502 FANCIERS’ 
JOURNAL AND POULTRY EXCHANGE. 

At this season of the year, when the long hot days dispose 
the fowls to stretch out on the ground in groups, the insect 
pests are most troublesome, and I have found a cheap remedy 
to consist in the use of a couple of ounces of carbolic acid, 
scattered a few drops at a time, and thoroughly ground in 
with a hoe, upon about a peck of thoroughly dry sand or 
earth, and scattered by the handful on the wallowing places, 
in the nests, and over and about their roosting places. Care 
should be taken to incorporate the acid evenly and perfectly 
with the sand, as if left in lumps it would be fatal to any 
fowl which might indulge its curiosity as to its edible quality. 
A healthy reaction mentally, is another of the good results 
after a day’s close application to business with its perplexities 
and cares, and one throws off the strain imposed by toil of 
this nature, in the quiet contemplation of the pets he loves, 
adding to home a new pleasure, and comforts both agreeable 
and inviting. Victor. 



























Pigeon Department. 

COURIER PIGEONS. 
(Continued from page 492.) 
by their owners to seek their own living, and as both Bel- 
gium and France are grain-growing countries, the birds 
have at such season no difficulty in satisfying their wants 
from the growing crops while in course of making any very 
long journey—an advantage not possessed by Pigeons in 
England. It is my impression that we possess in our sheer 
Dragoons and coarse Beards, or crosses from them, birds 
that under the same circumstances of careful breeding, feed- 
ing, and*training, combined with fatness of country and 
clearness of atmosphere, would do all of which the celebrated 
Antwerp is capable. So careful are some breeders of birds 
destined for long distances that they only permit one young 
one to be raised by the parents, and will not train a bird 
hatched later than the middle of February, and none later 
than the middle of March. 
A great diversity of opinion exists with regard to the color 
of the eye, ‘‘pearl eyes’’ being much preferred; but one of 
the most celebrated birds now in Belgium has black, or bull 
eyes, a color always repudiated here. I find that this cele- 
brated bird has beaten all its competitors in travelling in 
foggy or very heavy weather, and has reached its home late 
of an evening, when the others have lodged for the night, 
and not returned until the following morning, as is customary 
in long flights, there being only one instance on record of a 
Pigeon having flown five hundred milesin one day. I think 
this apparent eccentricity in the color of the eye in so good 
a bird may be satisfactorily explained in this way. The 
Woodcock, Snipe, and all night-flying birds possess black 
eyes. The Wild Duck has a piercing black eye, and ‘not only 
flies at night, but sees well under water. The Swallow, so 
active at the close of the day, has similar-colored organs of 
vision. On the other hand, the Capulet, a Pigeon scarcely 
known in England, has an eye infinitely whiter than pearl. 

It is the highest-flying and the longest on the wing of all 
the Pigeon tribe, and mostly chooses midday for its flights. 
I have just had presented to me by the President of the So- 
ciété peristerophile of Courtrai, a noted bird of this species, 
which has been known to be on the wing from 8 A.M. to 
3 P.M. From such facts as these I consider it conclusive that 
pearl or white-eyed birds succeed the best in broad daylight 
and clear weather, while the black or bull-eyed are the most 
to be depended upon under directly contrary circumstances. 
The faculty by which Pigeons find their way home, I think, 
may be explained thus. Upon being set at liberty the bird 
at once mounts in the air and performs three circles. This 
flying in circles is entirely confined to Pigeons. On making 
the last round it takes a straight course to an uncertain dis- 
tance, and if at the end of that distance its vision fails to 
recognize an object within the circle of the locality of its 
home, it returns to the place whence it has flown, when it 
again sets off in an opposite direction, and repeats the ex- 
periment until it either catches sight of some familiar land- 
mark, or gives up in despair, and becomes a lost bird. Mr. 
James Glashier, the celebrated aeronaut, being present, 
stated that when over London one mile high he clearly saw 
the cliffs of Dover with the naked eye: presuming the vision 
of a Pigeon to be no stronger, it would then take in at that 
height a circumference of at least seventy miles. Thus, if 
the bird be thrown one hundred miles distant, it would see 
forty miles within the circle of its home locality. Long 
distances, such as five hundred or six hundred miles, as a 
rule, are only attained by progressive training, by which the 
memory of the bird is educated. ; 

—- oe + 
MOORE’S WORK ON PIGEONS. 
(Continued from page 474.) « 
three or four hours I poured down its throat, at three or four 
times, a spoonful and a half of this mixture, for I had rather 
it should die than live in that condition ; at last it began to 
discharge a white slimy substance upwards and downwards, 
but did not care to feed that day. The next day I found it 
better, but still it would hold its head on one side or awry. 
This medicine I gave it every third or fourth day, still less- 
ening the quantity; I gave it garlic the days betwixt, and 
sometimes two or three peppercorns, till perfectly recovered. 
Tam not certain whether this pigeon ever bred afterwards 
or no. 
18. If your pigeons do not molt off kindly, or stop in their 
molting, so that they don’t throw their feathers well, it is a 
certain sign of an ill state of health; to remedy this, the fol- 
lowing method will be of use: 
Pluck their tail feathers out, and put them up in some 
warm place, allowing them a larger portion of hempseed 
with their ordinary food; a little saffron, or clary, steeped 
in their water, is likewise very beneficial; some will give 
them elderberries or cochineal for that purpose. 
14. Your pigeons likewise, especially in molting time, will 
be subject to scouring, which keeps them very poor, low, 
and out of flesh. To cure this, give them pump-water, with 
a lump of chalk in it, or put about the quantity of two horse- 
beans down their throats every day; if that don’t effect the 
desired end, give them some smiths’ forge water down their 
throats, which is very binding. A gentleman told me that 
having been informed that gravel was good for his pigeons, 
he gave them some of the grit that is left in the trough under 
a grindstone, where they ground edge tools, and it bound « 
