CoNCERNiNf, Pigeon's Mii.k. m 



There is a why and a wherefore in all plans of 

 Nature, and it is wise to stop at times and ponder 

 thoughtfully over the lessons she ^vould teach us. 

 Now what are the lessons which this forcing of \ ounf 

 Pigeons teaches us ? That they are forced no one 

 can deny. But why are they forced ? That's the 

 question. As I have said before, Nature's works are 

 all carried out in manner harmonious, and the reason 

 why she provides for this forcing of the young squabs 

 is doubtless because Pigeons being \'ery free breeding 

 birds it is a matter of necessity that the young families 

 should be got quickly out of the way before each suc- 

 ceeding family makes its appearance. For much of 

 the information which I have given my readers con- 

 cerning Pigeons milk I am indebted to a paper read 

 some years ago before the British Association, by 

 Professor Waymouth Reid, of Dundee ITniversity 

 College. 



WII,'\T MOORE THOUOHT. 



The following extracts concerning Pigeons milk 

 is from " Moore's Columbarian," which was published 

 nearly two hundred years ago, in ITSf). This writer 

 in language most quaint says; — 



The voung one's being usher'd into the World, 

 naturally leads us to take a View of the IManner in 

 which it receives its first Sustenance. We have 

 already mentioned soft ]Meat, which is nothing else 

 but a "fine soft liquid Pap nrepar'd as it were by 

 Instinct by the Parents, by a Dissolution of the hard 

 Grains in "their Craw, against the time that the F.xtus 

 is first disclos'd when weak, naked, and helpless; this 

 soft Meat they throw up out of their Craw, taking the 

 beak of their voung ones in their own, and by this 

 ■Means injecting it into theirs; with this ^leat they con- 

 tinue feeding them for six or seven Days, when they 

 begin to mix some harder Food amongst ^it, 'till at 

 Leno-th thev feed 'em with 5II whole Oram." 



