HOW TO BUY BIRDS 83 



that may be depended on ; to warrant. Warrant, v. t. 

 4. {Law) (d) To assure, as a thing sold to a purchaser ; 

 that is, to engage that the thing is what it appears, or 

 is represented to be, which implies a covenant to make 

 good any defect or loss incurred by it. Warranty, n. 2. 

 (Modern Law) An engagement or undertaking, ex- 

 pressed or implied that a certain fact regarding the 

 subject of a contract is, or shall be, as it is expressly or 

 impliedly declared or promised to be. In sales of 

 goods by persons in possession, there is an implied 

 warranty of title, but as to the quality of goods, the 

 rule of every sale is caveat emptor." This definition 

 is satisfactory until we come to the last two words, 

 which mean, "let the buyer beware." 



Let us see how easy it is for a dealer to do business 

 who starts selling pigeons with "Caveat emptor," as 

 part of his capital. Suppose he advertises heavily in 

 from loo to 300 of the more prominent daily, weekly 

 and monthly papers ; that some of the yearly charges 

 for such advertising amount to $1,000 or more a year, 

 the whole aggregate running into a respectable sum. 

 Now because young pigeons must be a year old be- 

 fore they are profitably mated, a large plant must be 

 provided if one is to fill orders for 500 to 1,000 pairs 

 at a time and do business enough to pay the advertis- 

 ing bills. A house 40 feet long will accommodate 250 

 pairs of birds. Four such houses, or one house four 

 times as long, is needed for 1,000 pairs of birds and for 

 5,000 pairs twenty times as long, etc. We soon real- 

 ize how enormous a plant the large dealers must have 

 if they raise the birds they sell. 



Suppose again a dealer has agents in various parts 

 of the country buying and shipping birds to him. He 

 guesses at their ages, sex, etc. He does not know 



