62 National Standard Squab Book. 



Xol all the Ni'w York iKMysiPiipei-s print market (luotatious of sijuabs. 

 The Xew York Kvi'iiiiiy Sun is iiu exceiitiuii. All through the winter of 

 I'JOl ami lyoi; squabs were qnoteil in the Kvening Snu at $5 a dozen. This 

 jjienns that i' sqniili breeder snipping to New York should have got $6 

 :ujil $7 tor a ehoiee product from private customers. 



A correspondent in New York state Sends a clipping from the Xcw 

 York Tribune's nuirkct colr.mns and asks for an interpretation. \\'e 

 quote from it as follows: 



•'Pigeons, 20e.; sijualjs, prime, laige, white, per doz., $3.50 and $3. To; 

 ditto, mixed, $2.75 and $rs; ditto, d.-irk, $1.75 and $2." 



The quotation, "Pigeons, 20 cents," means 20 cents a pair for common 

 old killed pigeons. These tough old birds are occasionally found in the 

 markets and are worth onl.v 10 or 15 cents apiece. They are neither squabs 

 nor the old Homer pigeons. Imt are common pigeoas sueh .as fly in the 

 strp*>ts. A small boy might get a pair of these street pigeons and kill 

 tiiem and give them to a butciier who would pay him 15 or 20 cents 

 a pair. These cheap pigeons come into the eastern markets largely from 

 the "tt'est in barrels and are sold to Boston commission men for live cents 

 apiece, or 50 cents a dozen. They are retailed at from $1 to $1.20 a dozen. 

 They are in the Chicago market masquei-ading as squabs. They have 

 been killed with guns and have shot in their bodies. If you ask for pigeon 

 pie at one of the ilieni> P.ostoa restaurants, you will get a shot or two 

 against your teeth with mouthfuls. After every trap-shooting contest 

 some skulker goes over the field and gathers up all the killed and maimed 

 liirds he can timl, and. sells rheni for fn'o and three cents apiece, or for 

 anything lu' can get, ami these find their way into the markets. The 

 cruel practice of iiigeon shooting by miscalled "sportsmen" on Long Island 

 is quite common, ami the presence of these birds in the New Y'ork liuteher 

 shops accounts for the above quotation in the Tribune. It is unnecessary 

 to add that such birds do not compete with squabs. They can t)e made 

 palatable on]y 1iy stewing for hours in a pie, which takes out a little of 

 tlieir toughness. 1'here is now a law in New Y'ork forbidding pigeon 

 shooting. 



As to s(tuabs. the quotation, "Prime, large, white, p<'r dozen $3.50 and 

 J5.75." is for the kind of squa'bs that are raised from our Homers, namely. 

 No. 1 grade. 



By the quotation, "Mixed, $2.75 and $3.00," is meant that these amounts 

 are paid for iots of birds composed of No. 1 and No. 2 grades, mixed. It 

 you sort \ip youi' fu'rds carefully you will be able to get the No. 1 prices 

 for all. Some people do not know bow to sort them, and they have to 'be 

 satisfied with the prii'e of a mixed lot. 



By the quotation, "Dark. $1.75 and $2.00," is meant the dark-fleshed 

 squabs, as you have learneil by reading our ^lauual. Squabs whose flesh 

 Is dark do not sell foi- as much as the whife-fleshed squabs. 



Pigeons are of al! colors, i. e., as yo\i see their feathers, and the squabs 



