PIGEONS AM) ALL ABOUT THEM. 



II, -nee the necessity for constant study. No old breeder, 

 no mallei- how expert lie may be, can go into a strange loft 

 .ind tell the owner just \vli;it to mate. He must know what 

 the hirds have thrown the reason or two before. -Yet it is a 

 fun. that if he could he .-.how., the young, he could get a 

 very fair idea. 



V.\v that ih" hirds are mated, don't try to make their nest 

 f,n- i in-ill. Let them alone, for they will attend to the house 



keeping. I have known men so green that they insisted on 

 making great nests of hay etc. for their birds. 



(iet the small tobacco stems of which I have treated before, 

 and scatter them on the floor. But remember that the eggs 

 must he watched for the first few days. I have seen birds so 

 active in building, that they would rear great piles, and com- 

 pletely cover their cogs. Sometimes an egg slips down end- 

 ways het \\een two stems that are particularly coarse, and a 

 \ oung hen will never be able to work it back. Old ones seem 

 to have little trouble, but a young hen will go placidly along 

 with a cold egg some inches below her. 



Every time fresh stems are carried in, the nest rises still 

 higher above the neglected egg. The danger in very high 

 nests is. that the young birds in their struggles for food, 

 sometimes slip over the side of the nest and can never 

 -.'Tiimhle hack, if both fall out, the hen will often move to 

 them: hut sometimes she sits on the original nest and lets 

 t he \ on im ones chill. 



\- soon as a:i egg is laid, put the date on it with an idel- 

 ihle pencil, which latter should be in every loft. I don't 

 helieve in handling eggs very much, but they can stand a 

 i;icat deal of handling and not be affected at all. 



