37 2 
The Illustrated Book of Pigeons. 
The general procedure will be precisely the same in regard to a less number of birds, but 
much ingenuity maybe spent upon houses, cotes, or lockers, for them. We have already given (see 
page 27) what we think a far better plan than' usual for a locker fixed to a wall, for giving the 
young ones adequate shelter ; and this can be extended to any amount desired, and will be a good 
plan where a south wall offers. Where a greater number are kept than can well be accommodated 
in this way, a good plan is to build a place something like the dormer shown in page 25, with 
nesting-places round all four walls inside ; but an “ area ” can very well be dispensed with, by 
covering all with a pitched roof, raised above the walls all round for the birds to enter — in this way 
they will get plenty of air but very little draught. Provided only there be this fair amount of 
shelter, and a sufficient number of double breeding-boxes, profit will depend far more on method 
in managing the stock, as above described, than on any particular plan for the-pigeon-house. 
A large number of the pigeons sold dead in the London markets are, however, provided in a 
very different way from that described, giving rise to a very singular business, of which compara- 
tively little is known by the general public, and which we can best describe as the pigeon-fattening 
trade. It is in the hands of a comparatively few large dealers, who import the young birds by 
thousands from France and Belgium, when just ready to leave the nest. On arrival they are very 
poor, but are at once taken charge of by professional feeders, who are mostly foreigners, very few 
English having either the knack or the patience necessary to proficiency. Some use millet, others 
millet and tares ; in either case it is put in water, and the operator, taking a mouthful, picks up a 
bird, opens its beak, and injects or “blows” its crop full in an instant! The rapidity of this 
operation is perfectly extraordinary, the young birds being thus crammed nearly as fast as an 
ordinary person could take them up and set them down again. They are thus fed, by some twice, 
by others three times a day, and become fat for market in a very few days. Besides this regular 
wholesale trade, there are journeymen “ feeders,” who cram for the ordinary Leadenhall dealers ; 
these generally use tares alone, and operate somewhat differently to the foreigners, most whom 
we have seen giving the birds “ three rounds ” at each feed, of only a portion each. The regular 
payment for this feeding is one penny per dozen birds, which will show in another way the 
rapidity of the process ; but it is still in this respect behind the foreign method, by which the 
whole meal is given to the astonished bird in almost the twinkling of an eye. Birds crammed in 
this way are very fat and tender, and we have sometimes thought proficiency in such an art 
might be of great use on some occasions, even to the fancier. 
