48 PIGEONS. 



in the matter of their food, we always strive to vary their dietary as much as 

 possible, and give to those in confinement a green turf, or sometimes a cabbage 

 or a lettuce to peck at. 



It should be borne in mind that pigeons are derived from the Eock Dove, a bird 

 frequenting the sea-shore, and drinking the salt water of the pools left by the 

 retiring tide. This may account for their fondness for salt, a natural instinct that 

 it is most desirable to indulge. They also require calcareous matter to furnish 

 the materials of the egg-shell. We endeavour to supply both of these desires at 

 one and the same time, by mixing a little salt with a quantity of old mortar 

 rubbish, and placing it where the birds can gain easy access to it. 



If mortar rubbish is not accessible, we burn a few oyster shells, so as to render 

 them brittle, then powder them up, with the addition of a little salt. Care must 

 be taken not to supply salt or salt mixtures of this kind in too large quantity to 

 birds that have long been deprived of this substance, as under those circumstances 

 they are apt to eat so much that they injure themselves. The old fanciers used 

 to make a nauseous and filthy compound they called " salt cat," for the delectation 

 of their birds, but it offers no advantage over salt and mortar, or burnt shells, 

 such as we have described. So fond are pigeons of salt, that they will peck at any 

 substance containing it. On one occasion the brine out of a barrel of Scotch 

 herrings was emptied in our garden, and for many months the pigeons were to be 

 noticed pecking at the mould around the spot, evidently attracted by the saline 

 constituents of the brine. Many fanciers refuse to give their pigeons any salt, 

 but it is difficult to believe that the gratification of so strong a natural instinct 

 should not tend to the advantage of the birds. 



