I-J ['IGEONS AN!) ALL AJiorT TIIK.M. 



AS TO CONSTITUTION. 



NOW in selecting the variety to breed, one must remem- 

 ber that many of our finest birds cannot by any means 

 have good constitutions. It is an impossibility from 

 Ibe that ino.xt tact of them are "made" varieties and it 

 has taken years of " inbreeding" to produce them. 



It is only within the last fifty years that the varieties of 

 to-day have sprung up. Prior t that time I doubt if many of 

 them were in existence. Pigeons have been kept for centuries 

 and by all kinds of people, but I am referring to what are 

 known as the "fancy" pigeons of to-day. Thousands of men 

 have been interested in this changing of the dull colored, 

 uncouth common pigeon into the dashing, high colored and 

 beautifully variegated bird of the present. Where one fa qier 

 has left off, another has taken up the work, each with the 

 idea oi improving on his predecessor. 



Take for example, the short-faced Tumbler, a bird known 

 to everyor.e and tnere is no question but that fifty years ago 

 its 1) ak was long, but birds of smaller and smaller beaks 

 were selected and mated, and this mated parent and offspring 

 closer and closer, and naturally reduced vitality and con- 

 stitution. 



Breeding for 'feather" was done in the same way, of 

 course. This was done by our early brethren not with the 

 hope of raising more birds, but better birds. The early shows 

 and the consequent rivalry that existed, made each old fancier 

 outline his ideal and work up to it. In the old days, a couple 

 of dollars was considered an enormous price for a pair of 

 birds, while now there are scores of birds for which one hun- 

 dred dollars each would be refused. 



But this constant striving for perfection; this constant 

 inbreeding for results, is what has made many of our best 



