60 TIGEONS AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



Hence the necessity for constant study. No old breeder, 

 no matter how exjjert he may be, can go into a strange loft 

 and tell the owner just what to mate. Tie must know what 

 the birds have thrown the season or two before. Yet it is a 

 fact, that if he could be show., the young, he could get a 

 very fair idea. 



Now that the birds are mated, don't try to make their nest 

 for them. Let them alone, for they will attend to the house 

 keeping. I have known men so green that they inshsted on 

 making great nests of hay etc. for their birds. 



Get the small tobacco stems of which I have treated before, 

 and scatter them on the floor. But remember that the eggs 

 must be watched for the first few days. I have seen birds so 

 active in building, that they would rear great piles, and com- 

 pletely cover their eggo. (Sometimes an egg slips down end- 

 ways between two stems that are particularly coarse, and a 

 young hen will never be able to work it back. Old ones seem 

 to have little trouble, but a young hen will go placidly along 

 with a cold egg some inches Ijelow her. 



Every time fresh stems are carried in, the nest rises still 

 higher above the neglected egg. The danger in very high 

 nests is, that the young birds in their struggles for food, 

 sometimes slip over the side of the nest and can never 

 scramble back. If both fall out, the hen will often move to 

 them; but sometimes she sits on the original nest and lets 

 the young ones chill. 



As soon as an egg is laid, put the date ou it with an idel- 

 ible xjencil, which latter should be in every loft. I don't 

 believe in handling eggs very much, but they can stand a 

 great deal of handling and not be affected at all. 



