152 THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER 



snaps his fingers or waves his hand before the pen, at the same 

 time allowing the two birds to see each other. They naturally 

 " play up," and gradually learn to associate the presence of 

 man and the call with agreeable company, so that they wiU 

 play on being challenged ; but no other bird should be in sight 

 except whilst the owner is training, or they will be restless 

 and sulk. Particular care must be taken never to point the 

 finger at them and allow them to peck at it. Some inex- 

 perienced amateurs do so, and the result is that the bird gets 

 the habit and will never afterwards show at all. Many a fine 

 bird has lost all chance in this way. 



Pouters are rather subject to over-gorging, both with food 

 and water. The old remedy for this is to place the bird in a 

 stocking that fits it rather tightly and keeps the crop well up, 

 and to hang the stocking on a nail in the wall, kneading the 

 crop now and then with the fingers till emptied. The bird 

 must be kept in a pen for some days afterwards, and fed care- 

 fully and sparingly. If a bird has become gorged several times 

 the crop is apt to become chronically loose and pendulous, for 

 which the only remedy is to cut a piece entirely out, and sew 

 carefully up again, the two skins separately. It is very 

 difficult in this operation to so preserve the symmetry of the 

 crop that the bii-d can be exhibited again j but a fine bird may 

 thus be saved for breeding. 



Pouters require the largest size of breeding-places and nest- 

 pans. If shelves are employed, they should be fourteen inches 

 wide and eighteen inches apart ; and the nest-pans, the largest 

 size made. This pigeon, however, on the average, really does 

 breed best upon the floor. 



Pigmy Pouters appear to have been first produced by Sir 

 John Sebright, so well known also for his extraordinary success 

 in producing dwarf poultry. Eaton writes of him : — "After his 

 death I was at the sale of his bantams and pigeons. I was 



