16 



From the foregoing it will be seen that the question of 

 housing the breeding pigeons is not a very complicated one, 

 as there is a wide latitude for action. 



Some breeders even allow their birds to fly at large, not 

 using flies at all; but this practice is not recommended. In 

 the first place, the birds do not produce so many squabs as 

 they do under confinement and they are liable to accidents, 

 such as being caught by hawks, shot by boys, or some other 

 mishap which causes the owner to Iqse them and often to 

 lose squabs which such birds have in their nests. 



It has been found best to keep the birds strictly confined. 

 One well-known squab-raiser has a .pen of fifty pairs of 

 birds in his lofts which have been confined in the same place 

 for seevn years and are still working well. The writer 

 visited this loft at the end of the seventh year of their con- 

 finement and noticed that they were producing squabs at a 

 good rate. 



For the convenience of beginners, we give ground plan 

 and elevation of two styles of pigeon lofts, pp. 17, 19,21 and24. 

 The loft designated as No. I, may be built at a cost as low 

 as $15 for one room, or it may be ma^e to cost $50 or even 

 more. It will be seen that the plan is for two rooms, but 

 this is not the limit of size that is possible. We have seen 

 lofts with a dozen rooms in them, but would recommend 

 about four rooms as the most convenient limit where pigeons 

 are kept extensively. Where a four-room house is built for 

 lofting purposes, the plan should inclu'de a storeroom unless 

 the owner has a room which conveniently can be used for a 

 storeroom for feed and as a place for dressing and packing 

 the squabs. 



