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SCOURING OR PURGING. 



Pigeons are sometimes subject to scouring or purging, particularly youn^ one*, 

 ■which is generally accompanied with a foetid smell ; when this is perceived, put 

 down the throat a lump of chalk of the size of a bean, three or four times a day, 

 which will effectually stop it, and the bird will soon be as well as before. Pump 

 water, as before observed, being more astringent, should be given them, and the 

 clotted feathers, if any, should be plucked from about the anus, to prevent their 

 being cold and wet, which the constant purging will occasion, and their nests 

 should be kept dry, as from weakness in this complaint they are frequently unable 

 to dung over the side of the nest-pan. 



THE SMALL POX. 



The young birds are also subject to a complaint, which, from its similarity, is by 

 Fanciers called the Small Pox ; it generally makes its appearance just before the 

 birds begin to fledge, and comes out pretty thick in little pustules filled with 

 matter, about the head, neck, and back ; but I never observed that the birds were 

 the least ill with it, and it usually disappears in six or seven days, without having 

 had the smallest effect upon them that I could perceive, the birds thriving and 

 growing all the time as if nothing was the matter with fhem. 



They have some other little complaints too trifling to notice, but if a bird is 

 unwell, and I cannot discover what the cause ofits illness is, I generally administer 

 B pill or two of rheubarb, of the size of a pea, and repeat it on the alternate day, 

 which purges them, and generally sets them right. 



OF ODD OR UNMATCHED BIRDS- 



The Fancier should avoid keeping too many odd or unmatched birds in his loft, 

 for they will be coniinually getting into the penns of the other birds that are sitting 

 steadily, and fight them, and if not break the eggs, in all probability cause the hen 

 to forsake her nest, by which she will be liable to lay again too quickly, and 

 without having sat a proper time to recruit herself; or if she was near hatching, 

 her crop will be fiUing with soft meat, which the Fancier will have no means of 

 getting rid of, for her, and she will be in danger of being sick and ill, in 

 consequence of it. To remedy this, he had better buy a common bird or two to 

 match to his own that are odd; and they will thus be prevented doino' him 

 mischief, and be attended with the advantage of being serviceable to him as feeders. 



Some Fanciers fit up their lofts with mere shelves, and partitions between thera, 

 without any fronts, so that each division is opeii to the intrusion of every bird in 

 the loft, as well as to the pair it belongs to. This, in my opinion, is an extremely 

 erroneous notion, as the Fancier must be in aanuch greater degree of uncertainty 

 as to the genuine produce of his birds, and of course much less able to give their 

 true pediTee, than if the penns were enclosed, for I have more than once been witness 

 to the attempt of a strange bird, to tread a hen, which has squatted to receive ihe 

 tread of her own mate, and no doubt but this sometimes actually takes place when 

 the Fancier is not present to prevent it,. Add to this, that the birds are frequently 

 prevented treading their own hens, by the interference of other birds, who will 

 always fly at them, and prevent them, if they are any where about the loft exposed 

 to their view which must ever be the case in open penns ; but where the penns 

 have fronts to them, the birds can copulate in quiet, and the strain is rendered 

 much more certain. The birds will also sit better, and be less likely to forsake 

 their eggs, which they will sometimes do, if they are too much exposed. And 

 another advantage is thereby derived ; the penns have fronts of good workmanship, 

 takes ofi that naked look, and give the loft a much more finished and neat appearance. 



