happy about this and I asked Karel if I could come back the next day.
I had had the opportunity of handling "Piet", and that had told me a great deal. When I went back at 11:00 a.m. the following day I saw the pigeons again. I put six of them into a basket and asked Karel: "How much per pigeon?" He could not know which ones I had my eye on. This was how I managed to buy two. "Piet" and one of his sisters. This hen was even better than "Piet", but unfortunately died a little later. I cannot remember how much I paid for them, but it was not a great deal. So that is how I acquired "Piet".
When I showed it to Hermes he immediately wanted to buy it, but I explained "This is my best pigeon and he is perhaps the only one I should be prepared to part with because I believe that his limit is around 400 or 500 km." "How can you tell that?", enquired Hermes. "I don't know, but I expect so." Hermes would very much have liked to acquire him, but I wanted to keep him. "I am quite prepared to give you the address of where he came from", I said, and did so. I had another pigeon with an injury to its chest, one from Jan Aarden, the 1,000 km champion. This pigeon was a nonentity. It only started to be heard of once I had sold it to Hermes. Hermes took a third pigeon from me, my "24". When I told him, "As far as I can tell, these are my three best pigeons," he replied: "Let us go and get something to eat first in Antwerp." So we did, and at eight o'clock that evening I handed over three pigeons to Hermes. "Piet" among them. I had warned Hermes that the Meulemans pigeon would cost him a new Mercedes 190. "No problem," he replied. "And are you prepared to spend that much, even without knowing me very well?" "I know you well enough, otherwise I should never have come to see you." We understood each other. There are people who will say: "What de Weerd did in Meulemans' loft, I could do just as well. All I need to do is to go there and buy a pigeon, and I should be sure that it is a good one." But it should not be forgotten that 80 percent of pigeons are worthless, no matter where you obtain them. And you must be very careful if you wish to form pairs with the other 20 percent. Fanciers who have learnt something about a pigeon, on paper, go off and buy it, thinking to themselves that they have picked a good one. If this turns out not to be the case, they accuse the person who sold them the bird. Those who do not have the slightest sense of feeling for a good pigeon happily buy a big, handsome one, believing that it will be their salvation. This is why we always come across so many big pigeons.
If, on the other hand, they have a good pigeon in their possession one day, they think that its tail is too long and its breastbone too short, although all good pigeons are built like that. It is the race basket that makes them that way. They do not like its appearance, so they pair it with a big, handsome bird. In this event, their failure arrives two years sooner. That's how the pigeon fancy is. That is why one sees so many big pigeons in the middle distance races, and why this class of race is on the way to destruction. In the end, all we shall have left are sprint and long-distance races. For long-distance races, you need different pigeons, what I should describe as "complete" pigeons. I should also add that for long distance racing you need "long distance drivers." The best pigeons in the world are "long distance drivers."

So you sold "Piet" to Hermes for a Mercedes?
Yes, for the price of a car like that. Hermes paid me 60,000 DM (1,200,000 Belgian francs), but not for "Piet" alone.

Anyone who sells pigeons for such a sum must be certain that they are good ones.
My friend, at that time my reputation was such that people took me for a "clairvoyant."

You must have been certain that he would be successful with the pigeon.
I suggested to Hermes that he should go to Meulemans as he had fifty similar birds. But Hermes is wise. He answered: "I know you. I want that pigeon, not another one." He was not far wrong. For him, buying three pigeons from me or a gem from a jeweler, it was six of one or half a dozen of the other.

And why did you believe that this pigeon was a good one?
That was the impression I had at the time. I had had the opportunity of examining some fifty pigeons in Meulemans' loft. When I sold "Piet" to Hermes it was six months old.

Can you let us know how you select, Piet? And please tell us, can this skill be learnt?
Yes, of course it can be learnt, but you need to train yourself in order to become accustomed to it. Anyone who wants to play billiards (well) must practice, mustn't he? Just the same as someone who wishes to play a musical instrument. When he was asked how he had gone about it, and how long it had taken before he was able to play the piano well, the great virtuoso Horowitz replied: "25,000 hours". Practice is an essential fundamental ingredient. I know, for example, that Blomdahl, the billiards champion, practiced day and night, in spite of all his talent, and it was probably his talent which forged his success.

So you also need a certain amount of talent?
Talent, yes, but also perseverance. To get there I had to persevere. Why do you think that I agreed to sort thousands of pigeons over Christmas, no matter whether it was freezing or snowing? Because that earned me five hundred florins, and I liked that idea.

How do you feel the muscles?
You would do better to ask a professional. A masseur who kneads and athlete's muscles is better placed than I am to reply to this question. I only know that a "stiff" pigeon cannot make a good one.

Can I get a pigeon for you to show us how?
Certainly. But how can I make you understand? If you were to show me a black cat and a white one I should always be able to say: "This is the black one and that's the white one." That is too easy. Let us take another example. Suppose you take a strip of wood, one end of which is black and the other white, and you divide it into a hundred segments, numbered from one to a hundred, with the central one being grey and numbered fifty. In order to train your eyesight, you are asked to pick a section of the strip by its color. You have to identify the corresponding number without, of course, being able to read it. Assume that you are shown the 47th segment. There is no question of your calling it the 44th or the 51st, although these are very close. You will be able to hit the right number after a few years of practice. In this we are just touching on the simplest aspect of the problem. You have to be able to detect differences with great accuracy. Any judgment is based on differences. It is impossible to make a selection without taking differences into account.

Does that mean that you cannot tell the number of a segment of the strip we are talking about until you have learnt from practice?
Precisely. With pigeons the problem is far more difficult, since there are so many strips to which you have to accustom yourself.