332 



PIGEONS, 



he can. The most common shape is the one represented in the 

 annexed illustration, but the form of it is quite immaterial, the taste 

 of the individual fitting it up, or the materials at hand, being better 

 guides on those points than any rules we can place before him. It 

 is necessary, however, that the holes should also be large enough for 

 the birds to turn round in with ease, and shelves and partitions of 

 from seven to nine inches in depth should be made along the front 

 to keep the couples apart and afford them good resting-places ; if two 

 holes for each couple can be allowed between each partition it will be 

 advantageous. The cote should be protected from the inroads of cats 

 and rats, and this we have seen done effectively when the cote has 

 only been a cask mounted on a pole, through a hole having been 

 made in the bottom of an old saucepan, which was placed a yard or 

 so under the dove-cote. 



If the young fancier 

 is allowed to fit up a loft 

 over a stable or some 

 similar out-building for 

 a pigeon- house, the best 

 arrangement he can 

 adopt is that shown in 

 the accompanying illus- 

 tration. The means for 

 exit and re-entrance must 

 be first thought of, and 

 if no window is in the 

 loft, two holes must be 

 made in the wall, at about 

 five feet from the floor, 

 each sufficiently large 

 enough to admit a pigeon 

 through easily. A shelf must also be fastened both inside and out- 

 side of these openings, and on the outside shelf a trap or aerie should 

 be affixed, the intent and purpose of which we shall presently ex- 

 plain. At the upper part of the loft perches, made of rough branches, 

 must be fastened for the birds to perch on, as shown in the engraving. 

 At about seven or eight feet from the floor breeding boxes, according 

 to the number of birds intended to be kept, should be securely fixed 

 to the wall ; and it must be borne in mind that it is necessary to put 

 them at that height from the floor to protect the birds from rats, &c. 

 Old egg- chests may be turned into very good breeding-boxes, but 

 they must be partitioned off inside, so as to form separate places for 

 the birds to nestle in. Some fanciers furnish their boxes with little 

 earthenware pans, or small baskets, made for the purpose, for the 

 birds to deposit their eggs in ; some prefer the pans, others the 

 baskets, as in the baskets the eggs are not so likely to be broken ; 

 but the pans, if supplied with straw, are decidedly cleaner than the 

 baskets ; the pans should vary in dimensions, according to the 

 species of pigeon for which they are purposed. It is as well to put 

 two pans in each little room, as the hens frequently go to nest again 



