THE FIGEON-HOVKB. 



passing out of the window again without his master's assist- 

 ctnce. 



For your guidance as to the proper arrangement of the 

 pigeon-loft for breeding purposes, I will give you the opinion 

 of a sound and experienced writer on the subject. 



" Tou may erect shelves of about twenty inches broad for 

 breeding-places, allowing eighteen inches between shelf and 

 shelf, that pouters may not be under the necessity of stooping 

 for want of height ; for in that case they would contract a habit 

 of playing low, which spoils their carriage. In these shelves 

 partitions should be fixed at about three feet distance, making 

 a bUnd by a board nailed against the front on each side of 

 every partition, which will make two nests in the extent of 

 every three feet ; and the pigeons wiU not be liable to be dis- 

 turbed, as they wiU then sit iu private. Some fix a low parti- 

 tion betwaen each nest, which prevents the young ones from 

 running to the hen sitting at the other end, aud thereby cooling 

 her eggs ; for in breeding-time, when the young ones are about 

 a fortnight or three weeks old, the hen, if a good breeder, will 

 lay again, and leave the care of the young ones to the cock. 

 Others let Item breed in partitions entirely open in front, for 

 the greater convenience of deaning out their nests. I find by 

 experience that nests made on the floor are much more conve- 

 nient than otherwise, if the loft wUl admit of it, for it prevents 

 the young ones from falling out of their nests, — ^whioh sometimes 

 breaks a leg, and very often lames them, — and gives them a 

 chance of being fed by other pigeons as well as their parents, 

 which frequently happens. 



" In every nest there shotdd be placed a straw basket or 

 earthen pan that has not been glazed, which prevents the straw 

 from slipping about. The size of the pan must be in propor- 

 tion to the pigeons you breed. For instance, a pan fit for a 

 tumbler or other small pigeon should be about three inches 

 high and eight inches over the top, and sloping to the bottom 

 like a washhand-basin, and that in proportion for other larger 

 pigeons, remembering to put a brick close to the pan, that they 

 may with greater safety get upon their eggs ; and by means of 

 this pan the eggs are not only prevented from rolling out of the 

 nest, but your young pigeons from being handled when you 

 choose to look at them, which often puts them into a scouring." 



Extreme eleanhness is absolutely necessary to the health — 

 day to the very existence of the pigeons. They possess remark- 

 able warmth of body, so that, if you allow dirt of any kind to 

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