QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 111 
Question. What are the bands for pigeons’ legs and how 
are they applied? Answer. The seamless band is a ring of 
aluminum three-eighths of an inch in diameter and from 
three-sixteenths to one-quarter of an inch in width. You 
cannot apply it to an old pigeon. It is put on either leg of a 
squab when the squab is four'or five days old, by squeezing 
the toes of the squab through the band. As the leg of the 
squab grows, it becomes impossible to remove the band 
except by cutting it off On the band, before putting it on 
the leg of the squab, you may stamp year of birth and your 
initials, or anything you choose. We sell an outfit consisting 
of aluminum tubing, dies, etc., by which the squab breeder 
may make his own bands at a cost of two or three for a cent. 
Question. Since I bought twelve pairs of you, I have kept 
a careful account of the feed, and find as you state that five 
cents a month for a pair of breeders is right. Grain has been 
much higher than usual this summer and it strikes me that 
under normal conditions of the grain market the cost of a 
pair of squab breeders would be less than five cents a month, 
or sixty cents a year. Answer. Our figures of cost were 
ascertained not by ‘“‘ skimping ”’ the birds, but feeding them 
liberally, and an estimate of five cents a month for a pair is 
based on a low cost of grain, and on selling the manure. 
Question. What pattern of trowel do you recommend for 
cleaning the nest bowls and nest boxes? Answer. The 
common trowel such as bricklayers use is too pointed. The 
best pattern has a square point and a stout blade with strong 
handle. With such a trowel you can clean out the nest 
bowls and nest boxes very effectively. 
Question. Can pigeons be raised on the sea-coast as well 
as inland? Answer. Yes; the Homer pigeon is descended 
from a variety of pigeon which first bred among the cliffs 
bordering the sea-shore. 
Question. Do the squabs fly out of the nest before they are 
four weeks old? Answer. No; they look old enough to fly 
at four weeks, and their wings seem all ready for use, but they 
stay in the nest and are fed by the parent birds, and when you 
wish to kill them you find both in the nest ready for you. 
Question. Your book states that pigeons sometimes lay 
their eggs on the floor. But it does not say anything about 
taking the eggs and putting them in a nest bowl. Would the 
