30 THE PIGEON BOOK 



out, is to go to the breeder who has created a strain, 

 obtain several pairs, and mate them according to the 

 advice he may give. 



Do not for one moment suppose that this is all that is 

 necessary. Thousands of pigeons are bred annually, but 

 the number of champions bred is very few indeed. 



From the young you breed you will have plenty that 

 come of the wrong colour, wrong type, or wrong mark- 

 ings. Don't bother with these; screw their necks, as 

 they will only eat food unnecessarily and take up the 

 valuable air space useful for the better ones. 



What may prove a poor cock, on the one hand, would 

 be a fairly good hen, hence it will be perhaps as well if 

 I offer a few remarks here on the way of judging the 

 sexes when very young. You can often tell this better 

 before the squab has commenced to feather than after- 

 wards. Providing there are two youngsters in a nest the 

 young cock will stand up more boldly in the nest-pan 

 and strike out with his shoulders and wing at the ap- 

 proaching hand. The hen will sit quietly still and merely 

 squeak. The squeak of the cock is louder and gruffer 

 than that of the hen, and when the young leave 

 their parents the young cock will start grunting much 

 more quickly than the hen, which will squeak for some 

 time after. 



As a rule in silver duns, mealies, light and dark red 

 chequers, if there are dark ink tick marks in the tails or 

 flights these generally denote the cocks, as hens are seldom 

 marked in this manner, the splashes in hens being of a 

 brownish colour and not distinctly black, although occa- 

 sionally I have seen hens plainly marked with these inky 

 ticks. 



Another distinguishing characteristic of the young cock 

 in the nest is the broader and bolder beak, thicker head 



