: Fast carrier pigeon sets many records. Making a flight, he is captured by a dishonest person. Two years later, a dove breaks free and perishes in the claws of falcons near the house.

In his youth, the storyteller happened to be a judge in a contest of carrier pigeons, which took place in one of the New York pigeons. In those days, pigeons were used to deliver letters, and owners of pigeons brought out a special breed. The return pigeons were small, but very fast and hardy.

The sense of direction of the bird is located “in the bony convolutions of the ear”, so returning pigeons had slight bulges above the ears. Such birds returned to their native dovecote always and everywhere.

During the competition, part of the pigeons was lost, perished, and the best returned to the dovecote - this was how the breed improved. The contest, in which the narrator participated, won a pigeon named Arno and received a silver ring on his foot.

The last to the dovecote was a dove named Big Sizym - a beautiful, but large and clumsy bird with a large goiter. Big Sizy was proud of his size and, taking advantage of his advantage, offended the weak, for which he was not liked by the groom Billy, who looked after the dovecot.

After this competition, pigeons began to be trained daily, taking them to an ever greater distance from the dovecote. Gradually, out of the fifty birds, the twenty best remained, including, to Billy's surprise, the Big Gray.

... a harsh upbringing not only discards the weak and incapable, but also those who accidentally fell ill, got into trouble, or ate too full before the races.

Arno was the best bird in the pigeon. Not even a year had passed before the pigeons staged a difficult test - flying over the sea, where there were no landmarks. The steamboat, on which the birds were taken to the open ocean, got lost in the fog and moved away from the coast much further than it should. The ship’s engine stalled and the captain decided to release several pigeons with the message that the ship was in distress.

Big Sizy circled over the steamboat and sat down on gear, cowering with fear. Arno boldly rushed forward and found in the fog the way to his native dovecote. For 4 hours and 40 minutes he overcame 338 kilometers above the sea and set a record that was on the Pigeon Club lists. The record date was written with indelible ink on the white wing of Arno.

Soon Arno’s wings were completely covered with such dates. After molting, all the inscriptions were neatly renewed. Arno once delivered a message that saved the venerable banker from death. He wanted to buy a dove in order to protect and groom him, but Billy convinced the banker that Arno would wither away from his dovecote.

The banker did not forget his savior. Brother Arno, an equally magnificent racer, was killed and made the filling for the cake when the bird carried an important letter.And then the banker demanded that Albany enact a law protecting carrier pigeons.

Arnaud had a girlfriend, "a lovely little dove" on whom Big Sizy laid his eyes. Several times, Billy pulled apart fighting pigeons and finally placed Arno with a dove in a separate cage, and allocated another lady to Big Sisoma.

Writers love to search for animals, and mainly pigeons, for examples of conjugal love and fidelity. And they are, in general, right, but alas! —There are exceptions.

Big Sizy was almost all the time in the dovecote, and Arno often carried important letters. Moreover, outwardly he was small and unprepossessing, and the handsome Big Sizy liked all the doves.

Returning once from a flight, Arno discovered that his wife had become the girlfriend of Big Sizogo. A fierce battle ensued; Big Sizy almost killed Arno - the pigeon was saved by Billy. Having recovered from his wounds, Arno set two new records. Returning, he again found his little darling in the nest of Greater Sizogo and had a fight with him. Billy pulled apart the brawlers and locked Big Sizogo in a separate cage.

Meanwhile, the time has come for a big pigeon competition - a flight from Chicago to New York. Arno chose a short way and was ahead of everyone when he wanted to drink. The dove descended into the familiar dovecote, the owner of which saw Arno and locked it, wanting to improve the breed of his doves with the help of a record holder.

Arno spent two years in captivity. Finally, he liked one of the pigeons, the owner of the pigeon decided that the bird had reconciled, and opened the door. Arno immediately flew out of the hated prison and headed home.

Arno flew like an arrow. Neither the hawk nor the pigeon falcon could catch him. On approaching Manhattan, a pigeon was noticed by a hunter and shot at him. Arno was shot in the chest and wing and could no longer fly so fast.

Pigeon falcons spotted a dove, chased after him, and the wounded Arno could not dodge.

The pigeons squealed with joy. Squealing in the air, they climbed onto their rock, holding a pigeon body in its claws - all that was left of the fearless little Arno.

Later, people ravaged the nesting of falcons and among the garbage found a silver ring with a personal number and the name "Arno".

The retelling is based on the translation of N. Chukovsky.