CLEANLINESS BARREL DOVECOTE. 145 



CLEANLINESS is one of the first and most import- 

 ant considerations : the want of it in a dove-cote 

 will soon render the place a nuisance not to be ap- 

 proached, and the birds, both young and old, will 

 be so covered with vermin, and besmeared with 

 their own excrement, that they can enjoy no health 

 or comfort, and mortality is often so induced. Ours 

 were cleaned daily ; thoroughly once a week, a tub 

 standing at hand for the reception of the dung, the 

 floor covered with sifted gravel, often renewed. 

 Pigeons are exceedingly fond of water, and, having 

 a prescience of rain, will wait its coming until late 

 in the evening, upon the house-top, spreading their 

 wing to receive the refreshing shower. When they 

 are confined in a room, they should be allowed a 

 wide pan of water, to be often renewed, as a bath, 

 which cools, refreshes, and assists them to keep 

 their bodies clear of vermin. In the attendance 

 upon pigeons, caution is necessary with respect to 

 their fighting, to which they are more prone than 

 might be expected, often to the destruction of eggs 

 or young, or driving the weakest away. 



The common BARREL DOVE-COTE needs no de- 

 scription, at the same time is adapted to every situa- 

 tion, in which it is desirable to keep pigeons for 

 ordinary use. To return to the ROOM, or LOFT ; 

 the shelves should be placed sufficiently high, for 

 security against vermin, a small ladder being a ne- 

 cessary appendage. The usual breadth of the 

 shelves is about twenty inches, with the allowance 

 of eighteen between shelf and shelf, which will be 

 sufficient not to incommode the tallest pigeons. 



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