Book VII. PIGEONS. 1049 



from the cropper or powter, and the carrier, is bred the powting horsemen (c) ; from the 

 tumbler and the horsemen, dragoons, &c. 



728 



6767. The slocking of pigeon-houses is best performed in May or August, as the birds- 

 are then in the best condition. Young birds called squeakers should be chosen, as the old 

 are apt to fly away. 



6768. In breedings the pigeon lays two white eggs, which produce young ones of different sexes. When 

 the eggs are laid, the female sits fifteen days, not including the three days she is employed in laying, and 

 is relieved at intervals by the male. The turns are generally pretty regular. The female usually sit 

 ftrom about five in the evening till nine the next morning ; at which time the male supplies her place, 

 while she is seeking refreshment abroad. Thus they sit aUeinately till the young are hatched. If the female 

 does not return at the expected time, the male seeks her, and drives her to the nest ; and should he in 

 his turn be neglectful, she retaliates with equal severity. When the young ones are hatched, they only 

 require warmth for the first three days ; a task which the female takes entirely upon herself, and never 

 leaves them except for a few minutes to take a little food. After this they are fed about ten days, with 



what the old ones have picked up in the fields, and kept treasured in their crops, from whence they sa- 

 tisfy the craving appetite of their young ones, who receive it very greedily. This way of supplying the 



fi^oung with food from the crop, in birds of the pigeon-kind, differs from all others. The pigeon has the 

 argest crop of any bird, for its size ; which is also quite peculiar to the kind. In two that were dissected 



by an eminent anatomist, it was found that, upon blowing the air into the windpipe, it distended the 

 crop or gullet to an enormous size. Pigeons live entirely upon grain and water j these being mixed toge- 

 ther in the crop, are digested in proportion as the bird lays in its provision. Young pigeons are very 

 ravenous, which necessitates the old ones to lay in a more plentiful supply than ordinary, and to give it 

 a sort of half maceration in the crop, to make it fit for their tender stomachs. The numerous glands, 

 assisted by air and the heat of the bird's body, are the necessary apparatus for secreting a sort of pap, or 

 milky fluid (commonly called pigeon's milk), but as the food macerates, it also swells, and the crop is con- 

 siderably dilated. If the crop were filled with solid substances, the bird could not contract it; but it is 

 obvious the bird has the power to compress its crop at pleasure, and, by discharging the air, can drive 

 the food out also, which is forced up the gullet with great ease. The young usually receives this tribute 

 of affection from the crop three times a day. The male for the most part feeds the young female, and 

 the old female performs the same service for the young male. While the young are weak, the old ones 

 supply them with food macerated suitable to their tender frame ; but, as they gain strength, the parents 

 give it less preparation, and at last drive them out, when a craving appetite obliges them to shift for 

 themselves ; for when pigeons have plenty of food, they do not wait for the total dismission of their 

 young ; it being a common thing to see young ones fledged, and eggs hatching at the same time and in the 

 same nest. 



6769. The terms applied to pigeons of different ages are, the youngest, when fed by the cock and hen, 

 squabs, at which age they are most in demand for pies. Under six months of age, they are termed 

 squeakers ; at that age they begin to breed, and then, or earlier, they are in the fittest state for removal 

 to a strange situation. 



6770. In respect to food, pigeons are entirely granivorous, and very delicate and 

 cleanly in their diet; they will sometimes eat green aromatic vegetables, but are fondest 

 of seeds ; and tares, and the smallest kind of horse-beans, is the most suitable food both in 

 point of economy and fattening qualities. Pease, wheat, buck-wheat, and even barley, 

 oats, &c., are also eaten by pigeons, but old tares may be reckoned their very best food ; 

 new tares, pease, or beans, are reckoned scouring. Wherever pigeons are kept, the best 

 way to keep them chiefly at home, and thereby both prevent their being lost, and their 

 doing injury to corn-crops, is to feed them well : this is also the only way in which, in 

 modern times, they will afford abundance of fat and delicate squabs for the table, which, 

 well fed, they will do every month in the year, and thus afford a constant supply of deli- 

 cate stimulating food. Pigeons are generally fed in the open air adjoining their cote or 

 house ; but in inclement weather, or to attach new pigeons to their home, both food and 

 water should be given internally. That this may be done without waste, and without 

 frequently disturbing the birds, two contrivances are in use ; the first is the meat-box or 

 hopper, from whence grain or pulse descends from the hopper as eaten out of a small 

 shallow box ; the next is the water-bottle, an ovate, long, naked bottle, reversed in a 

 small basin to which it serves as a reservoir. Any bottle will do, but the pigeons are apt 

 to alight on and dirty such as when reversed present a flat top. 



6771. Pigeons being fond of salt, what is called a pigeon-cat is placed in the midst of 

 the pigeon-house, or in the open air near it. It seems these birds are fond of salt and 

 hot substances, and constantly swallow small stones to promote digestion. The salt-cat 

 is thus composed ; gravel or drift-sand, unctuous loam, the rubbish of an old wall, or 

 lime, a gallon of each ; should lime be substituted for rul>bish, a less quantity of tlie 

 former will suflSce ; one pound of cummin-seed, one handful of bay-salt; mix with stale 

 urine. Inclose this in jars, corked or stopped, holes being punched in the sides, to admit 

 the beaks of the pigeons. These may be placed pbroad. They arc very fond of this 



