114 AMERICAN SQUAB CULTURE 



sheep dip or some other germicide, pigeons be kept free from 

 draughts and made as comfortable as conditions will allow. 

 Bathing should be provided for at least twice a week, care being 

 taken that bath is emptied to prevent the pigeons drinking 

 foul water. 



Breeding during the moulting period should be discouraged 

 as much as possible, and no squabs should be raised for breed- 

 ers until the moulting season is entirely over, as the energies 

 of the parent birds are centered on recuperating their natural 

 activity and not on feeding their offspring. Observation exer- 

 cised with good common sense on the part of the individual 

 breeder will accomplish a great deal at this critical period, as 

 the different breeds of pigeons have characteristics peculiar to 

 themselves and what might be applied to one loft might not be 

 to another. 



EXPLANATION OF FEATHER COLORING 



It is generally believed by men who have made a study of the 

 origin of the different kinds or species of pigeons that they all 

 originally came from the ancient Rock Pigeon which was of a 

 bluish gray in color with two black bars or stripes across the 

 lower end of each wing, very much the same in color as the 

 blue-barred Homer of today. The most positive proof of this 

 theory is that the off-colored birds of any breed will show a 

 tendency in color to "Blue Bars." The same is true when the 

 different breeds are crossed for sooner or later the offspring 

 drifts toward the color design of the Old Rock pigeon. In fact, 

 in all colors and varieties of pigeons there is a characteristic 

 marking of the feathers, such as bars on the wings and dark 

 tips on the end of their tail feathers and the various color 

 schemes built up from a bluish gray. That strongly supports 

 the idea that all pigeons came from a common variety. This 

 is also borne out by the habits and characteristics of all pigeons 

 which are in a general way the same with all varieties. (See 

 article on "Characteristics of Different Varieties.") Taking 

 the Blue Bars as a feather color basis we can easily trace this 

 bluish gray through the color scheme of all pigeons. 



The same fundamental principles govern the coloring in pig- 

 eon feathers that govern the color of all other animals or fowls. 



