I(W, 



PRACTICK OF AGRICULTUItE. 



Pi 



III. 



Tkestockiug of pigeon-houses i> bet) performed in May or August, as the birds ue then in tne 

 best condition, Young bird* called squeakers »houid i.l- chosen, at the old are apt to fly away. 



9-15 



75S7. hi breeding, the pigeon lavs 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 laving, and 

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

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

 while ahe is seeking refreshment abroad. Thus they sit alternately 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 

 hi in hil 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 .vhat the old ones have picked up in the fields, and kept treasured in their crops, from whence they 

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

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

 largest 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; these being mixed together 

 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 tit for their tender stomachs. The numerous glands, assisted hy 

 ur 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 considerably 

 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 case. The young usually receive 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 prepar. 

 at ion, ami 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 



7538. 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. 



75 '.'. In respect In fond, 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. Peas, 

 wheat, buck. wheat, and even barley, oats, &&, are also eaten by pigeons, but old tares may be reckoned 

 their very best food ; new tares, peas, 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 c om-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 delicate 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 

 uid water should be given internally. That this may be done without waste, and without frequently dis- 

 turbing 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. 



7.' V). Pigeon* Ileitis: fond of salt, what is called a pigeon cat is placed in the midst of the pigeon.house, 

 or in the open air mar it. It seems these birds arc fond of salt and hot substances, and constantly swallow 

 small stones to promote digestion. The salt-eat is thus composed. Gravel or drift-sand, unctuous loam, 

 ''"' rubbish ol an old wall, or lime, a gallon of each (should lime be substituted for rubbish, a less quan- 

 tity Of l be former will suffice ; one pound of i ummin-sced, one handful of bay-salt; mix with stale urine. 

 Inclose tins hi jar-, corked or stopped, holes being punched in the sides, to admit the beaks of the pigeons. 

 1 he»e in. iy be placed abroad They are very fond of this mixture, and it prevents them from pecking the 

 mortar from the roots ol their houses, which thev are otherwise verv apt to do. 



7>H Clean/, nets is one of the first and most' important considerations : the want of it in a dove-cote 



.vill soon render the place a nuisance not to he approached ; and the birds, both voung and old, will be so 



nd with vermin, and besmeared with their own excrement, that thev can enjoy no health or comfort, 



and mortality is often so indued. Mowbraj 's were cleaned dailv, thoroughly once "a week, a tub standing 



at band for the r. ception ol the dung, the floor covered with sifted gravel, often renewed. 



7->4& Pigeon-hotuei are of three kinds, small boarded cases fixed on posts, trees, or against the ends of 

 houses ; lolls fitted up with boles or nests ; and detached buildings. The first are generally too small to 



contain a sufficient bl i, and are also too subject to variations of temperature ; and the last, on the other 



hand, are nnw.a-days too large, and therefore the most suitable for the farmer is a loft or tower rising 

 from a building in which no noisy operation is carried on. The lofts of any of the farm-buildings at a 

 distance from the threshing machine are suitable, or a loft or tower over any detached building will 

 answer well; but the belt situation of all is a tower raised from the range of" poultrv-buildings, where 

 then 1 is such a range, as the pigeons can thus be more conveniently treated, and will feed very readily 

 with domestic poultry. 1 or a toner of this sort, the round form should be preferred to the square • be- 

 < suae the rats cannot R0 easily come at them in the former as in the latter. It is also much more com- 

 modious; as, by means of a ladder turning round upon an axis, it is possible to visit all the nests in the 

 house, without the least difficulty ; which cinn.t be SO easily done in a house of the square form And 

 In order to hinder rats from climbing up the outside of it, the' wall should be covered with tin-plates to a 



