CHAPTER I. 



HOUSING. 



Of Pigeon houses there are clesiffiis innumerable, 

 but many of them, such as the locker against the wall, 

 the cote on the toj) of a pole, and the artistic three- 

 decker arrangements for lawns, are not suitable for 

 the breeder who wishes to breed birds for exhibition 

 purposes. Such houses as these cannot be properly 

 cleansed, and are far more adapted to the process of 

 breeding vermin than to the breeding of Pigeons. Such 

 habitations are most insanitary, and totally unfitted 

 for the breeding of high-class stock. In a Pigeon 

 house, there are three essentials needed. It must 

 be perfectly damp and draught proof, and it must be 

 well ventilated. Pigeons are hot-blooded creatures, 

 and can withstand a tolerable amount of cold providing 

 the atmosi>here in which they live is dry. Damp and 

 draughts they cannot stand, and the strongest quickly 

 succumb to the influences of either. Therefore, 

 secure dwellings which are dry, well ventilated, yet not 

 draughts 



NOT CHOICE, BUT FORCE. 

 Pigeons, like their ()\\ners, have to dwell in diverse 

 places, and the lover of Pigeons forced to live in a 

 town cannot possibly give his birds the accommodation 

 that one living in the country can. Yet under the 

 most unlikely and unfavourable conditions much may 

 be done by the zealous fancier possessed of a fervent 

 love for his birds, and an unbotrnding zeal for their 

 comfort Now-a-days few town dwellers are allowed 

 to keep birds in the attic; the sanitary authorities will 

 not allow it. Yet on the Continent there are 

 thousands upon thousands of such lofts; in fact, ninety- 

 nine out of every hundred lofts I have seen in Belgium, 

 Holland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France, are 

 situated in the attic at the top of the house. 



