mended for this purpose, as a preventive of lice, but we have 

 found them too coarse for nesting material and now never 

 use them. There will be no trouble from lice if ordinary 

 cleanliness is observed. 



Hempseed and peas are useful dainties in getting ac- 

 quaintejl with your birds. They will flock to your hand and 

 eat them greedily. 



Our practice is to go light on the corn, in feeding. Corn 

 is carbonaceous and fat-producing and the pigeons become 

 weakened under such a diet. It heats the blood and lays 

 the system open to an attack of canker. 



The self-feeder and the feeding-troughs in the squab house 

 should be kept supplied with a mixture of the grains before 

 noted. We have seen recommendations to feed the birds 

 once or twice a day only what they would clean up at one 

 feeding but have found such advice to be wholly wrong when 

 breeding on a large scale. When the food supply is of the 

 "clean-up" kind, and consequently not generous, the young 

 squabs will be heard squeaking loudly for food. Where a 

 continuous supply is at hand, one seldom hears the hungry 

 cry of a squab', and all grow quickly and strongly to market 

 size. It is poor economy to furnish a meagre and uncertain 

 supply of food. Do not fear that the pigeons will waste the 

 grain provided by a bountiful self-feeding trough. They will 

 eat what they need for themselves and the squabs and never 

 will gorge noi' lose their trim, racy shape. We have discov- 

 ered no diseases caused by overfeeding. 



Salt fish and preparations of mortar and grit are imprac- 



37 



