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of their excellent homing properties, and I have been informed of Squeakers doing 

 London and Dover without training. This variety are very small, and in addition to 

 the occasional frill and gullet, have very short beaks ; their colour is generally blue or 

 mealy, sometimes chequered. Not being quite so intractable as the longer beaked 

 ones, they may, with due care and a little patience, be settled in a new abode ; at any 

 rate they will breed in a fresh loft, consequently are much better known in England. 



266. (Brent.) — A cross-breed between the short-faced Antwerp and the Dragoon 

 Pigeon, however, is the kind mostly used for carrying communications in England, 

 and is considered more certain for short distances. The thorough-bred Antwerps, it is 

 alleged, frequently overfly themselves in a ten or twelve miles' match ; these half-bred 

 birds are considerably stouter than the Antwerps, have rather thick but not very long 

 beaks, and but little wattle. They are the same colours as the short-faced Antwerps, 

 excellent breeders and becoming very common. 



267. (Brent.) — A great variety of mongrels and crosses are brought from Belgium 

 under the title of Antwerps, many of which are the ugliest, most runtish-looking birds 

 imaginable ; some of them, it is true, have a good deal of Antwerp blood in them, and 

 will perform long journeys, but such are by no means desirable. 



SKIN-NUM. 



268. (Eaton.) — A cross between a Dragon, Antwerp, Tumbler, House Pigeon Runt ; 

 in fact, any common Pigeon, and you are at a loss to know how they are bred, or what 

 name to give them. It appears to me a bye- word given to nondescript birds, although 

 some are pleasant to look at (these I consider the better sort of a bad lot) ; some of 

 them will do good work as flying Pigeons. It would be the height of folly to attempt 

 to give a portrait of these birds as they vary so in appearance. 



269. (Beent.) — Skinnums are a cross between the common Tumblers and Dragoons. 

 They are good flyers and much used in London, but in other respects no better than 

 the common Pigeon, which they much resemble. 



270. (Brent ) — When it is desired to train Carriers, or any of the other varieties 

 of flying Pigeons, the following is the most approved manner of procedure : — 



271. (Brent.) — Having procured the sort or sorts required, the first thing is to get them 

 settled or accustomed to their new abode ; this is best attained by procuring a few com- 

 mon Pigeons first, which are easily settled by keeping them in a loft for a week or a fort- 

 night, and allowing them to go into the trap to look about. These may be frequently 

 found useful while raising or first establishing a flight, and can then be got rid of. The 

 better sorts are very difficult to settle in a new home, and the best are almost impossi- 

 ble to retain at large, though pairing them with mates already settled wiU sometimes 

 induce them to remain ; therefore it will be found less troublesome to retain young birds 

 — " Squeakers';" but be careful to have them quite young, for if of a good stock, and 

 but once floAvn, they may prove treacherous. Perhaps it would be more successful, 

 where it is desired to raise a good flight of first-rate birds, to procure old ones, and 

 breed from them in a separate loft — never letting them out — or only into a lafchwork 

 or wire enclosure or trap, and then to draft the eggs or young ones into the loft 

 of flyers. But the generality of Flying Pigeons will not require so much trouble. 

 Young birds, and even old ones, are frequently to be settled at a fresh place with a lit- 

 tle management, provided they have not been previously trained ; whereas, the best 

 sorts will frequently return home on obtaining their liberty, though they have been kept 

 up for twelve months or more, and some few even refuse to breed during their 

 confinement. Very wild Pigeons are more difficult to reconcile than the tamer ones, 

 though the wilder generally make the better homing birds. 



272. (Brent.) — When settled, the Pigeons should be turned out, and put on the 

 wing twice a day, once early in the morning, and again in the afternoon : when they 

 are thus accustomed to daily exercise they will contimte on the wing for an hour or two 

 at a time, and after circling round their home a few times, will start off' and take long 

 circuits of a mile or two in extent, and then returning wiU take a tour in another direc- 

 tion, which is called " going an end," and is of great use to them, as well from the 

 exercise it affords their wings, as in keeping them in remembrance of their homing 

 faculties. 



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