OTHER BREEDS OF UTILITY PIGEONS 55 



as possible. The Eggleston plan of double nests and squab 

 house with the aisle in front is especially adapted for this pur- 

 pose. The chief objection to this breed, is its smallness in size. 

 But in almost all markets throughout the country there is a 

 ready demand for fat, well developed, plump, small sized squabs, 

 which the Homer squab will supply better than any other breed. 

 Therefore, the Homer as a squab producer has its place among 

 squab producing pigeons, and is a profitable breed to raise. 



GIANT RUNTS 



Some jester in ancient times must have given this largest 

 of all pigeons its name which has until recently been just plain 

 Runt, but to overcome the likely impression that a Runt pigeon 

 was a small breed, the Ameiican breoders have a':^dcil a prefix 

 and now the breed is known as the GIANT RUNT. 



The Runt is an ancient breed. .John Moore in his "Treatise 

 on Pigeons" edited in London, 1735, calls the Runt an ancient 

 breed. He mentions the Leghorn Runt as an exceedingly large, 

 broad-breasted bird with tail slightly erect and wings somewhat 

 drooping. He describes the Spanish Runt as standing up more 

 boldly with wings resting on the tail. But the nearest of all to 

 our standard Runt ol today seen.s to bo his description of tho 

 Roman Runt. He states that the Roman Runt stands up boldly, 

 \ery broad-breasted and weighin*^ up to two and a half pounds. 

 Some other birds were even heavier than th^t for, as he states, 

 a Runt will improve in size f«oi' ar. least four yeais. Th?, Roman 

 Runt seems to be the one the Germans have as they call it the 

 Roemer Taube or Roman Runt. 



Moore states that even back in 1735 he had seen gentlemen 

 pay 25 pounds ($80 to $85 in U. S. money) for a pair of Runts 

 weighing four and three-fourtl'S pounds to the pair. 



Mr. King writes in the American Pigeon Journal: 'The Giant 

 Runt, being the largest bird in the pigeon family, always at- 

 tracts a great deal of attention. Some breeders claim that the 

 Runt is not as prolific a breeder as the small breeds. This may 

 be the case in some instances if the stuck is old and wornout or 

 of the stock originated from a poor producing strain. I have 

 found that more often the fault lies in the fact of the over- 

 crowding of these birds." 



