242 BIRDS 



stage, this can be accomplished, very laboriously, by passing 

 food down the throat with the fingers, until the crop is rea- 

 sonably full. Grain to be used for such purpose should first 

 be soaked in water. It is much easier, and not really so 

 repulsive as it sounds, to feed the little bird by mouth. By 

 taking a mouthful of clean grain, and holding open the 

 squab's beak with the thumb and finger of one hand, its 

 crop can be filled to a satisfying degree in a very few 

 minutes. Even tiny squabs, still being fed on " milk," can 

 be reared with Mellin's Food and yolk of egg, given with 

 a medicine dropper. This is a difficult matter, however, as 

 the tiny chick must be kept warm and fed often, so few but 

 experts would care to attempt it. 



Colors of Pigeons 



Before describing the various breeds, it is best to con- 

 sider the typical colors, which run through the group. 

 Five solid colors are commonly recognized, known, when 

 unmixed, as self: white, black, dun, red and yellow. Of 

 these dun and yellow are dilute forms of black and red, 

 respectively. That is, the pigment is identical, but in the 

 dilute forms the particles are separated by colorless spaces, 

 thus giving a paler shade. These dilute colors, as well as 

 others to be described, are recessives in the Mendelian sense, 

 and sex limited as well, so that chance birds which occur are 

 almost invariably hens. It is only in the breeds in which 

 these colors are well established that cocks are common. 



Of white there is nothing to say, except that the color 

 must be pure throughout, with a soft iridescence on the neck. 

 The beak and toe-nails usually are white as well. Most 

 breeders pay little attention to color in white birds, but 

 there is no doubt that strains could be established which 

 soil less easily than others. This has been demonstrated in 



