QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 107 



mixture into the bill. The squab will swallow and fill its 

 crop. A backward squab may be forced in this manner. 



Question. Can you sell me twelve pairs of young Homers, 

 about eight weeks old? Answer. No. It is impossible to 

 tell the sex of pigeons of that age. Any breeder who under- 

 takes to furnish squabs several weeks old in equal males and 

 females cannot do so and is imposing on you. 



Question. Please give recipes for cooking squabs. An- 

 swer. See the cook books. Squabs are generally served 

 broiled. They should be drawn, singed and washed. Cut 

 off the heads, split into two parts, season, put on a lump of 

 butter and broil over a hot fire. Place close to the fire at 

 first so as to brown the outside and retain the juices, then 

 hold further away from the fire to complete the cooking. If 

 roasted, leave them in a hot oven "for thirty minutes. For 

 roasting, squabs may be stuffed with cranberries or currants. 

 Baste every ten minutes with spoonfuls of hot water and 

 butter. 



Question. How shall I train the young birds raised from 

 your Homers to fly? Answer. There is a large business in 

 flying Homers and if you have a pen or two of trained birds 

 you can sell them at fancy prices. There are homing clubs 

 all over the country which have contests and it is worth while 

 for a breeder to work for a reputation of breeding and selling 

 fast flyers. The young Homers when five months old are 

 strong enough to be trained to fly. Take them in a basket 

 (having omitted to feed them) a mile or two away, and 

 liberate them one by one. They will circle in the air, then 

 choose the correct course. You should have left grain for 

 them as a reward for their safe arrival home, and an induce- 

 ment for their next experience in flying. Two or three days 

 later take or send them away five miles and repeat. Next 

 try ten miles, and so work on by easy stages up to seventy- 

 five or one hundred miles. If you have a friend in another 

 city, you may send your birds in a basket to him with instruc- 

 tions to liberate certain ones at certain hours, or you may 

 send the basket by train to any express agent, along with a 

 letter telling him to liberate the birds at a certain hour and 

 send the basket back to you. If you wish to have the birds 

 carry a message, write it on a piece of cigarette paper (or any 

 strong tissue), wrap the paper around the leg of the bird and 



