How to play
- Participants
- 5–30 players, as specified in the source, including one keeper and one hawk.
- Space
- A level land-based playing area with room for a circle large enough for all pigeons.
- Equipment
- Chalk or another clear way of marking the circle
- Starting formation
- The pigeons gather inside the marked circle, their nest. The keeper and hawk have separate roles.
- Mark the nest and choose a keeper and a hawk. Everyone else is a pigeon.
- When the keeper gives permission, the pigeons leave the circle and move around the playing area.
- The keeper clearly calls them back and announces the hawk. Pigeons hurry towards the nest while the hawk starts catching.
- A caught pigeon becomes the new hawk. The former hawk becomes keeper, and the former keeper joins the pigeons.
- Reset the positions and wait for the next departure signal. If nobody was caught, repeat with the same roles.
Ending: A catch ends that chase and changes the roles. The source specifies no overall winner.
Documented version: Kudirka’s no. 22, Karveliai, uses one hawk. This page uses the land-based form, leaving out the water setting also mentioned in the publication.
Names and variants
Karveliai, Karveliai ir vanagas
Hear the cue
Practise both signals once before starting: leave the nest and return. Make the circle easy to see and ensure everyone can hear the keeper.
Remember all three changes
Name the new hawk and keeper aloud. More than the catcher changes: the former keeper becomes one of the pigeons, which can otherwise be easy to overlook.