b4 PROFITABI.E PIGEON BREEDING 



to select their mates and pair off and will soon start billing 

 and cooing and very i)ro]>abIy start a nest. They have, there- 

 foi'e, mated jvist as they \\onld ha\e done had they never been 

 confined l)ut of that class that fly at large. AVc allow them to go 

 ahead ^\■itll their first set of eggs and during this time we study- 

 each pair carefully to sec that they arc properly suited to each 

 other to produce the best rcstilts possible. It they are so suited 

 we catch them one b> one and place tlie pi'oper leg liands on 



I.AOED «'ING OR SPANGLED POLISH LYXX 

 Photo from Edwin AV. Knowles, Baltimore, Md. 



their legs, giving each pair a different numbered band from 

 any other pair and enter, on our records, the numbers on the 

 bands anil the i)arcntage record. For example: Suppose we 

 num])er a pair twelve white. Suppose that the cock bird in this 

 pair was bred from pair twenty-six yellow and the hen from 

 fifteen blue. Tliese nundjcrs arc entered on the record sheet,-; 

 for our new ])air twelve \\hite and this information at once 

 establishes the jiarentage record. In all cases we band the 

 cock on the rigid h'g and tlie hen on the left one. On the other 

 hand suppo.^c we find a pair mated that are not suited to each 

 olh(>r ill tliat they are both AN'cak in the same sections. We 

 should remember that wlicn two birds \\\th the same weakness 



