PIGEONS AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 15 



made absolutely tight, (and I cannot lay too muoli stress on 

 this point) the balance of the loft proper can be stored with 

 liay or anything else, leaving only a little passage by which 

 to reach the door. 



The nests in such a loft should occupy both sides and the 

 entire end wall, leaving only a space at one end for the door — 

 which should be at the end, in order not to make a break in 

 the back tier of nests. 



In a small loft like this, it is liest to utilize space and not 

 try to make such nests as I shall descrilie later on. 



Nests of this type would look like Figure 'I. "A" is apiece 

 four inches wide, fastened with small hooks. It is simply to 

 keep the young in the nests and can be taken off when any 

 nest in the tier needs cleaning out, which can be done with a 

 small short handled hoe. "B" is the alighting board and 

 can be made of any width. Tlie roof should Ije so steep that 

 the birds cannot stand on it. 



For the smaller varieties of pigeons, nest boxes one foot 

 scjuare are all right, but for Pouters, Fans and such birds, 

 eighteen inch nests are none too large. 



The size of the air coop for a gable loft will be governed of 

 course by tlie room one can spare. 



The Yard Loft. 



Another good loft is what I call the yard loft, (see Figure 3,). 

 It can be put up anywhere. I use on(! for my Swallows and find 

 it very convenient. It is made of pine, closely fitted, has an 

 almost flat roof and has my patent "cat-guard" which is a 

 "sure thing."' It has two front windows, which are taken 

 out in summer, leaving only wire screens and a small venti- 

 lating window in the south end. 



The lower part I use for hunting and fishing outfit, camp 

 tools, bicycles, etc., and I find the room very handy. It is 

 also nice to store garden tools, hose, etc. I wisli to call es- 

 pecial attention to that cat guard. It is an absolute impossi- 



