36 NEW-HATCHED SQUABS. [CHAP. n. 



supply of flesh for culinary purposes, that there are 

 cases in which the phenomenon strikes one with perfect 

 astonishment. 



Young Pigeons, when first hatched, are blind, half 

 naked, weak, and helpless. They are fed, nearly till 

 they are able to provide for themselves, entirely by 

 their parents. The aliment necessary for their feeble 

 organs during their earliest stage, is elaborated in the 

 crop of the old birds just before hatching; they ad- 

 minister it according to their instinctive knowledge of 

 the fit intervals, and all we have to think of is to see 

 that they suffer no deficiency of their accustomed ra- 

 tions. But with such utterly dependent younglings, a 

 fixed and safe household establishment is the thing, 

 without which all other comforts are worthless to 

 them. 



Now, there are three modes in which a home is 

 usually supplied to Pigeons in this country. First, by 

 the old-fashioned square Dovecotes, built of solid mate- 

 rials, and capable of accommodating a large number of 

 birds, such as we see forming part of the outbuildings 

 of manorial houses, which have enjoyed the privilege 

 of keeping them for many years. Secondly, in small 

 open wooden boxes, either placed against walls and 

 gables, or elevated and isolated on poles ; the birds, as 

 before, constantly having free access, arid being totally 

 unconfined, though usually forming a smaller population 

 than in the former case. And thirdly, in a room, or 

 chamber, or Pigeon-loft appropriated to the purpose, 

 which can be closed or opened at the pleasure of the 

 owner, containing also separate cages for special pur- 

 poses, and in short all the apparatus requisite for the 

 systematic practice of breeding, and of regulating the 



