Common Pigeons. 67 



characteristics, because they assume all forms and colours, what they 

 lose in purity they gain in the way of fecundity. When extra feather- 

 footed, they are known as Pigeons Patu, and they describe and illustrate 

 types of both denominations. Common runts, when selected for their gay 

 and striking colours, arc so far interesting that their young assume the 

 most various though uneven markings, and, for my own part, I would 

 rather breed a motley lot of such, than confine myself to some single 

 uninteresting, though undoubtedly distinct and pure race, such as the 

 spot pigeon. 



In ^France a considerable trade is done in supplying the markets with 

 hand-fed young pigeons fattened in the foUowing way : when the birds are 

 about three weeks old they are placed in cages containing about thirty 

 or forty, kept in a dark place, and fed five or six times a day through a 

 pipe with a liquid paste of buckwheat flour mised with whole maize. 

 They become fat in five or six days, and "it is astonishing how much 

 delicacy they assume in such a short time." 



I believe there is a limited trade for supplying the Loudon markets 

 with hand-fed or crammed pigeons, but the chief towns in this country 

 are supplied almost exclusively direct from field dovecotes. Purchasers 

 may know how to select young and tender birds by the presence of yellow 

 down on their neck feathers. When the value of the manure from a few 

 pairs of common pigeons, kept in an aviary, is taken into account, the 

 value of the young ones will pay for their food. The manure may be 

 kept in barrels, each layer of an inch in depth being covered with a 

 similar layer of dry earth or road scrapings, which will deodorise it and 

 make a very rich compost, worth several pounds a ton. The fine 

 sittings of ashes will do as well as dry earth for deodorising it. I have 

 seen capital crops from very poor soil on which such a compost has been 

 thrown, perhaps three or four times as thickly as guano is generally 

 spread. 



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