7 
.should be used for the walls, the building should be covered with a 
good shingle roof, and the whole structure should be well painted with 
two coats of good paint. 
In such a climate as that of southern New Jersey it is not necessary 
to plaster the inside walls or sheathe with building paper, but in a 
colder climate it would undoubtedly be well to give such protection. 
The partitions between the sections are made of inch boards running 
to the roof. All inside doors are of wire netting and are hung with 
spring hinges so as to be self-closing to prevent the possible escape of 
the birds. Each pen 
has one of these 
doors and likewise 
each endof the build¬ 
ing, and both inside 
and outside doors 
should be kept se¬ 
curely locked. 
Nest boxes.—Nest- 
ing places (figs. 2 and 
3) can be made as 
follows: Inchboards 
12 inches wide, with 
parallel cross cleats 
(from strips 1 inch 
square) nailed on 9 
inches apart, are set 
upright 12 inches 
apart (in the clear), 
with edges against 
the partition and se¬ 
curely nailed at top 
and bottom. These 
boards extend from 
floor to roof, and 
when in position boards 12 inches square of inch stuff are cut and 
placed on the cleats to form the floors of the nest boxes, thus making 
little homes for the pigeons 9 inches high with a floor 12 inches square. 
The sliding floor of each box furnishes an easy method of removal for 
cleaning. Each pen contains two sets of nest boxes, one against each 
partition containing 60 boxes, or 120 in all, supplying each pair of 
birds with 2 nesting places, with 20 to spare. The bottom of the 
lowest box is 15 inches from the floor. Nests should not be placed 
directly on the floor if possible to avoid it. Some pairs will persist¬ 
ently build on the floor, in which case it may be best to humor them and 
make no attempt to compel them to nest elsewhere. 
177 
