CHAPTER VII. 

 THE MOULTING SEASON. 



The moultine season is an anxious time witli 

 most fanciers; anxiety is caused during its progress in 

 many ways. It is during the moult that many a 

 promising j'oungster is made or marred. The moult 

 it is which finds out the weak spots in a bird's con- 

 stitution, and the moult it is which causes to develop 

 faults and failings not seen in the first feather. On 

 the other hand, it must also be said that many a bird 

 little thought of before the moult blossoms out into a 

 winner of firsts, specials, and cups owing to the care 

 bestowed upon it, and b_\' the manner in which it 

 comes through the. moult. 



The moulting, or the changing of plumage in 

 birds, is like unto the shedding of their foliage by the 

 trees. The process is somewhat similar, and yet it is 

 altogether different. Similar in so far as shedding 

 of the plitmage is concerned, but totally different inas- 

 much as a bird, in addition to shedding its old coat, 

 has to grow a new one at the same time, a process 

 \\'liich the tree dela>-s till the sprinofinie. The leaves 

 on a tree grow and grow till such a time as their veins 

 are filled with tlie matter from which they obtain life. 

 There is then a suspension of the growing process, and 

 the leaves hold on for a time; bttt owing to the fact 

 that ill leaves, as in other things, there can be no life 

 without circulation, so after a time the leaves begin 

 to \\'ither and then drop off. In some\\-hat the same 

 manner does a feather .grow, then gradualh- loses its 

 strength, and drops away. 



THE COJirOSITION OF A FEATHER. 

 To thoroughly understand the moulting of a 

 Pigeon, one needs to have some knowledge of the struc- 

 ture of feathers. If we take a feather and carefully 

 examine it, we find that it is, roughly sr>eaking, com- 



