CHAP. XV.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 319 



and cummin-seed, allspice, and bay-salt, 

 moistened with stale chamber-ley : which thus 

 hardening into a cake, is placed either in the 

 pigeon-house with a board over it, to guard 

 it from being soiled by dung, or left within 

 their reach outside the house, and put into a 

 corked jar perforated with holes large enough 

 to allow the beaks of the pigeon to enter. 

 The mixture is well known under the title of 

 " salt-cat," and is not unfrequently employed 

 as a decoy to entrap pigeons by dishonest 

 persons who gain their livelihood by such 

 petty frauds. It is, indeed, not improbable 

 that, although not used with any improper 

 intent, it may have the effect of attracting the 

 pigeons of the neighbours ; but, as they are 

 not, in that case, detained, they will in all 

 likelihood return to their home, or, if not, we 

 must rest contented under the assurance that 

 our own stock will be occasionally retaliated 

 upon by the shot of a farmer who finds them 

 pilfering his crops. 



Pigeons are so attached to their home, that 

 those of the wild species, which live in the 

 woods, will breed for years in the same tree ; 



