71 COMMON PIGEONS. 



mixed race, so interbred that it is often impossible to guess 

 at their ancestry; and the same abound in almost every town 

 and village in the kingdom. The old English name for them 

 was runts, probably having the same meaning as when applied 

 to common cattle, as Welsh runts, though a canary hen of 

 three years of age was also called a runt. Moore refers to 

 common pigeons, after describing the fancy runts : " To these 

 we may add common runts, which are kept purely for the 

 dish, and generally in locker holes in inn yards or other 

 places, and are well known to everybody; they are good 

 feeders, and therefore good nurses for any of the more 

 curious sorts of pigeons." 



In France these common runts are known as Pigeons Mon- 

 dains, and, according to Boitard and Corbie, who describe 

 them as having no special characteristics, because they assume 

 all forms and colours, what they lose in purity they gain in 

 the way of fecundity. When extra feather-footed, such are 

 known as Pigeons Patu, and the authors above-named describe 

 and illustrate types of both denominations. Common runts, 

 when selected for their gay and striking colours, are so far 

 interesting that their young assume the most various, though 

 uneven, markings; and for my own part, I would rather breed 

 a motley lot of such, than confine myself to some single 

 uninteresting, though undoubtedly distinct and pure race, 

 such as the spot pigeon. 



Pigeons for the Market. 



In France a considerable trade is done in supplying the 

 markets with hand-fed young pigeons, fattened in the fol- 

 lowing way : When the birds are about three weeks old they 

 are placed in cages, each containing about thirty or forty, kept 

 in a dark place, and fed five or six times a day, through a pipe, 

 with a liquid paste of buckwheat flour mixed with whole maize. 

 They become fat in five or six days, and "it is astonishing 

 how much delicacy they assume in such a short time." 



