HOW TO BUY BIRDS 8l 



The following letter is from the Pacific coast: "I 

 got 42 birds two years ago in July. I bought what 

 were recommended as 'extra mated.' I had them 

 from July to February 12 before a squab was hatched. 

 Then- as a few more were hatched they began to die 

 and I lost 75 per cent of all the birds." 



The next letter is from a lady in the middle west: 

 "I bought 12 pairs of birds and after much delay 

 found I had only eight hens out of the lot. Everybody 

 from whom I tried to buy extra hens said : 'You must 

 have bought your birds from a certain party.' They 

 named the very company from which I purchased my 

 stock. I mentioned this fact in my letter to the com- 

 pany, but they were quite indignant, and have prom- 

 ised to send me hens to replace the missing ones. If 

 they cannot do any better than they first attempted, I 

 do not know whether I shall get hens or not." 



A gentleman in a New Jersey town erected a pigeon 

 house at a cost of $260 and bought 150 pairs of birds 

 of a Philadelphia dealer. He gave the birds pains- 

 taking care and after 18 months had not sold enough 

 squabs to pay the feed bill. Many of the birds never 

 mated. He went out of the business. To-day the 

 house stands empty and unused as a reminder of 

 the foolishness of unwise buying. Another person 

 felt obliged, because of ill health, to seek another oc- 

 cupation. Magazine advertisements promised an 

 easy way to make sure money with little work to 

 squab raisers, and $600 was soon invested. At the 

 end of a year the receipts had amounted to $200, the 

 business was abandoned and the old occupation re-en- 

 tered. In this case the $600 represented the total sav- 

 ings of a number of years of hard work in an exacting 

 employment. 



