 Early proponents of the sport would blind birds with hot needles in order to reduce visual distractions.Thomas Hardy—the celebrated English author and poet who was also an antivivisectionist and member of the RSPCA—is said to have written his poem "The Blinded Bird" as a protest against the practice.In 1920, a campaign by blind World War I veterans banned the practice, and today the birds are kept in small wooden boxes that let air in but keep distractions out.