FUMIGATION SALT CAT. 167 



not as a constant diet. The same of seeds. They 

 yet prefer wheat. The strong scent of cummin, and 

 flavour of coriander seeds, are said to have an allur- 

 ing effect upon the olfactory nerves and palate of 

 these birds ; as also the scent of assafcetida, and 

 other powerfully odoriferous drugs ; and that the 

 use of fumigations of such in the dove-cote, will not 

 only attract the pigeons to their home, but allure 

 strangers, which may be wandering in search of a 

 habitation. 



The last dietetic, or rather, perhaps, medicinal 

 article necessary to be described, is the SALT-CAT, 

 so called from some old fancy of baking a real cat 

 with spices, for the use of pigeons, which, however, 

 I never observed to eat animal food. In compliance 

 with this custom, I caused to be placed in the middle 

 of .the pigeon-loft, a dish of the following compo- 

 sition : loam, sand, old mortar, fresh lime, bay-salt, 

 cummin, coriander, caraway-seed, and allspice, moist- 

 ened into a consistence with urine. The pigeons 

 were constantly pecking at this, and were in a con- 

 stant state of good health how much of which may 

 be attributed to the use of the cat, I cannot deter- 

 mine ; but, certainly, they are extremely fond of it, 

 and, if it had no other merit, it prevents them from 

 pecking the mortar from the roof of the house, to 

 which otherwise they are much inclined. The cat 

 was mixed and heaped up in the dish, a piece of 

 board being placed upon the summit, to prevent the 

 birds from dunging upon it ; when become too hard 

 it was occasionally broken for them. 



The regular OLD FORMULA for this cat is as fol- 



