60 



THE PRACTICAL PIGEON KEEPER. 



certain well-known breeders who are scarcely ever known to 

 exhibit in any other way. 



Exliibition at public shows is a severe tax on most birds, 

 and they should not be too often exposed to it. Hens of many 

 varieties are speedily rendered useless by over-showing; and 

 well-known show hens should therefore only be purchased 

 with extreme caution for the breeding-loft. The evil is made 

 worse very often by neglect of proper attention. For instance, 

 heavily-wattled breeds need a trough, which must be itiside the 

 pens, since they can neither see to feed properly from the floor 

 of a pen or get their heads through to the outside ; the latter . 

 disability also applies to water. These matters are, however, 

 improving, and it is not our pm-pose in this work to give any 

 details as to the management of shows. 



Pigeons are sent either in boxes or baskets. For a single 

 bird or a pair, any box, not less than six inches deep and of a 

 suitable size — such as grocers have by scores — will do, boring a 

 few half-inch holes round near the top. If such a box is for a 

 pair of birds a thin partition must be fixed in, not square, but 

 slanting, as at A B in Fig. 18, so as to fit the general shape of the 



bird and keep it from 

 turning round. For a 

 larger number of birds 

 Fig. 19 is the best box 

 with which we are 

 acquainted, and is the 

 result of many trials. 

 The wood for the out- 

 side is made as thin 

 as consistent with strength, the upper edges being scolloped 

 out for ventilation. The partitions and inner lids are not 

 only very thin — ^ of an inch is sufiicient — but are pierced 

 with large holes as thickly as can be arranged. This plan pro- 

 motes ventilation, as well as saving weight. Near the bottom 



