HUMANE ED U CAT I 81 



(Q.) Why should not large-kernelled corn be fed' 



(Ans.) It will choke the birds. 



(Q.) Why should we give them green food? 



(Ans.) This is necessary to their health just as salads and fruits 

 are good for our health. 



(Q.) What sort of green food should we give them? 



(Ans.) Lettuce, onion tops, and other tender vegetable leaves. 



(Q.) How many times a day should the pigeons be fed? 



(Ans.) Twice a day, or their food should be given through a 

 hopper. 



(Q.) Describe a hopper and make a working drawing of one. 



To make a feed hopper take two boards two feet long and twelve 

 inches wide and one-half inch thick. Take two pieces of the same 

 boards ten inches wide at the top and two inches wide at the bottom 

 and nail them at the ends of the boards making a V-shaped trough 

 with a two-inch slit in the bottom. Place below this a trough six 

 inches wide and two inches deep with standards at the ends. 

 Fasten the hopper above the trough with its narrow bottom about 

 one and one-half inches above the bottom of the trough. The 

 hopper should have a hinged cover, to prevent the wasting of the 

 food. Wires about two inches apart should extend from the edge 

 of the trough to the sides of the hopper. Food may be placed in 

 this hopper and it will fall below into the trough as fast as it is 

 eaten out. , 



Several of these filled hoppers and troughs should be placed 

 where the pigeons have access to them. Care should be taken that 

 mice do not get into the food; placing the hopper upon a plat- 

 form supported on a zinc-covered post is one way to accomplish 

 this. 



(Q.) Why should we keep pans of cracked oyster shell or gravel 

 and finely ground charcoal where the pigeons can always have 

 access to them ? 



(A.) They need such materials to enable them to digest their 

 food. 



