62 National Standard Squab Book. 
Not all the New York newspapers print market quotations of squabs, 
The New York Evening Sun is an exception. Ali through the winter of 
1901 and 1902 sqnabs were quoted in the Evening Sun at $5 a dozen. This 
means that a squab breeder shipping to New York should have got $6 
and $7 for a choice product from private customers. 
A correspondent in New York state sends a clipping from the New 
York Tnribune’s market columns and asks for an interpretation. We 
quote from it as follows: 
“Pigeons, 20c.; squabs, prime, large, white, per doz., $3.50 and $3.75; 
ditto, mixed, $2.75 and $8; ditto, dark, $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 only 10 or 15 cents apiece. They are neither squabs 
nor the old Homer pigeons, but are common pigeons such as fly in the 
streets. A small boy might get a pair of these street pigeons and kill 
them and give them to a butcher who would pay him 15 or 20 cents 
a pair. These cheap pigeons come into the eastern markets largely from 
the West in barrels and are sold to Boston commission men for five cents 
apiece, or 50 cents a dozen. They are retailed at from $1 to $1.20 a dozen. 
They are in the Chicago market masquerading as squabs. They have 
been killed with guus and have shot in their bodies. If you ask for pigeon 
pie at one of the cheap Bostoa 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 
birds he can find, and sclls them for two and three cents apiece, or for 
anything he can get, and these find their way into the markets. The 
cruel practice of pigeon shooting by miscalled ‘“‘sportsmen’”’ on Long Island 
is quite common, and the presence of these birds in the New York butcher 
shops accounts for the above quotation in the Tribune. It is unnecessary 
to add that such birds do not compete with squabs. They can be made 
palatable only by stewing for hours in a pie, which takes out a little of 
their toughness. ‘There is now a law in New York forbidding pigeon 
shooting. 
As to squabs, the quotation, “Prime, large, white, per dozen $3.50 and 
$3.75,” is for the kind of squabs 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 lots of birds composed of No. 1 and No. 2 grades, mixed. If 
you sort up your birds carefully you will be able to get the No. 1 prices 
for all. Some people do not know how to sort them, and they have to tbe 
satisfied with the price of a mixed lot. 
By the quotation, “Dark, $1.75 and $2.00,” is meant the dark-fleshed 
squabs, as you have learned by reading our Manual. Squabs whose flesh 
is dark do not sell for as much as the white-fleshed squabs. 
Pigeons are of al! colors, i. e., as you see their feathers, and the squabs 
