PIGEONS AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 67 



BANDING. 



ALONG about the fourth or sixth day, the young are 

 about ready to band, but there is no hurry about it. 

 Use your o\vn judgment and when you think the foot 

 is large enough to keep the band in place, put it on. 



I do not believe in early banding, as the bands keep slip- 

 ping off and getting lost in the nests and the operation must 

 be done over and over. This is needless, \vheu we remember 

 that a quite goodly sized bird can be banded if the foot is 

 held right. 



Draw the three front toes together and slip the band up on 

 the foot. Then gently squeeze the back toe up and parallel 

 with the leg, and the band will slip over. Then gently pull 

 out the back toe with thumb and forefinger. 



A young bird's foot is very flexible, and will adapt itself to 

 almost any position, and though bands may seem to slip on 

 with a great deal of squeezing, there is absolutely no danger 

 of harming the young bird. 



The size of band to be used is governed very much by the 

 kind of bird bred. All good baud makers make four sizes, 

 ranging from a Turbit or Owl size, to a Pouter or Runt size. 



If a man belongs to a Swallow, Fan, Turbit, Owl, Magpie, 

 or any other Club, he should of course use the particular 

 band adopted by that club, giving a preference always to the 

 enamel band. 



Many breeders, who have achieved a reputation for turn- 

 ing out first class stock, use on one of the legs, a private al- 

 uminum band bearing their own initials. This is a sort of 

 o-uarantee that the bird came from a noted loft, and is a cor- 



f^ 



rective against tricky fellows who sell birds that they claim 

 were bred in certain well known lofts, 



