78 National Standard Squab Book. 
tail feathers. A thin aluminum tube containing the message may be fast- 
ened to a leg, or to a tail feather. A trap window should be constructed to 
time the arrival home of birds. ‘his is an aperture about six inches square 
closed by wires hanging from a piece of wood at the top of the aperture 
and swinging inward, but held close to the aperture by its own weight. 
he pigeon cannot fly out but on its return home (if you have sprinkled 
grain on the inside of the house, next the wires) the bird will push the 
wire door and go in. It takes only a day or two for the pigeon to become 
accustomed to the trap. It you connect the trap with a simple make and 
break electric circuit, the pigeon on its arrival home from its flight will 
ring a beli in any part of your house or barn. When you have a record 
of the flyers, you will have a guide for mating. The majority of fanciers 
recommend a medium-sized Homer. A large hen should be mated to a 
small cock, or a large cock to a small hen. Instead of mating birds of 
equal age, try an old cock with a young hen, and vice versa. For vitality 
and stamina, it is best to mate birds of different colors. A pair of breed- 
ing pigeons will occupy the same pair of nests year after year, and they 
uever will change mates, but you may break up an undesirable mating if 
you choose and re-mate the birds according to your determination, using 
the mating coop as described. What is perhaps the best pigeon service in 
the world has been in use for several years between Newton Roads, Auck- 
land, New Zealand, and the Great Barrier and Maro Tiro Islands, some 
75 miles distant. A boy of 16 years worked up the service and makes a 
large income from it. About 20 messages an hour are carried back and 
forth by the Homers. A year ago the government declared its intention of 
laying a cable from Auckland to Great Barrier. The project was aban- 
doned, however,-as the residents of the little island decided that they were 
well pleased with’ the pigeons, and that a cable would not be patronized. 
The government offered to buy the whole pigeon outfit from the boy 
owner, but he refused. There are from 400 to 500 pairs of pigeons in the 
service. 
Question. In the case of young birds mated up for the first time at five 
or six months of age, is it best to destroy the first eggs, or let them go 
ahead and hatch in the regular way? Answer. Let them go ahead and 
hatch and learn to fecd their young. It will improve them for the uext 
hatch. 
Question. Please describe the self feeder more fully and explain ite 
operation. Answer. The hopper of the feeder is V-shaped so that the 
grain will fall by its own weight to the centre at the bottom, which is cut 
away as shown in the illustration so that as the birds peck up the grain, 
miore falls from the hopper. The slit where the birds eat should be about 
half an inch in width, just enough to prevent the grain from runnivg out 
faster than it is eaten. The object of the lower steps of the feeder is to 
give the birds a chance to alight before jumping up onto the board where 
the grain is exposed. 
Question. Can I use the upper part of my hen house for pigeons aBu 
