MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS. 315 



Besides tiiese there are several other breeds of minor importance, in additisn to 

 Uie varieties of the common Dove-cote pigeon. 



Of the above named races the Fantails, Jacobins, Pouters, Tumblers, and Car- 

 riers or Homing pigeons are best known to American Fanciers. 



MANAGEMENT OF PIGEONS. 



The management of pigeons must be varied to suit the habits of the variety 

 kept ; thus the common Dove-cote pigeon requires little or no care, further than 

 to provide lofts or nesting-boxes in which they may nest and roost. AH domes- 

 tic pigeons prefer to roost on flat surfaces, as their feet are not adapted to 

 clinging to poles; they should also have narrow ledges in front of the open- 

 ings to the loft and nesting-boxes, upon which to alight iu entering. 



The nesting-boxes should be about three feet long and eighteen iiiches high 

 and wide, for each pair of bil'ds, in order to give them room to make two nests, 

 as they are liable to quarrel and break their eggs if confined to a single nest. 

 Pine sawdust is one of the best nesting materials, being less congenial to lice. 

 If space is very limited these nest-boxes may be nailed to the side of a building, 

 bat itis very much better to give the birds a small loft, in which to exercise in bad 

 weather, and to place the nest-boxes in this, either along its sides or on the floor. 

 WhereVfer the boxes are placed they should be so arranged that one side may be 

 openeil in order to clean out and whitewash the inside occasionally. 



The old birds feed the young, of which but one or two are produced at a time, 

 after an incubation of eighteen days. If many birds are kept, food, in the 

 shape of grain, peas, etc., should be placed within reach, but they will gather a 

 large part of their living from the fields and roadsides. The young birds re- 

 main in the nest until of nearly full size, becoming excessively fat ; iu this con- 

 dition they are called sqiwJ)!, and are considered great delicacies. Two broods 

 are often produced during a season, and sometimes three, so that a single pair of 

 birds may increase to six or eight during a summer. 



In the management of the fancy breeds, more care is necessary, as they are 

 more delicate, and less capable of flight. For these a larger loft should be pro- 

 vided, and this should have a window with a wire cage attached, so that the 

 birds, when confined, may still have access to air and sunlight. 



The Pouters are not always good parents, and it is sometimes necessai-y to 

 give part of their eggs to birds of other varieties, allowing each pair to raise 

 one young one in order to dispose of their surplus food, this being found neces- 

 sary to the health of the birds. 



The Carrier pigeons are trained by taking them, in a covered basket, two or 



three mUes from home, and then liberating them. Such as fail to reach home 



may be considered as worthless. The distances to which they are carried are 



• snceessively increased, until they become able to return with certainty and 



safety when liberated hundreds of miles from home. 



These birds have been employed for the carrying of messages for ages ; the 

 most celebrated instance of their use in modern times being at the siege of 

 Paris, where, after being earried out of the eity in balloons, they returned, bear- , 

 inglong message*, eondensed into mieroseopical space by the process of micro-pho- 

 tagnphy. Ow long flights they are expeoted to average aboiut thirty miles an hour. 



