National Standard Squab Book. 19 
It is the pigeons and the intelligence behind them which do the trick, 
every time. <A fancy pigeon house with fancy trimmings cannot produce 
any better squabs than the home-made affair, provided the birds are the 
same in both cases. 
You should have a pair of nest boxes for a pair of pigeons. By a pair 
of pigeons we mean two pigeons, a male and a female. By a pair of nest 
boxes we mean two nest boxes. We find that the word pair has a differ- 
ent meaning to people in different parts of the country, perhaps on the 
same principle that a pair of scissors or a pair of suspenders is one ob- 
ject, while a pair of something else, as in this case, means two objects. 
A pair of pigeons attend to a pair of syuabs in one nest -box, nevertheless 
for each pair of pigeons you need two uest boxes, for when the squabs 
are about two weeks old in one nest, the old birds will go to the adjoining 
nest box, or to a nest box in a distant part of the squab house, and begin 
housekeeping again, laying eggs and dividing their attention between the 
two families. 
Count your nest boxes and you will know how many pigeons your house 
will accommodate. If your count shows 96 nest boxes (in other words, 
-48 pairs of nest boxes), vou can accommodate 48 pairs of pigeons. Do 
not write us and tell us that you have a house of a certain size and ask 
us to tell you how many pairs of pigeons it will accommodate. Put in 
your nest boxes as we have described and then count them, and you will 
know. Or you may figure it out for yourself on paper, allowing two nest 
boxes, ‘each one cubic foot in size, for each pair of birds. To put it in 
another way, you should allow one cubic foot of nest box space for each 
breeding pigeon. Surely we have made this so plain now that you cannot 
go astray. 
Now suppose you work ‘backwards, saying to yourself that you wish to 
order 96 pairs of ‘breeders, and want to know how large a house you will 
need to accommodate them. From what we have written in the foregoing 
paragraph, you know that for each pair of pigeons you will need two 
“nest boxes each one cubic foot in size. Therefore for 96 pairs of pigeons 
you will need 192 nest boxes, or 96 egg crates, or their equivalent in space. 
Perhaps your start will be made with so small a number of birds that 
you will not have to cover more than one wall of your squab house with 
nest boxes. Cover one wall, or two walls, or three walls, whichever -the 
occasion demands. Have a lot of spare boxes, if you wish, and let’ the 
breeding pairs choose where they will. An extra number of nest boxes 
may be useful to you to accommodate the young birds raised to breeding 
age from the old birds which you buy of us, if you intend to nelee your 
squabs to breeding age. 
An expenditure of not over five dollars, and a couple of days time, 
will transform the average old building into a habitation for squabs. Put 
on the finishing touches and add to the expense to suit your fancy. You 
may cover the outside of the building with tarred paper and shingle or 
