52 THE PIGEON BOOK 



in plenty is useless if the air within is vitiated with too 

 great an abundance of pigeons, not kept properly clean. 



Twice the number of birds can be kept in the same 

 air space if they are cleaned out regularly. 



The secret of the success of some of those fanciers 

 who appear to keep far too many birds in lofts big 

 enough, apparently, to accommodate but half the number, 

 is that they spend half their days with their pigeons, 

 and droppings are never allowed to lie on the floor for a 

 minute. If others dared to keep the same number in 

 the same space, giving less attention, the birds would be 

 rife with disease, and useless for anything in a very short 

 space of time. 



The number of birds to be kept in lofts of various sizes 

 depends generally upon the fancier's aptitude to attend 

 to them, therefore I cannot define with exactitude the 

 size of lofts and the number to be kept therein. Still, it 

 is always safest to err on the side of amplitude of room, 

 and never overcrowd. 



I do not propose to go into minute detail as to each 

 of the diseases of pigeons. I shall simply mention the 

 disease, what in my opinion is the cause, and what I 

 have found to be the best and safest remedies, bearing 

 in mind when one remedy has sometimes failed I have 

 changed the treatment with success, and hence in some 

 cases I give two or three remedies for the same disease. 



Apoplexy (the Bursting of & Blood-Tesiel in the Brain). 



This disease is more common amongst pigeons than 

 fanciers imagine. In the spring I have known birds to 

 drop dead from apoplexy one after another. Their 

 owner immediately assumes poison has been at work. 

 Prisoners are more prone to the disease than birds having 

 their freedom. 



