169 



532. I think there is no occasion for a pen two feet square, it is larger than there is 

 occasion for, and appears unsightly, I will give you an idea of what I think would 

 look better : a pen two feet long, eighteen inches deep, sixteen inches high in the clear, 

 shifting fronts, the bottom of the door five inches from the bottom of the pen, to pre- 

 vent the young ones getting out ; let the door- way be open to the top, which will be 

 eleven inches high; let it be ten inches wide, placed in the centre of the pen, rabbetted 

 and fastened with two buttons on the outside, the bars not exceeding one inch and a 

 half, mortised in to give a neater appearance. Although I have shown the advantages 

 derived by sinking the nest pans, I would still have a shelf half way between the top 

 and the bottom of the pen, big enough and nothing to spare, with a hole in it to 

 receive the pan, the birds to fly up on the edge of the pan, direct over the pan that is 

 sunk in the bottom of the pen, it might be that the old ones were sitting in the above 

 pans, while finishing off young ones below ; the rail of the door framing forms the 

 pitching board which is flush with the pen ; this is one cause why I approve of large 

 entrances to the pens ; there is still a greater, preventing them striking the joints of their 

 wings, greatly injming them, causing wens and crippling them for hfe. I should advise 

 the young Fancier to look round and see if there was anything in the aviary or loft, 

 provided the bird flew or came in contact with; above all things have no sharp edges, 

 let every thing be rounded, even the door ways to your pens, or perches in your aviary 

 or loft, if you have any. My advice is to have as few as possible, unless, ironically 

 speaking, you are blessed with a wilderness sort of place for your Almonds, even then 

 there is danger by a friend but stranger to your Almonds, who might frighten and cause 

 them to injure themselves against these imcalled for and dangerous places. Although 

 I said stranger to your Almonds, it is possible might know more about the Almond 

 than you that are reading, or I that am writing this treatise, stiU he is strange to 

 your birds 



533. I will suppose my birds would be dirty if I gave them a chance, I will set my 

 wits to work and defy them, by removing every thing out of their way which would 

 in the slightest degree soil their plumage, I have my avairy and loft scraped up twice a 

 day, would have it scraped up three times or oftener if occasion required; on the floor- 

 ing in my aviaries and lofts, I have eleven-inch deals, sawed into three equal widths, 

 which is nearly three inches and three quarters each, fixing them edgeways on the 

 floors, about twelve inches apart, now these boards being three inches and three quar- 

 ters high from the ground floor, as the pigeon is fond of resting upon something, 

 prevents their tail and flight coming in contact with dirt on the floor, provided we 

 would allow any to be there. 



534. Some Fanciers have small deal boxes, with a logger hole cut for the birds to go 

 in and out ; it opens at top, being on hinges, to put in nest pans or look at the young 

 birds. I formerly used pots in my loft amongst my feeders where I shifted the young 

 Almonds; these pots similar in shape to a bee hive; the dimensions were twelve inches 

 high, ten in clear at bottom, with flat knob at top to lift it, without any bottom, the 

 flooring forming the bottom, a logger hole five inches wide, reaching seven high from 

 the bottom, I could place them anywhere on the flooring of the loft and put the nest 

 pan under. I used them in pens with Almonds, which kept them warm, it is too 

 troublesome to lift off to look at a number of young birds. It did not answer among 

 the feeders, the young birds getting out and were killed by the birds in the loft. 



535. So much depends on the circumstances and spirit of the Fancier, the difference 

 80 great between the prince and the peasant (altho\igh a spirited Fancier), if it was 

 their intention to prepare a place for the Ahnond Tumbler, the prince might construct 

 a place that would astonish those who are not Fanciers, more than the Almond Tumb- 

 lers ; while the peasant would be compelled, comparatively speaking, to breed in a 

 rabbit hutch. The Fancier best knowing how he is circumstanced for room, wiU be 

 more competent to mature his plans ; having tiers of pens is decidedly the best, as thej' 

 can be made portable and shifted from one place to another. 



536. When a cock has become exceedingly troublesome, wiU take pens right and left 

 of his own, turn out the birds that belong to the pens, as a ferret would rats, I have 

 broke them off it by taking away the birds to whom the pen belonged ; have half 

 drowned the troublesome cock, gave it a good beating, filled its mouth with bitter 

 aloes, rubbed his tares with bitter aloes, made his water as disagreeable as possible, and 



