Exhibiting Pigeor. 



53 



fruiterers often sellfor Is. 6cl. or 2b., may bo made into capital exhibition 

 baskets by dividing them into compartments with canvas, as in Fig. 10, 

 which is a plan for dividing such a basket into eight compartments, each 

 loin, by 4iin. at the wide, and llin. at the narrow ends, suitable for such 

 small pigeons as turbits or owls. Jacobins are better sent in canvas than 

 basket work divisions, and fantails should have large and lofty cloth-lined 

 compartments to save their tails from being broken or destroyed. 



The greater number of fancy pigeons maybe sent to exhibitions without 

 any preparation at home, except that in cases where the birds are of 

 an extra wild nature some preliminary penning may be of advantage, 

 in rendering them to some extent at home in a show pen. Some, however, 

 and especially pouters, really require a considerable training to enable 

 them to be shown with 

 advantage, and this will 

 be referred to more 

 particularly elsewhere. 

 Pigeons should in all 

 cases be shown in a 

 clean state, as many 

 judges lay considerable 

 stress on this point, and 

 although a good bird 

 can never look very bad 

 though dirty, one equally 

 good in spotless plumage looks very much better. A good deal may be 

 done for dirty birds by careful washing with soap and soft water ; but 

 washed birds have never the finish of those that do not require it. A 

 practice that cannot be too strongly deprecated is oiling or greasing the 

 plumage of pigeons to improve their colour. Birds so treated should 

 never receive notice at the hands of a judge. 



The best exhibition pens for pigeons are those of galvanised wire, of 

 the beehive shape, and a good thing for strewing them with is the husk 

 of oats, though coarse pine sawdust is better than nothing. Each pen, 

 or at least each couple, should have water and food tins so placed 

 that the birds can reach them without trouble. When thrown on the 

 bottom of the pen the food gets soiled, and heavily-wattled pigeons 

 accustomed to feed from hoppers are unable to feed from the floor. 



Tig. 10.— Plan for Pigeon Basket. 



