12 PIGEON, RAISING 



Many of the failures of the novice are en- 

 tirely due to the neglect of some small point 

 which he thought he could carry out independ- 

 ent of the counsel of the wise; as, for instance, 

 a lady I know built exceedingly well, but she 

 faced her houses to the north. With the stock, 

 which she imported from the East, she certainly 

 spent $3,000, and she systematically lost it be- 

 cause her birds never got the sun. They were 

 confined in cold, dreary houses and fly-pens. 

 Then, she was sure the Eastern bird was a good 

 market squab for the West, although every 

 pigeon raiser she consulted advised her to the 

 contrary. She was sure it was because they 

 had stock for sale. 



A Frenchman comes along and wishes to buy 

 stock, but it must be cheap. Without any expe 

 rience whatever, he builds according to his own 

 ideas and crowds his pens with an ill-assorted 

 lot of birds at $2.00 a dozen; in a few months 

 he is sold out at auction. 



Another customer chooses a locality because 

 of its beauty and climate, but, in spite of re- 

 peated warnings, miles away from the grain 

 dealer. In just one year the six hundred mag- 

 nificent birds, which I had sold to him and which 

 I had found so profitable, were disposed of at 

 a disgustingly low figure to be shot for sport. 



