PIGEONS. 147 



vermin. The cot should be painted white, as the pigeon is 

 attracted by that color. Gravel should be strewed on the 

 ground in front of the dove-cot, the birds being fond of picking 

 it ; and a little straw or hay is necessary for the nests. 

 Cleanliness is indispensable to the health of the birds, and a 

 scouring out of the cot should therefore take place regularly. 

 The quantity of dung produced in the nests is very great, and 

 its removal to the compost heap will amply repay the trouble 

 of cleaning. 



In commencing to keep pigeons, a pair or two should be 

 procured which have not flown, and they should be shut up for 

 a time, and well fed. Their chief food is grain, and the kind 

 which they prefer to all others is dried tares. Small horse- 

 beans are another favorite article of diet, and very nutritious 

 to them. Wheat, barley, oats, and peas, with rape, hemp, 

 and canary seeds, are also prized by them, but should not be 

 made constant articles of food under any circumstances. 



The house-dove or common pigeon, as is well known, 

 begins to breed about the age of nine months, and breeds every 

 month. During breeding time, they associate in pairs, and 

 pay court to each other with their bills ; the female lays two 

 eggs, and the young ones that are produced are for the most 

 part a male and female. When the eggs are laid, the female, 

 in the space of fifteen days, not including the three days during 

 which she is employed in laying, continues to hatch, relieved 

 at intervals by the male. From three or four o'clock in the 

 evening, till nine the next day, the female continues to sit ; 

 she is then relieved by the male, who takes his place from ten 

 till three, while his mate is feeding abroad. In this manner 

 they sit alternately till the young come out. Kept with ordi- 

 nary care, a pair will give to the breeder nine pairs or so in a 

 year, and will continue to do this for four years. 



With regard to the best breeds of the common domesti- 



