62 FANCY PIGEONS. 



remedy will be of any use, for tlie stomacli has lost its power 

 of action. The crop may then be cut open, cleaned out, and 

 sewn up again, the inner and outer skins being carefully sewn 

 separately. This operation is often successfully performed, 

 but in many cases is of no use, as the powers of the stomach 

 have become impaired, and as soon as the bird is at liberty 

 it will speedily be gorged again, nothing that is eaten passing 

 into the stomach. From this cause, many of the best pouter 

 pigeons ever seen have died, and with those best developed in 

 crop it will always be one of the complaints most to be 

 feared. Besides cutting the crop open in bad cases of gorging, 

 Moore says : " Others will tie that part of the crop in which 

 the undigested meat lies tight round with a string, and let 

 it rot off. This method never fails, though it spoils the 

 shape of the crop." With a pouter considered valuable for 

 stock, and past his best show days, a curtailment of crop is not 

 any drawback, but rather the reverse. Charcoal capsules are 

 useful for preventing the corruption of the food in the crop 

 of a gorged pouter, and copaiba capsules are used to make 

 them disgorge, generally proving effective. A pouter should 

 be attended to on showing the least signs of becoming gorged ; 

 delay is dangerous. 



Insects. 



Pigeons are apt to be infested with several kinds of 

 insects. The feather louse is harmless, as far as ever I 

 saw, and seems to be common to all pigeons. It is found 

 ■chiefly about the neck feathers, and requires the natural 

 heat of the bird to keep it alive, for on the death of a bird 

 they may be seen crowding up towards its head, in a sort of 

 torpid state. The pigeon louse is troublesome on all birds 

 unable from a malformed beak to preen themselves, and when 

 allowed to increase for want of a little blue ointment, renders 

 their lives truly miserable. Short-faced tumblers are as 

 liable as any to these lice, and should be examined frequently 



