72 THE COTTAGE GARDENER. April 29. 
The season has a great influence on the greater or less 
facility of the coupling of these birds. If, for instance, we 
reunite them in the spring, both hasten to contract an union. 
But, on the contrary, if we wish to couple them in the winter, 
or during the moulting season, in spite of all the trouble we 
can take, and the canary and hempseed with which they are 
excitingly fed, it often happens they at first neglect each 
other, that hatred follows, and in time produces an in¬ 
vincible antipathy between them. In order that the coupling 
may succeed perfectly, it is necessary to consult some 
suitableness of age and form. A very large female will feel 
great repugnance in coupling with a male of very small 
stature, unless she has chosen him freely. All obstinately 
refuse to couple with a male too old or infirm. 
It would be very desirable to be able to practise the rule 
that we are about to give in this paragraph; but, unfor¬ 
tunately we cannot profit by it, without we wish to couple, 
together two birds which have already set, and whose 
constitution we are acquainted with. Among the females 
one finds some that are very backward in laying, and others 
forward. When we discover one of these habits to belong to 
them we should give them a male accordingly. If we give 
a female that is forward in laying, a male that is too eager, 
as soon as they have coupled he will beat and torment her 
continually, pursue her with redoubled strokes on her head, 
prevent her quitting the nest he has chosen for her, and at 
last, after tormenting her, oblige her to lay. Thus hastened, 
her eggs are generally clear, that is to say unfruitful; or soft, 
the shell, not being formed; besides which, females in this 
case soon become subject to the swelling (see the article 
Diseases of Pigeons). If, on the contrary, you give to a 
backward female a sluggish mate, you will have no young 
pigeons until they are hastened by the heat of the season, 
and they will not lay more than two or three times in the 
year, going long between each brood. We should then, as far 
as possible, give a forward male to a backward female, and 
one of a mild character to a forward female. 
If any confusion arises in the dovecote, the cause of it 
may generally be traced to their uncoupling. In the 
moulting season, in the months of August and September, 
the pigeons are seized with a sadness occasioned by this 
malady; females are very apt to be disgusted with their 
males, to such a point as to abandon them altogether, if 
great care is not taken to prevent it. As soon as the amateur 
discovers this uncoupling, he should take these two birds 
from the dovecote, confine them in a separate locker, and 
by captivity oblige them to couple again. It is necessary to 
observe that this locker should be out of sight of the dove¬ 
cote pigeons; for if the unfaithful one can see from her 
prison the lover that has caused her to break the conjugal 
union, she will injure herself in useless efforts to rejoin him, 
and her antipathy for her mate will only be increased. 
At other times, but more rarely, it is the male which 
forsakes his mate, in this case we must act as in the 
preceding. If, however, these birds have such a decided 
dislike to each other, that they do not couple at the end of 
some weeks, it would be necessary to renounce all hopes of 
their living together; we should then place them in the 
common breeding cage, and leave them to make a fresh 
choice according to their own inclination. If we fear their 
blending their race, we must choose a male and female for 
them, and couple them as one does those that have never 
been coupled. 
There are frequently certain males which adopt two 
females at once; very great confusion arises from this, 
proceeding from the dovecote containing more females than 
males. If, on the contrary, the largest number is of the 
last named sex, the confusion is still greater; for they are 
always ready to trouble every family, by following the setting 
females even to their nest, by continually having obstinate 
battles with their mates, which necessarily occasions the 
eggs to lie broken or clear. The amateur must, therefore, 
watch his dovecote with the most scrupulous attention, so 
as to keep as nearly as possible the same number of each 
sex. He will take away the surplus of males or females, 
and place them in an interior locker. We shall easily per¬ 
ceive when the coupling has taken place between two birds 
that we have shut up together by their caresses. We may 
now set them at liberty, or replace them in the dovecote 
with the others. They will immediately occupy themselves 
in constructing their nest, where the female will soon de- I 
posit two eggs. 
Before concluding this chapter, we ought to describe the 
breeding-cage or locker of which we have spoken. As we 
have before said, there should be two of them; the inner 
one, in which we should place all those pigeons which may 
not yet be coupled; the young, as soon as they can feed 
themselves; the superabundant males and females; and, 
in short, all those whose coupling we would leave to chance. 
This breeding-cage would simply be a part of the dovecote, 
separated from it By a partition or wire trellis work. It is 
useless to say that, with the exception of the nests, it ought 
to be furnished with all the utensils of the dovecote, and 
kept as clean. The exterior breeding-cage, the express 
purpose of which is to be out of sight of the free pigeons, 
will serve to couple again those birds that have been dis¬ 
united by caprice or any other cause. A small apartment 
may be made use of, or we may very successfully employ a 
large box for this purpose, the front of which must be fur¬ 
nished with a wire grating; in short, a simple wire cage, 
two feet wide and three long, will suffice for want of a better. 
(To be continued.) 
DOMESTIC PIGEONS. 
TWENTIETH RACE. 
Tumbler Pigeons (Columha gyratrix ).—The birds of this 
class are very small, their flight irregular, rapid, and very 
high, and their movements precipitate; they turn over in 
flying like a body thrown up into the air; the eye is pearled, 
of a sandy red; it has rather a large filament round the 
eyes; their feet are naked; they very much resemble the 
Curriers in the eye and size, which has caused some ama¬ 
teurs to tldnk they are only a variety of the same. In 1817, 
the English bought all they could find for sale in France. 
Nothing is more curious than to see them take their rapid 
flight; an arrow is not more swift at first; but, all at once, 
they begin to tumble five, six, seven, and even eight times 
following, exactly like a rope-dancer, from whence this race 
takes the name of the “ Pantomime Pigeon.” But this 
singularity, which causes them to be sought after by ame- 
teurs, is also frequently the cause of their destruction. 
Sometimes earned away by the rapidity of their movements, 
they turn over until so dizzy, that they are deprived of the 
faculty of flying, they then fall, and rarely escape death in 
their fall. At other times, the hawk takes advantage of this 
moment to seize upon them; but, also, when a pigeon 
perceives its enemy in time, this aptness to turn in descend¬ 
ing, as if it had received a mortal wound, gives it the means 
of escaping the fatal claw. 
Mountebank Tumbler Pigeon {Columhagyratrixgestuosa). 
The colours are varied, grey, red, reddish-brown, black, 
diversified with those different colours. Its form very much 
resembles the Stockdove, and it was formerly made use of 
to attract pigeons from other dove-houses, because it flies 
higher and further, and a longer time than the others. It 
