The Washing of Pigeons. 13B 



is, I think, conducive to health, but the evil of it is 

 that once- one has started to wash a Pigeon for 

 exhibition, the practice has to be kept up, and e\er\ 

 twice or thrice that the bird leaves home for a show 

 necessitates the process being gone through. Now 

 constant washing, I feel sure, cannot be to the 

 advantage of the bird's constitution, and it certainh 

 does not improve its plumage. After a bird has been 

 washed two or three times, the feather loses its soft, 

 silky nature, and becomes harsh, hard, and drv look- 

 ing, having a sort of cottonv appearance, instead of 

 a silkv look, whilst it must ever be remembered that 

 once the washing has com.menced it must be con- 

 tinued, because a bird once v.ashed verv quicklv soils. 

 Still, after all these drawbacks have been considered, 

 the question left f^icing us is that unless town-kept 

 birds are washed thev cannot win ; and, therefore, 

 washed thev must be if success is to be achie\'ed. 



SUCCESS NOT EASn,Y OBTAINABLE. 

 Success in washing is not attained all at once. 

 In a laundrv the girl who gets up all the fine laces 

 and collars is not a new hand ; she has had to serve 

 an apprenticeship by doing some of the coarser work, 

 and thus get both her hand and eye in. It is the same 

 with washing Pigeons. The no\'ice cannot hope to 

 turn out a bird in the same style as one who has 

 washed season after season. Practice makes perfect. 

 In the commencement it is wise for the novice at 

 washing to trv his 'prentice hand on some of the 

 wasters in his flock. It not infrequently happens 

 that at first disasters occur, and if they do occur, it 

 is far better for a bird of no value to be sacrificed 

 than for one that is likely to score well in the show 

 pen. 



In washing Pigeons, as in all things, there is a 

 right way and a wrong, and if success is to come it 

 must be through the adoption of proper methods. It 

 is no use attempting to w-ash Pigeons unless you set 

 about it in a oroper manner. The safest and most 

 convenient time is the evening. In the first place, 

 the house is quiet, and one is not so likely to ha^-e 



