APPENDIX F 249 



They have a yearning and a longing, the homing instinct, to try to get back 

 to the place where they were bred. 



Any Homers which you breed yourself you can safely let fly because they 

 know no home but yours and will stay with you. If you have a mixed 

 flock of Homers including not only those which you have raised but some 

 you have bought, you cannot let them out with any certainty that those 

 you have raised will hold on your premises those which you have bought, 

 it is quite possible that those which were raised elsewhere will leave you. 



NO COAL ASHES. 



About every household here in the North burns coal and the problem of 

 getting rid of the ashes is considerable to many people who do not live in 

 the city where the city wagons call to take them away. The result is that 

 we have hundreds of letters asking if coal ashes can be put in the flying pen 

 of the squab house. 



Coal ashes should not be put in the flying pens where the birds can peck 

 at them, because they are irritating to the mouths and other insides of the 

 birds. It is all right to put down a layer of coal ashes in a pen for the founda- 

 tion if you want to get rid of a lot of coal ashes, but on top of these ashes 

 a layer of gravel should be put down from four to six inches thick and the 

 top of this gravel should be renewed every three or four months. 



TEMPORARY PEN AND BREEDING PEN. 



It is very necessary to avoid having odd or unmatched birds at liberty in 

 the loft during the time the other birds are either mating or breeding. If 

 there be but one such bird in the loft, be it male or female, it will be sure to 

 cause disturbance among the mated birds, either by getting mated to some 

 bird you have had great trouble to get mated to your wishes, or. by causing 

 continual fighting, resulting in many broken eggs or dead young ones. All 

 odd birds should therefore be either kept up in pens or in a loft by themselves 

 during the breeding season. For the same reasons, three or four pairs of 

 newly-mated birds should not be turned into the loft together. If they are, 

 there will certainly be quarreling, as two or more pairs will want to take the 

 same nest box, which will often be the cause of pairs getting unmatched, 

 and remated in a manner which is not desirable. To avoid this, each pair 

 as they are mated should be turned into the loft singly, when they will select 

 one of the unoccupied boxes, and go on quietly. It is very rarely necessary, 

 if this plan be pursued, to adopt any measures for inducing a pair to take 

 a proper nest, supposing there be one at disposal; but if any trouble be 

 anticipated, any kind of a cage of lath or wire may be fixed to the front of 

 the breeding box, and the birds then confined for a few days in sight of the 

 rest of the loft, till they have got thoroughly used to their new abode. We 

 can hardly remember an instance, however, where such a plan was necessary, 

 unless the breeding places were so numerous and so much alike as to puzzle 

 the birds. In this case the plan we prefer is to make some distinction at 

 the entrances : thus, a half -brick may be placed at one hole ; arid passing the 

 next, something else at the next alternate one, by which the birds will readily 

 learn their proper breeding-places. One more caution must be added in regard 

 to mating the birds. It frequently happens that, on account of proved sterling 

 qualities, it is desired to breed from an old pigeon as long as any fertile eggs 

 can be obtained from him ; and this can only be done by matching him with 



