FieEONS. 



To fatten young pigeons, the reader cannot do better than 

 follow the following advice, given by a clever naturalist. 



" When the squabs are about eighteen or nineteen days old, 

 and their wing-feathers begin to sprout, take them out of the 

 dove-house and place them in a nest in another rooEj, covering 

 them with an inverted hamper, which wiU keep out the light, 

 and yet leave a free passage for the air. It is well known 

 that all animals which are to be fattened artificially ought to 

 be kept in the dark. Have ready a quantity of maize, which 

 has been steeped in water four-and-twenty hours ; twice a day, 

 namely, early in the morning, and in the evening before night- 

 fall, take each squeaker out of the nest, open its bill dex- 

 terously, and at each meal cause it to swallow, according to its 

 breed and size, from fifty to eighty and even a hundred grains 

 of steeped maize. Continue this treatment for ten days or a 

 fortnight, and you will have pigeons as fat as the very best 

 poultry. The only difierenoe will be in their colour." 



PIGEON PABASITES. 



Unless the most scrupulous cleanliness be observed there will 

 be bred among your birds' plumsLge a host of unpleasant in- 

 sects, of the tick, mite, and flea orders. The most troublesome 

 and common of these pests is the mite. It is the smallest of 

 the pigeons' parasites, being no larger than grains of poppy- 

 seed, of a black colour, with white streaks over their bodies. 

 It does not seem to be their habit to infest the bodies of the 

 pigeons constantly, but to hide in the chinks and dark nooks 

 of the nesting-places; and when the unlucky birds retire for the 

 night, then to issue out in myriads and commence their depre- 

 dations, and continue them until they assume a totally different 

 complexion to that worn at starting — being, in fact, red, instead 

 of black and white. Squabs suiter much more than old birds 

 from these predatory little creatures. They get into the ears 

 of squabs, making them lean and miserable, and not unire- 

 quently causing therr death. Lime wash they defy ; mercurial 

 ointment .they seem rather to relish. There seems to be no 

 means of kiUing them, or of stopping their increase, when once 

 they effect a substantial footing. One of the pigeon- wise men 

 I know is compelled to confess that he scarcely knows how to 

 treat them. " I am not sure," he says, " that I can offer a 

 perfect cure for their attacks ; but a drop of oil on the ears, 

 under the wings, or anywhere else they may appear, will pre- 

 vent their annoying the young ones. Powdered sulphur strewn 



