July SO, 1868. 1 



JOURNAL OF HORTICDLTOBE AND COTTAGK GABDBNEE. 



85 



them for feeders I should have lost many a valuable pair of 

 another kind. 



If " Wiltshire Eectob" could spend a short time in York- 

 shire, he would find that Pigeon-tlyiug is a favourite pastime 

 with a portion of the working chisees, both for profit and 

 amusement ; Antwerps being their favourite birds, and the 

 majority being Ued-ohequered, Dun, and 151uo-chequered. 



I need soai-oely say that the merits of tho different breeds 

 have been well tested, and always in favour of the Antwerps. 

 They are a grand style of bird, breed well to colour, and are 

 faithful to their homes. I am of opinion that, instead of leav- 

 ing them out as a class, as suggested by " Wiltshike Rector," 

 there should be more classes made for them. This would be 

 to the advantage of exhibitors and the Committees of the dif- 

 ferent Pigeon shows, as I am well persuaded the classes would 

 fill as well as those for Game Bantams. — John Crossland, 

 JON., Wakefield. 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS IN HEALTH AND 

 DISEASE. 



We are obliged at present in England to keep our " fancy 

 pets " in confinement, contrary to what their welfare requires, 

 though future generations will see the valuable kinds at large 

 in the same way as I have seen flocks of tho most valuable 

 fancy Pigeons which we possess flown just the same as the 

 common Tumblers are in England, and to this I shall refer 

 in due course. 



No Pigeon can exist long in confinement without the greatest 

 possible attention to cleanliness and diet. I have adopted the 

 English saying, " Prevention is better than cure." With the 

 exception of what I may term a general epidemic which hap- 

 pened the first year of my English career, nearly seven years 

 ago, my pens have been free from all diseases ; and I have 

 often met with valuable birds unhealthy, which I bought for a 

 trifle, and by my usual treatment in many cases have been 

 able to restore them. 



I consider that confined Pigeons require top ventilation and 

 a dry floor ; but the most important consideration of all is 

 their diet. I never feed my birds with the same grain for more 

 than six months in succession, and I feed them very sparingly 

 indeed on white or grey peas, Indian corn, vetches, buckwheat, 

 and barley. I feed thus — six months with white peas and 

 vetches, six months with grey peas and Indian corn, then with 

 white peas and buckwheat, and so on. The proportions I 

 prefer are two of peas to one of any of the other kinds of food. 

 I never give Pigeons Indian corn in winter, and never buckwheat 

 in summer. I never give them any salt, nor any water to 

 bathe in, though there is an aviary attached to their loft in 

 which they flutter and get sprinkled when there is rain. I 

 keep their floor always covered with gravelly sand about half 

 an inch deep, and give them daily in a pan some crushed old 

 mortar. 



I fetd them, when breeding, twice a-day, and when not breed- 

 ing but once, and give them only what I consider enough — 

 that is, I stop when I see they can do with a handful more, 

 so you can never see a grain lie on the floor ; and this I sup- 

 pose is the reason that I never saw a mouse in my pen yet. 



When they have done breeding I take away the straw and 

 turn the pens upside down. This causes the birds to take to 

 the perches, which should be plentiful and at different eleva- 

 vations, so as to enable the Pigeons to keep in motion. I never 

 divide the pairs, as I consider it quite unnecessary. 



I find that nearly every disease commences with bad diges- 

 tion, and this is occasioned by overfeeding ; and the proof is, 

 that diseases are prevalent in winter when the birds are almost 

 in a dormant condition through inaction and bad weather, and 

 then overfeeding is equivalent to killing. As soon as I perceive 

 a bird with the food in the crop from the preceding day, which 

 makes it look rather dull, I shut it up at feeding time, so that 

 it will have none till all the swallowed food has gone. I give 

 it very little water, and to assist it, give it a pinch of carbonate 

 of soda. In some cases digestion is restored in twenty-tour 

 hoars, in others it may take two and even three days. In no 

 case do I let such a bird have more than half the usual quantity 

 the first day I allow it to feed, and I supply it with grain dif- 

 ferent frcm that previously given. 



I find roup and canker the prevailing diseases in England, 

 and I do not consider either contagious. Both may originate 

 in a pen through the bad constitution of the birds. I have 

 twice admitted into my pen birds with roup, and not only 



were none of my birds affected, but ono of the birds became 

 well. 



1 have tried many remedies for both diseases, and I find 

 that some Pigeons are recovered by one remedy, some by 

 another, and others never ; some will get rid of the roup by a 

 dose or two of charcoal powder, some by a doso of carbonate of 

 soda or a pinch of alum, and some by a do.se of flowers of 

 sulphur. I am now trying some pills which the inventor for- 

 warded me, and which ho states will cure any Pigeon or fowl 

 from the worst case of roup, and I will report tho result. 



The birds that never get well are those in which tho disease 

 is hereditary. I know a friend nearly all whose birds bred 

 from a certain strain have the roup ; I tried the same breed, 

 and I found that though all my birds were quite healthy, 

 the young of this breed had the roup when only a week old, 

 and they died of it when about six weeks old. 



The canker is, in my opinion, easier to cure. It in the 

 mouth, I apply a strong solution of alum with a feather 

 twice a-day. The next day I find the white substance getting 

 loose ; I remove it with a feather, and again apply the solution 

 for the last time. This will do if you discover the disease in 

 time. Some fanciers never think of examining their birds, and 

 only discover the disease when all the mouth and throat down 

 to the crop is a mass of inflammation. Then it is too late 

 for any remedy. If on any part of the beak, peel the canker 

 off, wash the place well, and apply finely-powdered alum and 

 charcoal. In both eases feed the birds very sparingly, and only 

 with bread crumbs, and pull out all or halt the feathers of 

 the tail. 



I keep for water an earthen fountain of a size sufficient 

 to contain water enough only for one day in winter, so that I am 

 compelled to fill it daily, and twice a-day in summer. I keep 

 in it a quantity of large iron nails, which help to preserve 

 cleanhness inside, they being well shaken every time it is filled, 

 and at the same time they are most beneficial by making the 

 water chalybeate. 



There is in no small degree another plague prevailing on the 

 Continent and also in England — namely, a kind of abscess 

 formed in the joints of the wings, which terminates in death, 

 or cripples the bird for life. I have tried for this every remedy 

 suggested, and some very cruel ones, and at last perfect suc- 

 cess has crowned my efforts. As soon as I discover a bird 

 beginning to fly awkwardly, I examine the joints of both wings, 

 and if I perceive any swelling, which is always the beginning 

 of the disease, I pluck out the ten long flight feathers of the 

 wing affected, and by tho time they grow again the birds will 

 be perfectly tree from disease, and will fly as usual. If the 

 swelling is very bad I pluck all the long feathers of the wing, 

 examine the swelling, and see if it is hard, and if not, but 

 like a bubble, it contains matter about the colour and thick- 

 ness of liquid glue. In this case I treat the bird as before, 

 but cut the skin of the bubble, and press all the fluid out. 

 Many consider plucking cruel, and I am of the same opinion; 

 but in this case it is the only remedy, and the most certain of 

 success — in fact, it will never fail. 



Pigeons at liberty can do with less attention. I do not 

 supply them with mortar, nor clean them so often, with the 

 exception of the nests containing young ones. They may be 

 fed more liberally, but they must be supplied daily with fresh 

 water. During summer I supply all my birds with green food 

 every other day, and soaked bread. I give them a lettuce, lay 

 a brick on its root, and they soon devour it. 



In using fresh birds to fly, I am oppcsjd to plucking the 

 wing, as I do not like to see them crippled for nearly a month. 

 I adopt, therefore, the method pursued on the Continent, which, 

 in my opinion, is the safest. I thread a needle and pass it 

 through the two first quills, about an inch from the root, then 

 twist it round nine of the flight feathers and tie it. This pre- 

 vents the bird flying, the tying cannot become undone, and 

 when in the pen the wing so tied is in a natural position. In 

 this state I keep the bird till it takes to a perch in winter, or 

 till it pairs in summer ; and when I intend to let it out I free 

 some of the flight feathers from the thread, so as to give it the 

 chance to get on the building when about feeding time, and 

 after it comes down once or twice then I cut and pull the 

 thread off', and let the bird have full liberty. Tho best time 

 for breaking birds is when they are sitting, and the worst when 

 they are feeding their young. I have two birds which I broke a 

 distance of only one mile ; these go home even now, the third 

 year, every time they have young. They do not go at all 

 during the winter, but they commence their visits about a week 

 after the hatch. Though I supply them with abundance yet 



