DOVECOTES AND PIGEON LOFTS. 



41 



capture ; after which pussy may be shaken iuto a bag, ■which may then be placed 

 in one pailful of water and pressed down with another. 



Laying poisoned meat for any animals is now illegal, and, moreover, if arsenic 

 is employed to destroy cats, the proceeding is attended with much cruelty, as they 

 immediately reject that poison by vomiting, and only retain sufficient to produce 

 violent and painful inflammation of the stomach without killing them. If poison 

 must be had recourse to, a little carbonate of baryta, mixed up with the soft roe 

 of a piece of red-herring, is the most certain and speedy that can be used. Eats 

 are no less injurious than cats, and must be got rid of at all hazards. Traps, 

 phosphorus paste, a trained cat that has been accustomed to pigeons from the first, 



FIO. VII. — AEEA FOR PIGEON LOFT. 



may all be had recourse to. In some country places, weasels are troublesome, and 

 we have known an instance where a domesticated ferret from a neighbour's house 

 paid nightly visits to the loft of an Almond- Tumbler fancier, whose birds were 

 decimated by the mysterious visitor. 



The loft should, if practicable, admit of being divided, so as to enable the 

 separation of the birds during winter to be readily accomplished. With the more 

 common hardy breeds, this is not absolutely requisite, as in a well-sheltered room 

 they will go on breeding successfully nine or ten months out of the twelve'; but with 

 the more artificial and delicate high-class va rieties, it is useless to attempt to rear 

 the young during the colder months of the year, and therefore it is desirable to 

 separate the sexes after moulting time, or the autumn. This is most readily done 

 by dividing the loft. If the birds are flown, the division should be so arranged 



