LOOKS FQJEt THE COUNTR
)\H> As
Manuscript, Archives,
and Rare Book Library
The Pig : How to Choose, Breed, Rear, &c. Saml. Sidney.
Crab, Shrimp, and Lobster Lore. w. b. Lord, r.a.
Aquarium : Fresh and Salt Water. Rev. J. g. Wood, M.A•
Common British Moths. Rev. J. g. Wood.
Window Gardening. A.Meikie.
The Homing or Carrier Pigeon. w. b. Tegetmeier.
Geology for the Million,
Common British Beetles, rev. y. g. Wood.
The Cottage Garden. A.Meikie.
Published by Gecrge Routledge and Sons.
1
Books for the Country.—Continued, , /
Price i 6d. each, {Postage 2d,) x ,
Cattle : Their Various Breeds, Management, and. Diseases.
Revised by W. and H. Raynbird. W. C. L. Martin.
dogs: Their Management in Health and Disease, Mayhew.
Sibson's Agricultural Chemistry.
Profitable Farming. Alderman Mechi,
Price 2s,, in hoards.
The Rat. With Anecdotes. Uncle James.
Wild Flowers: Where to Find and How to Know Them.
Illustrated.
Haunts of the Wild Flowers,
Rarey on Horse Taming.
Our Native Song Birds.
Our Farm of Four Acres.
Walton and Cotton's Angler.
Fish Culture.
Spencer Thomson.
A^ne Pratt.
Barneshy.
Francis.
The Fine Edition, printed on superior paper in a large type, with the
Plates printed in Colours, fcap. 8 vo, gilt edges. Price y. 6 d. each.
Common Objects of the Sea Shore. Rev. j. g. Wood.
Common Objects of the Country. Rev. j. g. Wood.
Our Woodlands, Heaths, and Hedges. Coleman.
British Ferns and Allied Plants.
British Butterflies.
British Birds' Eggs and Nests.
Wild Flowers.
Common Objects of the Microscope.
Haunts of Wild Flowers.
The Kitchen and Flower Garden.
The Fresh-and Salt-water Aquarium.
Common British Moths.
Common British Beetles.
Chamber and Cage Birds.
The Calendar of the Months.
Wanderings in South America.
Walton and Cotton's Angler.
Moore.
Coleman.
Atkinson.
Spencer Thomson.
Rev. J. G. Wood.
Anne Pratt.
E. S. Delamer.
Rev. J. G. Wood.
Rev. J. G. Wood.
Rev. J. G. Wood.
Bechstein.
Rev. J. G. Wood.
Walerton,
Published by George Rputledge and Sons.
ROUTLEDGE'S
SIXPENNY MINIATURE LIBRARY.
Cloth, gilt edges. (Postage la.)
The Language of Flowers.
Etiquette for Gentlemen.
Etiquette for Ladies.
Etiquette of Courtship and Ma-
trimony.
The Bali-Room Manual.
Carving.
Toasts and Sentiments.
How to Dress Well.
ROUTLEDGE'S SHILLING SONG BOOKS.
Edited and Compiled by J. E. Carpenter.
Fcap. 2\mo, boards, with fancy covers. {Postage 2d.)
The Modern Song Book.
The Popular Song Book.
The New Universal Song Book.
The Comic Song Book.
The Humorous Song Book.
The New British Song Book.
The Entertainer's Song Book.
The New Standard Song Book.
The Comic Vocalist.
The New Scotch Song Book.
The New Irish Song Book.
The Moral Song Book.
The Religious Song Book.
ROUTLEDGE'S SIXPENNY SONG BOOKS.
Edited by J. E. Carpenter.
Each 144pp. fcap. 2/^mo, fancy covers. {Postage id.)
The Fire-side Song Book.
The Home Songster.
The British Song Book.
Songs for All Ages.
The Select Songster.
The Convivial Songster.
Merry Songs for Merry Meetings.
The Funny Man's Song Book.
The Fashionable Song Book.
The Drawing-Room Song Book.
The Laughable Song Book.
The Sensation Songster.
Everybody's Song Book.
The Social Song Book.
The Family Song Book.
The Amusing Songster.
The Social Songster.
Songs for All Seasons.
The Droll Ditty Song Book.
The Whimsical Songster.
The Highland Songster.
The Blue-Bell Songster.
The Shamrock Songster.
The Mavourneen Songster.
The Sacred Songster.
The Devout Songster.
Songs for the Righteous.
Songs of Grace.
Everybody's Song Book. Words and Music. By Rev.
Guise Tucker, M.A., and C. H. Purday. 2s.
Hearty Staves of Heart Music. By Rev, J. E. Clarke. 4d.
Published by George Routledge and Sons.
Dovehouse Pigeons, p. 5.
PIGEONS AND RABBITS..
IN THEIR
WILD, DOMESTIC, AND CAPTIVE STATES.
BY
E. SEBASTIAN DELAMER
A NEW EDITION, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE;
NEW YORE: 416, BROOME STREET.
Price Is. each, Boards, with Illustration*.
Pigeons and Babbits. By E. S. Delambb.
The Poultry Yard. By Miss E. Watts.
Bees. By the Rev. J. G. Wood.
The Kitchen Garden. By E. S. Dblamer
The Flower Garden. By E. S. Delambb.
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS,
the broadway, ludgatb.
NOTICE.
In the composition of the present Book for the Country,
it has been the desire of the Publishers, that, with-
out entirely excluding the less necessary points of the
subject, it should be made a thoroughly practical Treatise,
and should contain such information as is most required
by a person first keeping Pigeons and Babbits, with but
little previous knowledge of their management. The
Writer has done his best to carry out this intention; and
he trusts that the novice, after a careful perusal of the
following pages, will find but little difficulty in commenc-
ing and continuing his pleasing task. The reader will
also kindly bear in mind, that the object has been to
point out general rules of treatment, and their reasons,
rather than to fill the volume with trifling and multitu-
dinous details. This principle has been adopted in the
firm belief that when once an author has fully described
and explained the leading • topics connected witli his
subject, the intelligent student and the enthusiastic
amateur, even although mere beginners in their art, will
be quite able to make the proper application themselves,
according to the circumstances in which they happen to
be placed.
CONTENTS.
PIGEONS.
Antiquity of pigeon-keeping ... .—. . . .. Page 1
The kinds of pigeons kept as poultry 3
Natural habits and constitution of pigeons _ — _ 6
Mating and nesting . ._ « « _ — 8
Aid afforded by the cock ... _ _ _ ^.9
Hatching, and young — M ... _ _ 10
Hens pairing ._ M ... „ ._ ..11
He-mating ... .. „ „ ... 12
Very hot-blooded _ _ — 12
Bapidity of growth -. .. .- 13
Dovecots .. .. ... „ .. _ M ..14
Convenience of dovecots ... — ~ -. 15
Olivier de Serres's dovecots „ « 16
How to stock a new-built dovecot ~ .. 17
Pigeon law .. ~ — .. ... 24
Dovecots less frequent than formerly « — ~ — 25
Parasitic enemies . . ... « 26
Pole-houses and lockers ~ ►. ~ 27
Pigeon-lofts .-. — — 29
Choice of situation ... — — ~ 29
Pittings of the pigeon-loft « — 30
The trap .. .. ~ — — — 32
Nesting-places .. ... ~ ~ 83
"Eggs of pigeons ... . . ~ ~ « — ..88
VI
CONTENTS.
Food .... ... ... ... 88
Service they render by consuming the seeds of woeds .- 39
Salt and lime for pigeons to eat — ... « — 40
Salt-cat, of various kinds _ 41
Water supply ... ... .. .. 43
Mating-cages .. .. ... ~ 45
How to commence pigeon-keeping _ _. « 47
Diseases .. . .. ... — ~ — — 50
Choice of sort .. ... ... .- — — 51
Young pigeons for eating—how to fatten them ... 52
The advantage of two dovecots on the same estate ... 52
Varieties of the domestic pigeon .. — 53
Pigeons that are usually kept as cage-birds merely -. 82
RABBITS.
Antiquity of the domestic breeds ... „ — 95
Uses and merits ... ._ M. — — 96
Nature and habits .. .. ... -. « .. 98
Breeding .. ... ... — 99
Management of the breeding doe ♦.««.. 101
Management of the young .. M M ... 102
Feeding and killing for the table „ „ — 103
Castration .. .. .. .. M « .. 104
Diseases—their prevention and oure „ .. 105
Bedding ._ ^ _ .. „ ._ 106
Quiet ... M M ... 107
Ophthalmia.. „ ... ... ^ M _ ._ 107
The rot and pot-belly ... ... ^ M M 108
Bed-water, the snuffles, and diarrhoea _ _ 110
Bare cases ... ... .. M „ 111
Handling ... ... M _ _ « .. .. Ill
Feeding ... M « _ 112
Modes of rabbit-keeping—warrens „ « ^ 113
Babbit-courts ._ M _ 118
Babbit-pits M M M 120
CONTENTS.
vii
Babbit-hutches ... .. ... ... ... _ 123
How to commence rabbit-keeping—selection of stock ... ... 130
The breeds of rabbits ... ... - ._ ..133
Lop-ears ... ... -. 135
The dewlap ... ... .. 137
Markings : the smut and the chain.—Carriage ... ... _ 137
Saleable value ... ... ^ ... ... _ ... 138
Babbit shows _. _ ►. .. ... M _ 139
APPENDIX.
TO COOK PIGEONS AND BABBITS.
English ways of cooking pigeons ~ ~ 143
French ways of cooking pigeons — 144
English ways of cooking rabbits _ •• — 147
French ways of cooking rabbits « ~ ►. — 149
PIGEONS.
•ANTIQUITY OE PIGEON-KEEPING.
Foa the last two or three thousand years at least,
certain pigeons have been kept by man as domestic
creatures, with the object of making them fulfil a rather
varied round of characters. Their office has been to
afford a ready supply of wholesome food, convenient to
have at hand in hot countries, where animal food must be
eaten almost as soon as it is lolled; to furnish manure,
indispensable in the East for the cultivation of the fruits
and vegetables most in request there,—the gourd, the
melon, and the cucumber; to render efficient and ready
services as messengers under circumstances of extremest
difficulty; and to be pampered at home as domestic
pets, whose value lies in their docility, their beauty, or
even in their strange and anomalous peculiarities,
The well-known passage in Isaiah (lx. 8), " Who are
these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to .their winT
dows ? " establishes the domestication of the Blue Bock
Pigeon at the early epoch when the prophet wrote. The
" windows " are clearly the apertures in a dovecot; and
every reader will remember that windows in the East
are seldom glazed entrances for light merely, as with us,
but are openings to admit air principally, and the sun's
rays as little as possible; and when closed, are done so
by lattice-work or shutters, as in pigeon-lofts here: so
that the expression, " windows," is very appropriate to
denote the means of approach to the creatures' dwelling-
place.
n
2
PIGEOHB.
The Eomaii authors on agriculture—Yarro, Colu-
mella, and even Cato—give copious directions for the
management of dovecots, and the modes of fattening
pigeons for the table. "We may smile at many of the
rules they give, as superstitious and contrary to common
sense; to us, the interesting fact remains, that pigeon-
houses were an important feature in the rural economy
of the ancients. The Romans kept domestic pigeons
very much in the same way that we do now; and in
addition to this were in the habit of catching the wild
species, such as the Ring-Dove and the Common Turtle,
and putting them in confinement as we do Quails and
Ortolans. Fancy Pigeons, too, as distinguished from
the dovehouse kinds, which were reared solely to be
killed and eaten, seem to have been known from a very
early period. It may be believed that we hear less of
consequence of the merits of all the others being thrown
the different sorts then cultivated and most in favour, in
into the shade by the superior usefulness of those em-
ployed as letter-carriers. According to Pliny, the Cam-
panian Pigeons were of the largest size, Runts, in fact;
while we infer from Columella,, that the taste of the
Alexandrian fanciers was more in favour of the smaller
kinds. The latter writer is sadly scandalized at the inve-
teracy and extravagance of the pigeon fancy amongst his
contemporaries; while the former records the prevalence
of a pigeon mania amongst the Romans. " And many,"
he says, " are mad with the love of these birds; they
build towers for them on the tops of their roof, and will
relate the high breeding and ancestry of each, after the
ancient fashion." Before Pompey's civil war, L. Axius, a
Roman knight, used to sell a single pair of pigeons for
four hundred denarii, or d£l2. 18s. 4ad., as nearly as we
?an estimate that sum by the modern standard.
But it is as letter-carriers that pigeons have obtained
he greatest ceVbrity among the ancients; and of their
services in thr capacity we find very frequent and in-
eresting mention. The practice seems to have been
adopted in remote times, in modes and upon occasions
PIGEONS.
3
the exact counterpart of those which call forth the
powers of the birds at the present day. How likely is it
that the Patriarchs, remembering the tradition of the
ark, in their search for fresh pasture at a distance from
the main body of their tribe, may have taken with them
a few pigeons to be flown from time to time, and to
carry home news of the proceedings of the exploring
party ! During the last few years, the invention of the
electric telegraph has done more to bring Carrier
Pigeons into partial disuse, than had been effected in all
the three thousand years previous.
In the present treatise we propose to consider pigeons
first, in the light of mere poultry stock,—as birds reared
to be brought to market,—and afterwards as objects of
luxury and fancy, which will include their employ-
ment as messengers.
THE KINDS OE PIGEONS KEPT AS POULTRY.
THE BLUE KOCK DOVE. THE DOVEHOUSE PIGEON.
There are two very distinct varieties of Pigeon, which
are kept in large flocks for the supply of the table. Some
naturalists regard them as separate species. The first is
the Blue Rock Dove (Columba livia) ; the second is the
Dovehouse Pigeon (Columba affinis, of Blyth). Both are
found wild, breeding independently in a state of nature;
but the former affects caverns, cliffs, and rocks as its
resting-place (whence its name) ; while the latter seems
to prefer the inaccessible parts of public buildings, ruins,
and ecclesiastical edifices,—such a home, in short, as the
jackdaw would choose. A very permanent difference
between the two is, that the Rock Dcve has the rump, or
lower part of the back, just above the tail, decidedly
whitish, while the Dovehouse Pigeon has it of a light
slate-colour. This feature is particularly noticeable when
the birds are flying, especially if they are in a flock of
any considerable number, when it imparts quite a charae
b 2
4
PIOEONS.
ter to them as they are wheeling about. A reference to
our plates will help the reader to recognise the two varie-
ties much better than any description could do. The
general colouring of the Dovehouse Pigeon is con-
siderably darker than that of the Bock Dove. The dis-
tinction between them has long been known to dealers,
less so to fanciers (who are apt to despise both these
species, notwithstanding the exquisite beauty of. the
latter), and is scarcely acknowledged by ornithologists.
The Dovehouse Pigeon is much the more common inha-
bitant of dovecots, is less capricious in its sojourn
therein, and when it betakes itself to a state of complete
independence, exhibits much less dislike to the neighbour-
hood of man, than is shown by the Bock Dove under
similar circumstances.
It is to be remarked that these two species are the only
kinds of domestic pigeon which ever desert the homes
provided for them, and betake themselves to the wilder-
ness. The Pancy Pigeons, the truly tame pigeons, do
not reassume, or rather adopt, wild habits, as has been
asserted ; when they lose their way, or escape from a new,
and therefore a distasteful home, they do not betake
themselves to the rocks, or to the ruins, but enter some
trap or loft, or join some other flock of tame pigeons.
The pigeons which do choose to return to a wild condi-
tion are always either Blue Bocks or Dovehouse Pigeons,
and not Powters, Fantails, or Bunts; whereas the Blue
Bocks do not voluntarily take up thteir home in an ordi-
nary pigeon-loft, but, on the contrary, will escape from
one that is not to their liking, or is too much interfered
with, even if hatched and brought up there by parents of
a tamer breed.
A main characteristic in the plumage of the Columba
iivia is the absence of spots, which are so remarkable a
feature in that of the 6. dffinis. The bill is dark slate-
colour, with a whitish cere at the base; it is much com-
pressed about the middle, both in depth and width, a
peculiarity which is common to the whole family of
pigeons. The head is slate-colour, continued down the
PIGEONS.
5
neck and belly, with iridescent hues of green and purple,
which are brighter in the male bird than in the hen. The
back and wings are paler slate-colour, or a sort of French
gray. The quill-feathers are darker towards the tips.
Across the wings are two very dark and conspicuous
bands, which are formed by a black spot near the end of
each of the greater wing-coverts. The rump is whitish:
this mark has been greatly, and we think unduly, insisted
upon, to prove the derivation of ail the Fancy Pigeons
from the Blue Bock Dove. We have no room to discuss
the question of origin here, but will refer the reader to
Dixon's "Dovecot and Aviary," merely observing that
the Dovehouse Pigeon, supposed by the same theorists to
be derived from the same parentage, fails to display the
alleged hereditary mark. The tail is of the same colour
as the head, each feather being darker at the portion near
the end, so as to form a dark semicircular band when the
tail is outspread in flight. In all pigeons the feathers of
the body adhere loosely, and easily come off; in some
species they are detached from the skin by the merest
touch. The feet and toes are coral-red, which colour the
Arab legend attributes to the birds having walked on the
red mud that was left after the subsidence of the waters
of the Deluge. The claws are black. The irides are
bright orange, shaded to yellow towards the pupil, which
is black. The average weight of the Blue Bock Dove is
about ten or eleven ounces. The only variety of this bird
which we have seen, or have heard of on any authority,
are light blue specimens, with the bars on the wings and
tail very strongly contrasting with the rest. Such birds
are extremely beautiful; and it may be suspected whether
many of these are not merely individuals of an advanced
age, which have quite arrived at their adult plumage.
The Dovehouse Pigeon, or the " Duffer," as it is fre-
quently called, is the victim which has the most frequently
to run the gauntlet for its life, in the trials of skill with
the gun, called " Pigeon Matches." Blue Bocks will do,
but are not so easily to be had in numbers; the low-
priced mongrels of Fancy Pigeons are objected to, as
6
PIGEONS.
often affording by tbeir colour an unfairly easy mark, and
apt to be less bold and dashing in their escape from the
trap.
Maritime localities seem to be the favourite haunts of
the Bock Dove, whether wild or tame; and as Yenus is
fabled to have arisen from the sea, so her emblematic and
attendant doves are delighted to frequent its vicinity.
On the English coast, we have often seen them fly down
to the beach, to drink of the small pools of salt water
left there by the tide, though plenty of fresh water was
to be had within what would be considered for them
an easy distance. This taste of theirs for salt de-
mands special notice, and requires to be gratified
in inland situations. Eocky islets, and caves in sea-
washed cliffs, are known to be of all habitations the
most attractive to them. The coasts and innumerable
islands of the Mediterranean are still famous, as they have
been ever since the historic memory of man, for the
plenty and excellence of the Eock Pigeons, which have
located themselves in various situations there. On British
ground, they live in all the caves on the coast of Suther-
land, and are to be seen flitting to and fro from morning
to night. A magnificent panorama of romantic scenery
might be presented to the reader's imagination, were we
only to follow the haunts of the undomesticated Blue
Eock Dove.
NATUBAL HABITS AND CONSTITUTION OP PIGEONS.
The natural habits and constitution of pigeons are, in
several respects, so peculiar, that we deem it right to give
a brief account of them, as the most useful rudimental
information we can offer to a notice in pigeon-keeping;
for it is impossible to manage birds and animals sue-
cessfully without a knowledge of what their instincts
require.
The main difference between pigeons and all other birds
that are bred with us for domestic uses is, that the young
of the latter have to be supplied with suitable food as
well as the parents; and on that supply very much de-
pends the chance of successfully rearing them. No nest
PIGEONS.
7
op permanent habitation is required for them after they
are once brought into the world; merely a temporary
shelter by day, and a secure and convenient lodging by
night, which, however, may be shifted continually from
place to place, with advantage rather than injury to the
restless little occupants. This is the case with all the
water-fowl which we keep domesticated, as well as with
the gallinaceous birds. The Duck and the Goose, as well
as the Hen and the Turkey, lead out their young by day
to their proper food, any deficiency of which, arising from
their not being in a state of nature, is supplied by man;
and when rest and warmth are required by the tender
brood, the mother herself furnishes all that is needed
under the shelter of her wings. Her own personal
attentions supply from time to time whatever nest and
covering is required; owr care is, to exercise a general
superintendence, and provide them liberally with the
necessary articles of diet.
But the reverse of all this is the case with pigeons.
The rearing of the young gives us no trouble, if the
parents can but find enough to eat and drink. Conse-
quently, of all domestic creatures, Dovehouse Pigeons
and Bock Doves are the easiest to keep. If you cater
for them plentifully, well and good; they will partake of
the fare, and give themselves no more anxiety. If you
stint them, never mind; they will go further a-field, and
forage for themselves, not being over-scrupulous as to the
proprietorship of the corn they may eat, or delicate about
committing a trespass. But if your allowance is quite
too pinching, and the neighbours wage a determined war
against all pilferers, then the pigeons will pluck up their
resolution, and emigrate to some new home, where better
treatment awaits them; for a home they must have.
"With that tolerably adjusted, and a decent allowance
of food from you, they will, by their own industry, with
little further interference, increase so rapidly, and pro-
duce so large a supply of flesh for culinary purposes, that
there are cases in which the phenomenon strikes one with
perfect astonishment.
Young pigeons, when first hatched, are blind, half-
8
pigeons.
naked, weak, and helpless. They are fed, nearly till they
are able to provide for themselves, entirely by their
parents. The aliment necessary for their feeble organs,
during their earliest stage, is elaborated in the crop of
the old birds just before hatching, who administer it
according to their instinctive knowledge of the fit inter-
vals. All we have to think of, is to see that they suffer no
deficiency of their accustomed rations. But with such
utterly dependent younglings, a fixed and safe household
establishment is the thing without which all other com-
forts are worthless to them. A home is the first indis-
pen sable requisite.
mating and nesting.
Pigeons are what is called platform-builders; that is,
they make a flat slight nest of sticks, straws, and bits of
dry grass, laid together with as little art or trouble as it
is possible to conceive in thinking of a bird's nest.
Some pigeons' nests are so flat and slight, that it is a
marvel the eggs do not fall off or through them. All
pigeons lay two eggs, with one anomalous exception,—the
Passenger Pigeon, which appears to lay hut one whenever
it has bred in an aviary in this country. The " mating "
of pigeons is another important point in their natural
history. "When young pigeons are about six months old,
or before, they begin to go in pairs, except when asso-
ciated with the entire flock at feeding-times ; and when,
they are resting on the roofs, or basking in the sun, they
retire apart to short distances, for the purpose of court-
ship, and pay each other little kind attentions, such as
nestling close, and mutually tickling the heads one of
another. At last comes what is called "billing," which
is, in fact, the kiss of a bird. As soon as this takes place,
the union is complete. The pair are now united com-
panions, not necessarily for life, though usually so; but
rather, so long as they continue satisfied with each other.
If they are Bock Doves, they scour the country together
in search of distant provender; if they are Tumblers,
they mount aloft, and try which can tumble best; if they
PIGEONS.
9
are Powters, they emulate one another's puffings, tail-
sweepings, circlets in the air, and wing-clappings; while
the Pantails, the Runts, and all those kinds which the
French call pigeons mondains, or terrestrial pigeons, walk
the ground with conscious importance and grace. But
this is their honeymoon,—the time for the frolics of
giddy young people. The male is the first to become
serious. He takes possession of some locker or box that
seems an eligible tenement. If it is quite empty and
bare, he carries to it a few sticks and straws; but it
the apartment has already been furnished for him, he
does not at present take much further trouble in that
line. Here he settles himself, and begins complaining
with a sort of moaning noise. His appeal is sometimes
answered by the lady affording him her presence, some-
times not; in which latter case he does not pine in solitude
very long, but goes and searches out his careless helpmate,
and with close pursuit, and a few sharp pecks if necessary,
insists upon her attending to her business at home. Like
the good husband described in Puller's "Holy State," "his
love to his wife weakeneth not his ruling her," and "his
ruling lesseneth not his loving her." The hen obeys,
occasionally, however, making, or pretending to make,
some resistance; but at last she feels that she ought to
discontinue general visiting and long excursions: she
enters the modest establishment that has been prepared
for the performance of her maternal duties. A day or
two after she has signified her acceptance of the new
home, an egg may be expected to be found there. Over
this she (mostly) stands sentinel, till, after an interven-
ing day, a second egg is laid, and incubation really com-
mences ; not hotly and energetically at first, as "with
hens, turkeys, and many other birds, but gently and
with increasing assiduity.
AID AXFOBDED BY THE COCK.
And now the merits of her mate grow apparent. He
does not leave his lady to bear a solitary burden of
matrimonial care, while he has indulged in the pleasures
10
PIGEONS.
only of their union. He takes a share, though a minor
one, of the task of incubating; and he more than per-
forms his half-share of the labour of rearing the young,
lie feeds her while she is sitting, and gives her drink
from his crop, which he has flown to fetch from the pond
or the brook; even at other times he will often give
her a morsel which he purposely regurgitates that she
may take it from his faithful bill. At about noon, often-
times earlier, the hens leave their nests for air and exer-
cise as well as for food, and the cocks take their place
upon the eggs. If you ertter a pigeon-loft at about two
o'clock in the afternoon, you will find all the cock birds
sitting,—a family arrangement that affords an easy
method of discovering which birds are paired with which.
The females are to be seen taking their turns in the
same locations ear]y in the morning, in the evening, and
all the night. The older a cock pigeon grows, the more
fatherly does he become. So great is his fondness for
having a rising family, that an experienced unmated
cock bird, if he can but induce some flighty young hen
to lay him a couple of eggs as a great favour, will almost
entirely take the charge of hatching and rearing them
by himself.
HATCHING, AND YOUNG.
At the end of eighteen days from the laying of the
second egg (but the time cannot be invariably fixed
within several hours) a young' one will appear. Subse-
quently, at a short but uncertain interval, sometimes
comes another chick, sometimes remains an addle egg.
Of young things, babies included, a new-hatched pigeon
ranks among the most helpless. Most little birds, if
blind, if weak, can at least open their mouth to be fed;
but these actually have their nutriment pumped into
them. They have just instinctive sense enough to feel
for the bills of their parents ; they will make the same
half-conscious movement to find the tip of your finger,
if you take them in your hand. And this act of
pumping from the stomachs of the parents is so effi-
PIGEONS.
11
ciently performed, as to be incredible to those who have
not watched the result. A little pigeon grows enor-
mously the first twelve hours; after the third day, still
more rapidly; and for a time longer, at a proportionate
rate. If it do not, something is wrong, and it is not
likely to be reared at all. The squab that remains sta-
tionary is sure to die. Sometimes, of two squabs, one
will go on growing like a mushroom or a puff-ball, and
the other will keep as it was, till the thrifty one weighs
six or eight times as much as its brother or sister on
which the spell of ill-luck has been laid.
The young are at first sparsely covered with long fila-
ments of down; the root of each filament indicates the
point from which each stub or future feather-case is to
start. The down, for a while, still hangs on the tips of some
of the feathers during their growth, and finally, we believe,
does not drop off from them, but is absorbed into the
shaft of the growing feather. This down, attached to
the tips of the feathers, is a sure sign that birds are
young, when purchasing any for table use. No domestic
birds afford such good opportunities of observing the
growth of feathers as pigeons.
HENS PAIBING.
The pairing of pigeons is a practice so strictly adhered
to by them, that if the number of male birds in a dove-
cot is less than that of females, the supernumerary hens
will pair with each other, and set up an establishment for
themselves ; if the males are in excess, they will make an
excursive tour in search of a mate, and either remain with
her at her residence, or, which is just as frequently the
case, will bring the lady with them to their own home.
The unmated hens that thus enter into partnership will
go through all the ceremonies of pairing, make a nest,
lay two eggs each, sit alternately and carefully, and, if
they are members of a large flock, very often rear young.
The frequent occurrence of this circumstance proves that
the conjugal fidelity of the male birds at least has been
somewhat exaggerated. But the two eggs of the pigeon
12
PIGEONS.
produce one male and one female chick in so nearly an
invariable manner, that any disproportion in the sexes, by
which these aberrations from ordinary rules are caused,
arises rather from disease or accident than from any
chance result of the hatchings.
EE-MATING.
When a hen pigeon has the misfortune to lose lier
mate by gunning or trapping, she is certainly uncom-
fortable for a while, but not inconsolable. She does not
go pining on in solitude for long, refusing to be com-
forted. When she finds that her partner is for ever gone,
she resigns herself to her fate, and takes up with another,
whom, however, she would probably desert were her first
love, the original mate, by some fortunate chance to make
his reappearance.
VEBY HOT-BLOODED.
The high temperature of living pigeons ought to be
noticed here. When handled, especially in a partially
fledged state, they feel quite at fever-heat. The blood,
fresh-drawn from the living bird, was a most virtuous
remedy with the old practitioners; and Willughby
informs us, that " a live pigeon cut asunder along the
back-bone, and clapt hot upon the head, mitigates fierce
humours and discusses melancholy sadness. Hence it is
a most proper medicine in the phrensie, headache, melan-
choly, and gout. Some add also in the apoplexy. Our
physicians use to apply pigeons thus dissected tp the
soals of the feet, in acute diseases, in any great defect of
spirits, or decay of strength, to support and refresh the
patient, that he may be able to grapple with and master
the disease. For the vital spirits of the pigeon still
remaining in the hot flesh and blood, do through the
pores-of the skin insinuate themselves into the blood of
the sick person now dis-spirited and ready to stagnate,
and induing it with new life and vigour, enable it to per-
form its solemn and necessary circuits." The modern
substitute for a live pigeon cut asunder would be perhaps
PIGEONS.
13
a hot foot-hath, or even a mustard plaster, or a simple
poultice.
SAPIDITY OP GROWTH.
It is worth while comparing the rapidity of growth in
young pigeons with that of the gallinaceous birds which
serve us as food; and we will quote an instance taken
from actual observation. On the 27th of June, a blue
Owl, mated with a Nun, hatched one squab. The second
egg, being clear or unfertilized, had been taken away
from them some days previously. The egg producing
this chick had been Cracked, three or four days before
hatching, by a blow from the Owl's wing, given in anger
at its being handled for the sake of examination. The
squab had grown much in the few hours that intervened
between its exclusion and the time of its being observed.
It was blind, and covered with long yellow cottony down.
In the afternoon of the 1st of July, it first opened its
eyes to the light. Now, the average weight of a domes-
tic pigeon's egg is about half an ounce ; rather more for
the larger breeds, as Hunts and Powters, and rather less
for the smaller ones, such as the parents of our present
squab.—A Collared Turtle's egg weighs about a quarter
of an ounce ; but on the 3rd of July, this little creature,
which on the 27th of June would hardly balance a half-
ounce weight, now weighed four ounces and a halj, and
its feathers, or rather its feather-cases, were pricking
through its skin like a hedgehog's spines. On July 9th,
its weight was ten ounces; only one parent attending it:
July 18th, eleven ounces and three-quarters. The growth
seemed now principally directed to the quill feathers,
which accounts for its less rapid increase in weight.
July 26th, the weight of the squeaker was twelve ounces
and a quarter ; it was capable of flying, and feeding itself,
and only wanted strength and a little corroborative time
to be a perfect independent adult bird. At the same date
of July 26th, the weight of the Owl, its male parent, was
onlv eleven ounces and a half; so that, in about a month,
its own young one had exceeded itself in weight. It
14
PIGEONS.
takes many quad rape as several years to attain the "bulk of
their parents; the chick of a common hen, at the end of
a month from hatching, is very far indeed from equalling
its mother in weight; but, in the case of pigeons, we have
the enormous increment of growth from half an ounce to
twelve ounces and a quarter within that short period.
The wonder is accounted for by the knowledge that, for
the first fortnight, the squab has the assistance of two
digestions in addition to its own; and that, during the
month, it has to undergo little or no exertion of body or
brain, but merely to receive a liberal supply of ready-pre-
pared nutriment.
DOVECOTS.
Of dovecots, a great variety exists, in different styles
of architecture, sometimes standing isolated in the midst
of a lawn, sometimes forming the corner turret of a square
of farming buildings, a courtyard* or a garden wall, We
are acquainted with one instance in whieh the dovecot
belonging to the estate consists of an arch thrown across
the road, the pediment and the upper portions of each
pier being tenanted by pigeons. The picturesque effect
is really very good, and the birds thrive well, and evidently
enjoy the vicinity of a lake, which serves them as a con-
venient watering and bathing place. But the old manorial
dovecot, belonging to bygone days, is a substantial
cubical building, with a pyramidal tiled roof, surmounted
by an unglazed lantern, through which the pigeons enter
and descend to their nests. It frequently forms the
upper half of a square tower, and then can only be
entered by a ladder from without, the lower half being
used as a cowhouse, cart-shed, or root-house. It is
usually solidly built of either brick or stone, and the
interior fittings are of brick also: nesting-places are thus
made to occupy the four entire walls, except where the
opening for the door prevents them. The place gets
cleaned out twice or thrice in the year, and is very snug ;
PIGEONS.
15
but as the young ones which die in their nest are not re-
moved immediately, as they ought to be, the smell is some-
times very offensive within, and may even be productive
of injury to the birds. But those gentlemen who reside
in a rocky district might contrive the most picturesque of
all dovecots (of which an example existed, and may still
exist, near the Chateau de Yalgon, in Prance), by hollow-
ing out a space in the face of a cliff, and fashioning the
entrance as nearly like a natural cavern as possible. A
few pairs of Bock Doves once settled there in lockers
hewn in the rock itself, would indeed feel themselves at
home; and if an elevated spot were selected, their out-
door proceedings, their journeys to and fro, would be
observable from the mansion and pleasure-grounds gene-
rally, and could not fail to form an agreeable point of
view.
CONVENIENCE OE DOVECOTS.
"No man ever need have an ill-provisioned house,"
says Olivier de Serres, " if there be but attached to it a
dovecot, a warren, and a fishpond, wherein meat may be
found as readily at hand as if it were stored in a larder.
Wherefore our father of a family, having set in order his
arable lands, his vineyards, and his pastures, and arranged
his henroosts, will hasten to set himself up with pigeons,
rabbits, and fish, in order that, being provided with these
viands, he may nourish his family in noble style, and give
good cheer to his friends, without putting his hand into
pocket." Certainly, a vast pigeon and rabbit pie is a
most useful standing dish in a country house, both for the
members of the family and for chance droppers-in; and
tnen, says Olivier, if the pigeon-house is properly managed,
there will always remain somewhat to sell, over and above
what is consumed at home.
We will give a brief abstract of the ideas about dove-
cots, which were entertained by that respectable old
French writer, translating and condensing it from the
quarto edition of his "Theatre of Agriculture," of 1675.
16
PIGEONS.
OLIVIER EE SERRES'S DOVECOT.
" In the first place, speaking of the dovecot, I will say
that three things must be combined in order to have the
enjoyment of this kind of diet: the lodging, the pigeons,
and their management. The disposition of the pigeon-
house is of no very great consequence ; for whether placed
inside the house or outside it, made little or great,
fashioned in whatever shape you please, you will always
have pigeons there, if the breed of the birds be*but good,
and they be well fed; but you will have them in much
greater abundance if it be erected by itself in the open
fields, and made large and spacious, to suit the nature of
pigeons, who take much more delight in quietude and a
roomy lodging, than in a narrow and choked-up place, as
is evidently observed in those natural grottos and caverns
in rocks, wherein, on account of their unusual magnitude,
resembling magnificent temples, the pigeons retreat in
mighty flocks. Experience teaches that a great dove-
cot is better in its greatness than a little one is in its
littleness.
" As to its shape, although all are good, I hold the
round ones to be the best of any, principally because the
rats cannot so easily climb up, and also because the cen-
tral ladder, turning on a pivot, enables you to approach
all the nests without leaning against them. "We will fix
the situation of the dovecot in a sheltered spot, as little
exposed to high winds as possible, detached from all the
other buildings of the mansion, in order to be retired
from noise and the attack of rats; and standing within
the inclosure of the vineyard or the garden, to be safer
from thieves ; built with a high ridged roof, in order to be
seen from a distance; out of the way of trees, both to
avoid the noise of their branches when agitated by the
wind, and the danger from birds of prey which conceal
themselves there; distant a couple of arquebusades from
the water which is to supply the pigeons with drink, that
distance being esteemed the best, because the parent birds,
PIGEONS.
17
who go to fetch drink for their young, will warm it on the
way to a proper degree of temperature.
" In regard to the size of the pigeon-house, we would
give it three or four toises [fathoms] of diameter, whether
round, square, or any other figure, as hexagonal or octa-
gonal. Its height should be one-fourth more than its
width. Its roof should project, to throw the water off;
and beneath these projecting eaves should be cornices and
galleries, for the birds to repose and sun themselves,
according to the weather and the direction of the wind.
The best material for the nest is baked clay, such as tiles
and other pottery, which are neither so cold as stone in
winter, nor so warm as wood in summer ; but of whatever
material made, the nesting-places should be large and
spacious. As I said of the dovehouse itself, it is better
to fear excess in smallness than in greatness. If there is
any fault in this respect, do not be surprised if the pigeons
abandon the dovecot. Pigeons, during their laying and
hatching, and also the little ones till they leave the nest
are especially fond of a retreat which is dark rather than
light. Wherefore, in Prance, pigeons' nests are often
made with flat bricks or pavements. In Provence, Lan-
guedoc, and the environs, the nests are often made with
round tiles, that serve for water-pipes. The first row of
nests should be at least three or four feet above the
ground."
These few practical directions are sufficient to guide any
one in building a dovecot.
HOW TO STOCK A NEW-BUILT DOVECOT.
It is not easy to stock a dovecot for the first time.
Over and over again birds may be placed there; they may
settle, and be apparently content for a time, and then
the unexpected discovery will be made that not a single
bird is left; consequently, several modes of colonizing an
empty dovecot have been recommended. The following,
perhaps, is one of the best:—
As soon as the dovecot is fitted up completely, both
inside and out, if it be summer-time, or, what is better,
c
18
PIGEOKS.
very early spring, select a sufficient number of pigeons
of the former year, and early-hatched birds as far as pos-
sible. The more numerous is the colony which you try
to fix in their new home, the greater will be the chance
of their settling there. They ought not to be procured
from a shorter distance than six or eight miles, for fear
that the sight of their old haunts and companions should
tempt them back again, even after the lapse of several
months. If they can be obtained from quite a distant
part of the kingdom, it will greatly increase the chance
of success. "We even recommend that young birds in-
tended to stock a dovecot, whether Rock Doves or
Dovehouse Pigeons are required, be procured from the
north of Prance. They are so much cheaper there than in
England, that the difference of price will aid considerably
in paying the cost of their passage; the interposition of
the English Channel between their new and their native
home will greatly diminish the probability (though it will
not entirely remove it) of their returning; and birds of
both those species are decidedly finer on the Continent
than in the British Islands. Were we ourselves about to
stock a dovecot, we would unhesitatingly determine to
do so with pigeons from Prance. After every window
and outlet of the dovecot has been closed by wire
grating or lattice-work (to permit a sight of the country
outside, although escape is impossible), the new arrivals
will be turned loose inside, and well provided with fresh
water, corn and peas, and a pan of salt. The floor of the
dovecot will have been strewn with gravel or sand, and
calcareous earth of some kind. They must be fed punc-
tually every day, at the same hour and by the same
attendant. After three or four days they will expect his
arrival, and get used to his presence without manifesting
alarm. Of course this office should be deputed to the
person who is intended hereafter to take charge of the
dovecot. Birds of that age, shut up in confinement,
and liberally supplied with food and drink, with no long
journeys to exhaust them, will soon begin to think of
making their nest. Por this purpose, a few sticks and
PIGEONS.
19
straws should be scattered on the floor; the pigeons will
select and arrange them themselves. It may help to
hasten the period of their laying if they are fed with a
little hempseed, mixed with cumin, anise, caraway, or
the seeds of other umbelliferous plants, whose native
spots are dry and chalky soils. As soon as it is observed
that the greater number of the birds have laid, and that
a few of them have young ones hatched, the wire-work
or lattice may be removed, and the parent birds will
follow their accustomed habit of going out to seek for
food for their progeny. Their attachment to their eggs
and young will prevent them from deserting the compul-
sory nesting-place. Meanwhile, food will still be pro-
vided for them, within the dovecot, for a short time
longer; but little by little the quantity may be dimi-
nished, and after the hatching of the second laying, it
will not be requisite to continue the supply. By this
method of management, both the parents and their off-
spring will be settled in the dovecot. After the second
laying, the old ones will give up all thoughts of desert-
ing; and the young ones, knowing no other home, will
be free from any temptation of the kind. All this, how-
ever, supposes that their natural tastes and habits are
consulted, and that they are neither annoyed by rats,
weasels, cats, guns, strange pigeons, nor troublesome
human visitors, every one of which is a source to them of
considerable annoyance. If the birds are made uncom-
fortable, they will quit their habitation, one and all.
Still, the circumstance that a dovehouse has once been
peopled, renders it likely that its old tenants may return
to it whenever some caprice disgusts them with the new
quarters to which they have shifted. Temminck gives
an instructive instance of the effect of making a Eock
Dove's home comfortable.
" The proprietors of a farm in Erance went to occupy
it themselves, after it had been held by a tenant for-a
lease of nine years. They had left the pigeon-house
amply stocked, but they found it deserted, dismantled,
filthy, and occupied by every enemy ef the poor fugi-
20
PIGEOKS.
tives. They took 110 further pains than to whitewash
the pigeon-house within and without, to restore the
dilapidations of the interior, to have it cleaned out per-
fectly, and to keep abundance of water and salt therein.
The pigeon-house was replenished with birds as if by
enchantment; so much so, that when the owners again
quitted their estate, there were more than a hundred
and fifty pairs of pigeons, which, moreover, were sup-
plied with scarcely any food. Three years was all the
time required to work this change, and even to attract
deserters from the pigeon-houses for three miles round."
The Blue Rock Dove is naturally and inherently very
much shyer than any other of our domestic pigeons, and
its disposition and native instincts must be consulted, if
we really wish to retain it under our control. Too
much noise and bustle will certainly disturb the flock.
It is even recommended (as we have seen) not to build
a dovecot in the neighbourhood of tall trees, because
the birds dislike the sound of the wind roaring amongst
the branches. Perhaps a better reason for the same
advice may be, that the dovecot is thereby hid from
their sight when they are out on long excursions. No
wise man would build a dovecot on the edge of a
crowded thoroughfare, or by the side of any highway
road which is constantly thronged with passengers and
traffic to and fro. One point of etiquette to be ob-
served with dovecots is, never to enter abruptly, or
without having knocked two or three times at the door,
in order to allow those birds which are the shyest, time
to fly away, instead of making them dash about the inte-
rior in alarm, raising a great commotion and dust, in-
juring themselves, frightening any quieter birds that
may happen to be incubating, and probably causing
numerous desertions afterwards. These minute obser-
vances, combined with great cleanliness and attention,
are requisite to perfect success in the management of a
dovecot. The most skilful superintendent will be sure
to derive the greatest profits. Dovecots, like warrens,
decoys, and fishponds, will cause nothing but £isappoint-
PIGEONS.
21
ment in ignorant and unskilful hands, whilst with those
who really understand them they are a certain source of
amusement and advantage.
Supposing the birds to be really settled in their home,
although no grain will be thrown down to them within
the dovecot (for that would be entering their citadel far
too frequently to meet their approbation), it will still be
right to give them a little every day on some spot close
to their home. It is good to accustom them to come,
morning and evening, at the sound of a whistle. There
is no need to give them anything at noon; they will then
be either basking in the sun, or out foraging in the fields.
The only object is to attach them to their domicile; for
it is not true that the Blue Bock Dove is always " con-
tented with the food given it at home." Buffon was
completely in error when he supposed it to be one of
those creatures who would become so dependent upon
the hand of man, and so accustomed to receive food of
his providing, as rather to die of hunger than to search
for subsistence. In them at least, the sentiment of
liberty is not destroyed, nor have they lost the instinct
of exercising the arts and resources which necessity
inspires. The Bock Dove makes rather a favour of the
meals which it consents to take at home, and will, when-
ever so minded, stray far and wide in search of pro-
vender. Powters and Fantails may be satisfied to lead
an idle life, and to subsist on what is offered to them
without exertion ; but the free and energetic Blue Bock
Dove delights to earn for itself its daily bread, and pre-
fers the ration gained by independent toil to the feast
held out to it as a temptation to sink into a condition of
indolent servility.
It is a secret worth knowing, that Blue Bock Pigeons
are fond of living in large societies. He who has most
of these birds will be sure to continue to have most, from
desertion, as well as from increase. They decidedly
prefer associating with their own counterparts and con-
geners, to mingling on easy and equal terms with tame
pigeons of more steady habits. Persons who keep a
22
riGEONS.
pure stock of Blue Eocks are averse to the intrusion of
any of the fancy kinds: this may be merely intended as
a precaution to maintain the purity of blood; but the
rule may be a traditional one, suggested by the fear,
lest the presence of those unwelcome strangers should
drive the wilder binds to seek other haunts, where they
may remain undisturbed by the sight of new faces. A
fancier of repute remarked, that when the common tame
sort are made to mix with the Blue Pigeon in the same
dovecot, in order to increase the size. of the progeny,
care must be taken not to select then^ of glaring colours,
for the rest will not easily associate with them. The best
plan is not to allow of any such mixture at all.
A curious and authentic anecdote confirms what we
have here stated respecting the innate shyness of the Blue
Bock Dove. We quote it from " The Dovecot and the
Aviary."
" I had purchased a pair of Nuns, supposing them to
be male and female; they proved a couple of hens,
laying conjointly four eggs, and commencing incubation
in the regular family style, exactly as in a former work
I have stated that two female swans will do, if they can-
not find a mate of the opposite sex. To incubate four
probably unfertilized eggs was a waste of vital warmth ;
so we removed these, and substituted a couple of Blue
Bock Pigeon's eggs, which were kindly supplied to me
by a neighbour who has a pure and choice stock. Two
birds were reared, and they remained in company with
the other pigeons in the loft. During this time they
were certainly shyer and wilder than other squeakers of
the same age, and avoided as much as they could the
society of the rest of their companions. Our whole stock
«f pigeons then—a miscellaneous lot about four and
twenty in number—had never been flown, but were kept
constantly in confinement. When the'Blue Bocks were
about two months old, it was hoped that the other birds
had become sufficiently attached to their home to be
allowed to take a little outdoor exercise, and it was
never suspected that any caution need be exercised with
PIGEONS.
23
young birds hatched upon the spot. So one evening the
prison ^ door was thrown open; circle after circle was
traced in the air; great was the clapping of wings, and
proud were the struttings upon the roof-ridge. But our
confidence was not abused, though some of them were
old birds, and had been brought from a former home.
They all re-entered their loft, except one or two that
could not find their way in on this first indulgence with
liberty, and which were taught the mode of entrance on
the occasion of a subsequent airing;—all, except the
strongest Blue Bock, the other not being yet able to
perform long and continued flights. Instead of entering
the house at reasonable supper-time, it stayed out aU
night. It honoured us for a short time afterwards by
spending the night on the roof of the house; where it
passed the day, or how it fed, we knew not. At last it
took its departure for good and all, and we subsequently
learned that it had joined the parent colony, consisting
of Blue Bocks only, about a quarter of a mile distant,
from which it had been brought in the egg.
" I have since induced a few of these birds to stay
with me, but only by placing their eggs under other
pigeons to hatch in my own loft. All attempts to get
young Blue Bocks to settle with the rest of my flock
have failed. They have always left us as soon as they
had sufficient strength of wing to do so. My neigh-
hour's Blue Bocks often pass over our house, but they
never alight to make the acquaintance of the pigeons
here. The most they do is to sink gracefully a little in
their course, without altering its direction, and at once
continue their journey to some distant field."
In the East, Carriers seem to be kept as Dovehouse
Pigeons; in England, the Blue Bocks would answer as
letter-carriers better than many of the fancy kinds. The
range throughout which they traverse is so exceedingly
extensive, that they would find their way from any
moderate distance 'without difficulty. They would be
excellent messengers to be employed by lovers residing
in neighbouring parishes, or to announce the actual
24
PIGEONS.
occurrence of any expected family crisis. The ancient
Romans had the practice of sending off their Dovehouse
Pi geons from the midst of the crowded amphitheatre
(which had no roof), to order an additional dish on the
supper-table, or to say how many guests were coming
to sup,
PIGEON LAW.
Private property in pigeons is more strictly protected
by English law, and any infringement of it is more
severely punishable than is generally imagined. The
7th & 8th G-eo. IV., c. 29, s. 33, which repealed former
Acts, tells us, " And be it enacted, That if any person
shall unlawfully and wilfully kill, wound, or take any house-
dove or pigeon, under such circumstances as shall not
amount to larceny at common law; every such offender,
being convicted thereof before a justice of the peace,
shall forfeit and pay, over and above the value of the
bird, any sum not exceeding two pounds." By the 67th
section of the same Act, the magistrates may, in case of
default in payment of value and penalty, commit for any
term not exceeding two months.
A lord of a manor may build a dovecot upon his land,
parcel of his manor; but a servant of the manor cannot
do it without license.
It hath been adjudged that erecting a dovehouse is
not a common nuisance, nor presentable in the leet.
If pigeons come upon my land, and I kill them, the
owner hath no remedy against me; though I may be
lia* le to the statutes which make it penal to destroy
them.
Doves in a dovehouse, young and old, shall go to the
he r, and not to the executor.
In France, Article 564 of the Civil Code, enacts, that
pigeons, rabbits, and fish, which go into another dove-
house, warren, or pond, belong to the proprietor of the
aforesaid places, provided they have not been decoyed
thither by fraud and artifice.
It is certain that Dovehouse Pigeons were kept for
PTGEONS.
25
use and profit at an early period of English history. In
the year 1305, there was a canon made by Robert "Win-
chelsea, Archbishop of Canterbury, and his clergy,
whereby it was declared, that all and every parishioner
should pay honestly and without diminution to their
churches, tithes of pigeons, amongst other things, on pain
of excommunication; although the claims of the clergy
on these birds do not seem to have been universally
acknowledged in England. Degge's " Parson's Coun-
sellor " indicates somewhat of a middle course: " Of
young pigeons in dovecots, or in pigeon-holes, about a
man's house, tithes shall be paid if they be sold; but if
they be spent in the family, no tithe shall be paid for
them."
DOVECOTS LESS FEEQTJENT THAN FOEMEBLY.
In many districts of England, at the present day, it is
not very common to meet with an old dovecot stocked
with the real Columba livia. The place of the beautiful
Blue Rock Dove is now mostly occupied by a few pairs of
unsightly mongrels. The species itself, although not rare,
is far from being so frequent in a domestic state as it used
to be; and it looks as if the more general tillage of the
land, and the increase of population in many parts of the
kingdom, had driven the birds away to take refuge in a
quieter home, find wilder districts to traverse in their
foraging excursions, and leave the old nesting-places to be
occupied by a more tame-spirited and indolent race. So
that an ancient dovecot, well filled with a thriving and
permanent colony of Blue Rock Pigeons, is really an
aristocratical affair ; and it ought to be maintained in the
"same manner as the old oaks and elms, or the rookeries
and heronries, belonging to an estate. An inspection of
the provincial game and poultry shops will show that a
large proportion of the young pigeons now brought to
table in England are not Blue Rocks, but Dovehouse
Pigeons, besides Powters, Tumblers, and foul-feathered or
cross-bred birds of other tame kinds. Many Tumblers
are sold dead for sixpence or ninepence each, which.
26
PIGEONS.
if suffered to survive till they were adult, would fetch in
London very lair prices from amateurs.
PABASITIC ENEMIES.
Dovecots, and the pigeons which inhabit them, are
sometimes infested with mites, lice, and a parasitic insect
of larger size, all which cause great annoyance to the old
birds, and sometimes even destroy the young squabs by
getting into their ears and eyes, and irritating them to
death. A little snuff sprinkled over the birds and into
the nest will afford a temporary relief; but the nuisance
is the result of want of cleanliness, and must be thoroughly
eradicated by burning the injected nests, whitewashing
the inside of the dovecot with lime and water, washing
even the nesting-places either with whitewash or with
tobacco-water, and by taking care not to let the dung of the
birds remain too long before it is removed. The parasitic
insects found on birds are peculiar species, which do not
fix themselves on the human skin; there is, therefore,
nothing to apprehend in undertaking the task of cleaning
out a dovecot, although a long course of neglect will
make it an unpleasant one. Fleas mostly abound in
dovecots; whitewash is the best preventive. Pigeons
are occasionally destroyed by the attacks of insects from
within. Corn, bran, or pollard, that has been kept long,
and is become rnity, or full of mites, should never be
given to pigeons or other poultry to eat, without having
been first boiled or baked, to make sure that the mites are
deprived of life.
In a newly-established dovecot, no young ones should
be killed to eat the first year. A little patience in allow-
ing the population to increase will be amply rewarded by
the plenty of birds which will be subsequently disposable.
Afterwards, it will suffice to leave the " flight" of July
or August untouched, to keep up the stock for future
years. Five or six pairs of young, and even more, in
favourable seasons, may justly be calculated upon from
each couple of parent birds. The only point on which we
presume to differ from Olivier is, his advice to weed the
PIGEONS. 27
doveoot of aged birds; we recommend their being allowed
to remain unmolested to the very last moment of their
natural life.
POLE-HOUSES AND LOCKERS.
The large solid-built dovecot, of brick or stone, is pro-
perlv the appurtenance of the hall, the manor-house, and
the extensive farm. It implies the possession of certain
rights over a considerable area of land, and is altogether
more or less aristocratic in its character. This kind of
dovecot, according to our judgment, ought to be stocked
with the Blue Bock Dove exclusively, to the utter banish-
ment of every other breed. If it admits even Dovehouse
Pigeons to inhabit it, it drops somewhat of the pretensions
which it ought to maintain. But for small farmers, villa
residents, and the dwellers in country houses with but
little land belonging to them, there are what may be called
minor dovecotes, second or third-class pigeon-houses, in
which tbe birds are entirely free, though more frequently
liable to disturbance than in the former case. Por all these
the Dovehouse Pigeon, or Columba affinis, is the most
appropriate tenant. Of the small lockers nailed against
a wall, and consisting merely of a few planks and pieces of
board to form a slight shelter, with a hole for entrance, it
may be said, in criticising them, that they are subject to
every variation of the weather, are ill-sheltered from pelt-
ing rains and stormy winds, and allow but little control
over the birds themselves. They do not afford accommo-
dation enough to admit of the pigeons' forming a large
society, which will often prove the cause of desertion;
and they are rarely contrived on the principle (to be more
fully noticed) of having two nesting-places accessible to
each pair of birds. In such cramped and uncomfortable
lockers, a frosty night happening early in autumn, or late
in spring, will sometimes destroy all the squabs that are
under three weeks old. In the West of England, a vast
improvement on the wall-locker is commonly seen attached
to the farm-houses. The entire gable-end of some stable
28
PIGEONS.
or barn is prolonged by a sort of brick-work honeycomb,
which serves as a set of permanent lockers. The birds
are better sheltered there, and can live in a more nume-
rous colony. But still, many defects remain ; and we do
not advise the locker system to those who can keep
pigeons in any other way.
A better, but still defective plan, is the conversion of
an empty barrel into a dovecot, by dividing it into cells,
in two, three, or more stories, according to its dimensions,
and elevating it upon a pole in the air. Elaborate designs
have been given for building aerial dovecots upon this
plan; but all are open to the one great objection, that
each pair of pigeons occupies but one cramped nesting-
place. The best pole-house with which we are acquainted
is that of which a plan and elevation are given in the
accompanying cuts (see fig.). A pair of birds take pos-
Plan and Elevation of a two-storied Pole Pigeon-House, to
accommodate four pairs of birds.
session of the suite of apartments whose landing-place is
marked A. They will probably pass through the vesti-
bule B, when they first bring in straws for a nest, and
deposit them in one of the chambers, as C. "When the
young are a fortnight or three weeks old, the hen will
probably leave them mostly to the care of the cock, and
PIGEONS.
29
make a fresh nest, and lay in the opposite apartment, D.
As soon as the first pair of young are flown, C will be
vacant for the hatching of a third brood, and so, by shift-
ing alternately from parlour to study, and never being
idle, a good pair of birds will produce quite a little flock
by the end of the summer.
It is easy to make use of this arrangement on a larger
scale, or to apply it to the triangular frames of lockers
which are fixed against barns and other out-buildings.
But pole-houses are much safer than lockers are from the
attacks of cats, rats, and fowl-stealers. Bats, indeed, are
among the most destructive enemies of the dovecot.
They break the eggs, devour the squabs, frighten the
birds while they are asleep (for their onslaughts are
almost always made by night), and, finally, drive the
pigeons to emigrate and seek a safer home elsewhere.
PIGEON-LOFTS.
For by far the great majority of pigeon-keepers in
England, a pigeon-loft affords the most convenient and
manageable means of maintaining a stock of useful and
ornamental birds. It may easily be made to combine
the rearing of pigeons for the table (although not the
Blue Bock Dove) with the keeping of merely fancy kinds.
In short, we speak of a room or chamber (if one or two con-
tiguous ones can be had, so much the better), which shall
be appropriated to these purposes, which can be closed or
opened at the pleasure of the owner, containing also
separate cages for special purposes, and, in short, all the
apparatus requisite for the systematic practice of breed-
ing, and of regulating the pairing and rearing of the
inmates, according to determinate rules.
CHOICE or SITUATION.
The apartment in one's house, or in the out-buildings
attached to it, which can be most conveniently appro-
priated as a pigeon-loft, is seldom open to much choice.
BO
PIGEONS.
"Where a selection can be made, a sheltered and sunny
aspect is most desirable; a lofty situation is especially
eligible for town-resident amateurs, who would also find
the advantage of having some high stack of chimneys or
conspicuous whitewashed gable near, to mark ^the spot.
It will prevent the loss of many a young inexperienced
bird, which may happen to stray during the first excur-
sions which it makes abroad, and will even help the old
ones to return, if they happen to be caught in a fog, or
are buffeted by a sudden gale of wind. An adequate
amount of window-light is wanted, more for the pleasure
of the owner than for the requirements of the birds, whose
nature it is to prefer obscure retreats and caverns for
their home and their breeding-place. Pigeons can see to
feed late after sunset, when it is quite dusk, and when
other domestic birds would cease to search after food.
The power of sight which they possess in distinguishing
clearly objects at a distance, seems extensible also to
minute particles that are but faintly illuminated, or
which lie in almost perfect darkness. Their eye is con-
vertible from a telescope to a night-glass.
FITTINGS OF THE PIGEON-LOFT.
The main external feature of the pigeon-loft is the
trap ; and none can be better than a projecting box. An
old tea-chest has often served the purpose efficiently, with
the sides, top, and bottom either quite closed and boarded
in, or made of lattice-work, the back opening into the
pigeon-loft, and the front consisting of a latticed door, or
rather a drawbridge, conducting the birds to the open
space in which they are to exercise their powers of flight
{see Jig.). In the trap of which"'we give a figure, and
which is copied from one in actual use, there exists a
difference from the generality of traps, in that only the
outer door, or drawbridge, of this trap is outside the
building. The advantage gained by the arrangement
is a greater neatness of outside appearance, and less
danger of the trap's being injured by high winds, the fall
of bricks or tiles, a blow from the shifting of a ladder, or
PIGEONS.
31
other mischief; on the other hand, it is a less conspicuous
mark for the pigeons than if the whole box were visible
outside, which must be confessed to be a serious objection,
and a sacrifice of utility to external look.
EXTERIOR. INTERIOR.
A. Door of the trap (outside the building).
B. Inner end of the trap, where the swinging doors hang.
C. String used to pull up the outer door of the trap.
32
PIGEONS.
THE TRAP.
The drawbridge (from which the trap derive3 its use
and name) opens at the top, and turns on hinges below.
It is raised or let down by a string, which should pass
through the loft, so that it can be drawn up, and the trap
closed by the owner outside or beneath the loft, or in an
adjoining chamber, without disturbing the birds, after he
has ascertained, by peeping through a chink or aperture,
that they have entered their apartment. The peculiar
fittings of the trap, as most suitable to the room to which
it is attached, are best left to some clever carpenter, who
is experienced in such work, and do not need further
detail here, except to state, that at the opening by which
the trap enters the loft, it is usual to have pieces of lath
hanging vertically, and freely suspended from a wire
above, in such a way as to allow the entrance and prevent
the egress of the birds. These the owner can raise at
pleasure. The little ^winging doors hang on a wire;
they are round, and are broader towards the bottom, i.e.,
they are long cones, so as to be steadied by their own
weight, as seen in the figure. It will be found a great
convenience if the pigeon-loft can be latticed oft" into tVo
or three separate divisions (to be entered by the master
through a little latticed door), in which the pigeons can
be seen by visitors, and can also see and make acquaint-
ance with the other pigeons belonging to the same owner,
while only a certain select number are allowed to fly
abroad, and have the entree of the trap. A small table or
two will be a useful piece of furniture : young squeakers,
on first leaving the nest, will light upon it as their safest
resting-place. The whole interior of the pigeon-loft,
about the sides, corners, and projecting angles, should be
fitted up with a number of small brackets, each about six
inches in length and four in breadth, to serve the purpose
of perches and landing-places.
1'IGEONS.
33
NESTING-PLACES.
The accommodations provided as nesting-places, and
their arrangement, must also very much depend upon
circumstances. The most important point, and which
may be laid down as the fundamental rule in pigeon-
rearing, with a view to make the most of their repro-
ductive powers- is that each pair of parent liirds ought to
have at least two convenient pigeon-holes or breeding-
places, and that there be not the least pretext either for
their being put out of their way themselves on this
account, or for their disturbing and quarrelling with
their neighbours. The reason for the rule is, that adult
pigeons, of a prolific race, in good health and well fed,
will lay a second pair of eggs before the nestlings hatched
from the former ones can shift for themselves. Hence,
pigeons which are enjoying the full exercise of their
breeding powers, absolutely require both a nursery for
their young, and a place to lay eggs in, apart, and yet
within easy reach of feach other. This requirement can-
not be too forcibly insisted on, at least if success is
thought worth attaining. The large numbers of young
ones produced in the same season by one pair of birds,
are always the result of the old ones being enabled to
begin a fresh hatch before the previous family is quite
off their hands. Otherwise the thing could not be done,
and the produce would be less. The reader will now
perceive why we so strongly recommend the pole-house,
of which we give a figure in the present book for the
country.
"We have practically experienced the judiciousness of
the arrangements suggested in an anonymous " Treatise
on Domestic Pigeons." In carrying out the regulations,
it may be said of pigeon-lofts, as well as of governments,
" whiche'er is best administered, is best."
" You may erect shelves, of about twenty inches
broad, for breeding-places, allowing eighteen inches
between shelf and shelf, that Powters may not be under
D
84
PIGEOSS.
the necessity of stooping for want of height, for m that
case they would contract an habit of playing low, which
spoils their carriage. In these shelves partitions should
be fixed at about three feet distance (more, if possible),
making a blind, by a board nailed against the front on
each side of every partition, which will make two nests
in the extent of every three feet; and the pigeons will
not be liable to be disturbed, as they will then sit in
private. Some fix a low partition between each nest,
which prevents the young ones from running to the hen
sitting at the other end, and thereby cooling her eggs;
for in breeding-time, when the young ones are about a
fortnight or three weeks old, the hen, if a good breeder,
will lay again, and leave the care of the young ones to
the cock. Others let them breed in partitions entirely
open in front, for the greater convenience of cleaning
•out their nests. I find by experience, that nests made
on the floor are much more convenient than otherwise, if
the loft will admit of it (this is particularly true with
regard to Hunts, Trumpeters, and Tantails), for it pre-
vents the young ones from falling out of their nests,
which sometimes breaks a leg, and very often lames
them, and also gives them a chance of being fed by other
■pigeons, as well as their parents, which frequently happens.
[An old cock pigeon, who is a good father, will often
take compassion upon a hungry squeaker which teases
him, and runs after him begging for food, although it
does not belong to him, and will charitably bestow upon
it the contents of his crop.] In every nest there should
be placed a straw basket, or earthen pan, that has not
been glazed, which prevents the straw from slipping
about, both which are made for this purpose, and the
size must be in proportion to the pigeons you breed:
for instance, a pan, fit for a Tumbler, or other small'
pigeon, should be about three inches high, and eight
inches over at the top, and sloping to the bottom like a
washhand-basin, and that in proportion for other larger
pigeons, remembering to put a brick close to the pan,
that they may with greater safety get upon their eggs;
PIGEONS.
35
and by means of this pan, the eggs are not only pre-
vented from rolling out of the nest, but your young
pigeons from being handled when you choose to look at
them, which often puts them into a scouring. Some
prefer the basket, as judging it the warmest, and not so
liable to crack the egg when first laid; others the pan,
not so apt to harbourvermin, and being easier cleaned; and
say that the foregoing inconveniences are easily remedied
by putting in a sufficient quantity of clean straw, rubbed
short and soft, or frail; the frail is most valued, because it
lies hollow, and lasts a great while, the dung shaking off
it as occasion requires." A flat wooden bowl is also an
excellent thing for pigeons to nest in; but when the
floor can be occupied in that way, a couple of bricks laid
up in one corner in the shape of the letter L, form a capi-
tal nest, simple, easily cleaned, and yet perfectly secure.
In the country and such situations where the pigeons
may be safely allowed to enjoy almost entire liberty, and
where it will be wished to see them take their food on
the ground with the other poultry as a general rule, it is
not a matter of urgent necessity to furnish a loft with
hoppers' or meat-boxes. Still it will be advisable to feed
them occasionally, i.e., four or five times a week, in their
chamber. The object of thus feeding them within-doors
is partly to confirm their affection for the spot, and partly
to give the forward squeakers that may have quitted the
nest a chance of learning to peck for themselves. For
this purpose it will be sufficient to throw down a mode-
rate supply of peas or barley on the floor, which we
suppose to be swept and fresh gravelled with some
degree of regularity. Broken mortar and bricklayers'
rubbish, when it can be. had, is an excellent thing to
strew their floor with, in addition to the gravel; if it is
not obtainable, a few lumps of clay, or brick-earth, and a
spadeful of dry loamy' soil, may be put down here and
there.
In pigeon-lofts in large towns, where the birds are but
seldom or never flown, some kind of corn-trough or hop-
per is indispensable. Of these there are various patterns
d 2
36
PIGEONS.
to be had, but the simplest are the best. The great
object is to economize food, and to prevent it from being
defiled with dirt. If it is too intricate in contrivance,
and hard to get at, it will prevent weakly birds from
eating, and hinder squeakers from learning to peck. A
simple trough, with a low cover over it, broader than
itself, and made steady by being fixed to two transverse
splines at each end, will prove really more useful than
many more elaborate pieces of mechanism.
If the pigeons are to be kept entirely confined in
their lofts, the nests should be supplied with a little
short straw in each; but if they are to be flown, and
twigs and straws are at hand, it is better to leave them
to make the nests themselves. This indulgence will
allow them to exhibit a very curious habit. Just at the
time of hatching, the cock bird brings new materials to
the nest, to increase the accommodation for his two little
new-comers; so that if a pair are known to be sitting,
and the cock is observed to fly up to the loft with sticks
and straws in his bill, it is a sure sign that hatching is
about to take place. The intention is probably to keep
the young squabs from contact with their own accumu-
lated dung; otherwise it is very apt to clog their feet,
and hang to each claw in hardened pellets. The same
thing often happens to adult birds that are closely caged.
The pellets should be removed by splitting them with a
penknife-; but it is best done by two operators, one to
hold the bird. A single operator is apt to squeeze the
patient when it struggles; and a hard nip, or tight pres-
sure on the chest, is likely to prove suddenly fatal.
Pigeons are amongst those creatures which come into
the world in a very rudimentary state ; a wise ordinance,
if we think for a moment. The very helplessness of the
young is a convenience to parents that are obliged to be
so much absent from home, and have to provide sus-
tenance for their offspring often by long flights.
Pigeons are thirsty creatures; they like the neigh-
bourhood of water, and seem heartily to enjoy the act of
drinking. This is performed by plunging the head in.
riUEONS.
37
nearly- up to tlie eyes, and taking a full draught at once,
instead of sipping, like cocks and hens. In incubating,
they will not sit, like hens, much beyond the proper
time; if the eggs turn out clear or addled, they will
soon desert them when they find that no squabs are
forthcoming. It is after the young have appeared that
the assiduity of the parents is most manifested. The
young ones are fed throughout with food previously
swallowed by the parents; they receive it with a flut-
tering of the wings and a low plaining note of hunger,
and even after they are full-grown, and can feed them-,
selves, they will often pursue their parents, squeaking
loudly, and begging to have a meal shaken into their
crop, without taking the trouble to pick it up them-
selves. Toung pigeons while confined to the nest, are
called " squabs; " when they leave it, and first begin to
flutter about the dovecot or the pigeon-loft, they are
styled " squeakers." The old birds frequently, from
some cause known only to themselves, seem to neglect
one of their offspring, not giving it an equal quantity of
food with the other one; nor does this neglected squab
reach the size of its companion (which far outstrips it in
growth) until it can feed itself. Sometimes one of the two
squabs is actually starved to death by the undue favour-
itism of the parents towards the other. It is worth
knowing, therefore, that squabs of about a fortnight old,
which can do without the soft or half-digested food, and
which chance to be neglected by their parents at that
sarly period of their existence, may often be reared
h/ mouth. The human nurse takes a small quantity of
peas or wheat, and water, into his mouth ; then, taking
the squab in hand, he inserts its bill into the mouth so
provisioned. After a trial or two, the young bird will
take its food in this manner as readily as if it were fed
1 " 1 1 1 J1 progress till it is able
88
PIGEOSS.
EGGS OE PIGEONS.
The eggs of the different breeds of domestic pigeons
are much less dissimilar than those of fowls. They vary
a little in size, but their shape and proportions are the
same. We have never seen a buff pigeon's egg of the
liue of those of the Malay or of the Cochin-China Fowl,
and not even a cream-coloured one. All the wild
pigeons' eggs, too, that we have had an opportunity of
inspecting, as well as those of the Collared Turtle, look
as if they were every one of them cast after the same
model. Those of the Ringdove are, however, more
blunt and rounded in shape than the eggs of the domes-
tic birds, and do not taper so much. It would be most
difficult, on being shown an egg of any of the pigeon
family, to pronounce by which species it had been laid.
We have never known the two eggs to produce a couple
of hen squabs, though we have frequently had instances
of the young birds proving both to be cocks; and this
may be discovered by the incessant bickerings they keep
up, at the time when they ought to be forming a quiet
matrimonial attachment. The young also of the dif-
ferent species vary very little at first.
FOOD.
The usual food given to domestic pigeons that are
Kept in lofts, is gray peas ; but they will also thrive on
wheat, barley, oats, buckwheat, and the smaller pulse
and grain. They are less partial to rye; but a great
point is to vary, or as some do, to mix their diet. Tares
or vetches are mostly too dear in England to feed them
with. The same may be said of rape-seed and canary.
Hemp-seed, so often recommended as a stimulant, is apt
to bring on skin disease, and to disfigure a bird by caus-
ing naked patches to appear; we, therefore, advise it to
be given rarely, and then with great caution, although
the birds are extremely fond of it. New tares are said
to bring on scouring, especially in young birds. Horse-
PIGEONS.
30
beans and Indian wheat are almost too large to give to
the smaller breeds of pigeons.
SERVICE THEY RENDER BY CONSUMING THE SEEDS
OE WEEDS.
All pigeons are fond of the seeds of many wild plants;
and there is no doubt that both the Blue Rock Dove and
the Dovehouse Pigeon render good service in preventing
the increase of weeds in those fields which they frequent.
They are most industrious in the zeal with which they
follow out this pursuit. In walking, or rather running,
in the fields in feeding, they sometimes aid their advance
by a flutter of the wings ; and in a flock of tame pigeons
feeding in a field, the hind ones may be observed every few
moments to fly over the rest, and take their places in
front, to have their turn of the best pickings, and this in
constant succession, as if the whole of the flock admitted
the right in each other, and claimed it individually for
themselves.
" At whatever time of the year you open a Dovehouse
Pigeon," says M. Beffroy, "whether in harvest or seed-
time, you will always find in its stomach at least eight
times the quantity of food consisting of the seeds of
weeds as of grain which has been cultivated for the use of
man. Moreover, the grain in its crop is almost always
injured grain. This bird, therefore, ought to be regarded
as the most efficient weeder the farmer can employ; for
it does not clear away the weeds themselves, often leaving
the roots remaining, as is so apt to occur with human
weeders, but it removes the very origin of weeds by pick-
ing up the seeds which come to the surface, as the different
ploughings succeed each other.
" The services which pigeons render in this respect are
so great, that in the canton of Dizy, in the Departement
de l'Aisne, where particularly fine, clean, and excellent
wheat is grown, a decrease in the number of pigeons kept
very soon caused itself to be felt. The land became
covered with weeds, which choked the crops; the straw
was thin and weak; the corn was light and deficient
40
PIGEOKB.
in plumpness; and it was difficult to bring the samples to
the state of cleanness which had once made it sought
after for seed-corn. The principal farmers made the same
remark. In taking the land from the seigneur at a quit-rent
(a cens), one of the clauses in the agreement was that the
seigneur of the territory should build a dovecot. The
condition was insisted upon, and fulfilled, in order to insure
the crops of the tenants ; and, in many places, dovecots
were built at a great expense. It has been remarked,
besides, that districts which are the most productive of
wheat, such as La Beauce, are those where there are the
greatest number of dovecots. Pigeons, moreover, will
not touch seed-corn which has been previously steeped
and rolled in lime."
As a proof how fond pigeons are of the seeds of weeds,
it is a great treat to them to throw out the rubbish, after
a threshing of wheat or barley is dressed, on some lawn,
or in some orchard, where it can do no harm by being
blown or carted upon the land again, instead of burning
it out of the way, as is the practice with many farmers.
The pigeons will search for days together amongst this
offal, after dross corn, poppy-seeds, charlock, and other
pests of the farm, and will get many a meal from the
minute tit-bits that would be utterly lost to cocks and
hens. Nor, as they do not scratch, are they injurious
in gardens, unless their little foot-prints be thought an
eyesore. They will not disturb anything which the gar-
dener has properly deposited in the ground; and what
they do pick up is what would otherwise be wasted.
SALT AMD LIME FOE PIGEONS TO EAT.
There are two luxuries of which pigeons are so fond,
that they will have them, whatever risk or trouble it may
cost to obtain them; and those are, salt and carbonate
of lime. Pigeons living within an easy distance from the
sea will obtain the former article by drinking hearty
draughts of salt water; in chalky countries, they pick up
the latter as it lies upon the ground, and will often swal-
low not a few small snails for the sake of the material
PIGEONS.
41
which composes their shells. Everywhere they get into
bad repute by pecking out the mortar from the roofs of
buildings. There can be no doubt that both these sub-
stances act medicinally upon the pigeon's constitution,
and are necessary to maintain them in health. The
wisest plan, therefore, is to provide them for them.
Pigeons are also extremely fond of certain high-flavoured
and odoriferous matters, which, though perhaps less
requisite than the former two, are hardly less attractive
to the birds. To gratify this natural craving, and fre-
quently to serve as a bait for other people's birds, pigeon-
fanciers prepare a composition which is called a salt-cat,
and which is so named, we are told, "from a certain
fabulous oral tradition of baking a cat, in the time of her
salaciousness, with cumin-seed and some other ingre-
dients." We give a prescription for making it, seeing
that it can do no harm. Those who keep pigeons will
find themselves obliged to provide something of the kind,
if only to prevent their birds from being enticed away to
other habitations, and detained. It will be seen that the
groundwork of the whole recipe is nothing more than
salt, calcareous earth, and aromatics which approach the
nature of stinks. Pigeons delight in them, nevertheless.
Eor instance, they are singularly fond of lavender. In
the southern departments of Prance, where that plant
grows wild, they break off the flower-stalks just above
the leaves and beneath the flowers, and garnish their
nests with them. Por people who possess an extensive
garden, it would be an easy, as well as a kind act of
attention, to supply their birds now and then with a
moderate quantity of this luxurious material for per-
fuming their nests.
SALT-CAT, OF VARIOUS KINDS.
One plan is, to lay near the pigeon-house a barrow-ful
of loam, reduced to the consistence of pap by mixing it
with water, or better, with old brine in which meat has
been pickled. Add to this a gallon and a half of the
coarsest sand, a peck of bay salt, and a little saltpetre.
42
PIGE0K8.
If the loam is beat up with water, it will require more
salt than when brine is used. If it is a good sandy loam,
less sand will answer the purpose. "Where loam cannot
be procured, clay will do; but then more sand will be
wanted. This mixture should be sheltered in some way
from the rain, at the same time that the pigeons have free
access to it. They will be found to enjoy it, and to be
pecking at it continually.
A second receipt is, to boil the head and feet of a goat
till the flesh and tendons drop from the bones. Remove
the bones, and boil what remains in the same liquor, till
the whole is reduced to a jelly. Then add a sufficiency of
potter's earth to bring the mess to theconsistencyof dough.
Knead it into small loaves, and dry them slowly in the sun,
or in an oven, taking care that they are not burnt. When
they are dry, place them in some convenient corner of the
pigeon-house; the pigeons will soon find them, and peck
at them till they are quite finished. Some make use of a
goat's head boiled in urine, with a mixture of salt, cu-
min, and hempseed. This is particularly agreeable to the
pigeons' taste. Others fry millet in honey, with the
addition of a little salt and water.
A salt-eat of high repute is made thus: Take sifted
gravel, brickmakers' earth or strong clay, and the rubbish
of an old wall, a peck.of each ; or, if you use lime instead
of rubbish, half the quantity will do. Add to these a
pound and a half of cumin-seed and a quarter of a pound
of bay-salt, or saltpetre. Let these ingredients be well
mixed together with as much stale urine as will make a
stiff cement. Then put the composition into old tin pots,
kettles, or stone jars, witli holes in the sides for the birds
to peck at it, and covered at the top to prevent dirt from
falling upon it.
We have found,.however, that for practical purposes it
is sufficient to strew the floor of" the pigeon-loft with old
mortar, and the lime-rubbish from dilapidated buildings,
which contains a salt little inferior to common saltpetre.
The pigeon-house, of whatever kind, should also contain
a vessel to hold salt, or a pigeon's salt-cellar. If the
PIGEONS.
43
pigeons are kept in lockers, or pole-houses, salt must still
be placed within their reach, and renewed as fast as it is
exhausted ; in such cases, it is not a bad plan to stick a
cake of salt, or a lump of rock-salt, against a wall at some
convenient spot. The pigeons will soon discover it and
eat it. For the interior of dovecots and pigeon-lofts, the
salt may be of any coarsely-granulated kind (that sold for
agricultural purposes answers very well), set down on the
floor in an earthen pan. It can be eaten more readily
than rock-salt, and is therefore more agreeable. Fanciers,
who are more superstitious than cleanly, and who believe
that there is some charm in the salt-cat (and there are
many such), are at liberty to prepare it according to the
most potent and the nastiest recipe; but we have found
by experience that common salt alone, in its natural
state, with plenty of old mortar strewed around, answers
every purpose of keeping the birds healthily contented
with their lot, and so have avoided handling ingredients
amongst which asafoetida is not the most disagreeable.
WATER SUPPLY.
In the case of dovecots, pole-houses, and lockers,
where the birds live in a state of complete freedom, there
will always be some pond or streamlet at hand, wherein
the birds can drink and bathe, which latter act is a source
of great enjoyment to them. We have often seen pigeons
in a shower of rain lift up their wing and expose their
whole side to the drops as they fell, for the sake of
the pleasure which the shower-bath gave them. In a
pigeon-loft, provision should be made for both these
requirements, because, in towns and crowded neighbour-
hoods, they can but rarely drink at ease out of doors,
and still more rarely bathe. Three or four times a week
in summer, and once or twice a week in winter, a large
flat pan should be placed in the middle of the floor of the
loft, and filled with water. In this they will play and
splash to such a degree, that a stranger to their habits
would almost think they were going to drown themselves.
The first-comers will soon dash all the water out, and it
44
riGEONS.
must be filled again, till every pigeon has had its turn,
and then removed and set on one side.
For drinking, it is of no use to leave any flat, shallow,
open vessel, because the contents would soon be emptied
in the way we have just described. There must be some
drinking-place into which they cannot get and dabble,
and whose shape insures its serving for drinking only.
Grood bottles for this purpose are the earthenware foun-
tain-bottles, resembling, on a larger scale, the glass foun-
tains which are fixed to birdcages, and holding two or
three quarts of water. Of these, almost every earthen-
ware and glass shop affords plenty ol choice. Mr. Baily,
the eminent poulterer, of Mount-street, Grrosvenor-square,
has invented a zinc fountain for fowls, pigeons, and lap-
dogs to drink from, which, by means of divisions at the
drinking-place, prevents the creatures from getting into
it, and in a great measure from throwing dirt and sand
into it. It is more expensive than the earthenware foun-
tains, but, upon trial, we have found it to answer its pur-
pose perfectly. Perhaps the best mode of supplying
pigeons in a loft with water, is to invert a large glass
bottle, filled with water, and suspended in a frame, with
its mouth just touching a small shallow pan. So long as
there remains any water in the bottle, the pan will always
be filled, without ever running over. The plan was ori-
ginally recommended in the " Treatise," and we quote
the quaint sentences in which it is there described, hoping
that, without the aid of a woodcut, the reader will be able
to understand the principle of the contrivance.
" The water-bottle should be a large glass bottle with
a long neck, holding four or five gallons (the carboys in
which various fluids are received by dispensing chemists,
are very suitable for the purpose), and its belly made in
the form of an egg, to keep them from dunging on it; but
the shape is not material, as a piece of pasteboard, hung
by a string, at three or four inches above the bottle, will
always pi event that, by hindering them from settling*
thereon. This bottle should be placed upon a stand, or
three-footed stool, made hollow at top to receive the
PIGEONS.
45
belly, and let the mouth into a small pan; the water by
this means will gradually descend out of the mouth of the
bottle as the pigeons drink it, and be sweet and clean,
and always stop when the surface of the water meets with
the mouth of the bottle.
" The reason of which is evident; for the belly of the
bottle being entirely close at top, keeps off all the external
pressure of the atmosphere, which, pressing hard upon the
surface of the water in the pan, which is contiguous to
that in the bottle, is too potent for the small quantity of
air which is conveyed into the belly of the bottle wi^h
the water, and which, consequently, as being the lighter
matter, rises to the top of the bottle, as it stands in its
proper situation; but the water being sucked away by the
pigeons, that it no longer toucheth the mouth of the
bottle, the confined air exerts its power, and causeth the
water to descend till they become contiguous as before."
MATING-CAGES.
It is a great advantage to pigeon-fanciers, and enables
them to keep several different kinds in the same loft
without their intermixing, that when a pair of young
pigeons have once formed a mutual attachment and reared
young together, the union lasts for life. So long as they
both continue in good health, they will go on producing a
pure-bred offspring together, even though pigeons of
other breeds are their daily companions. Sometimes,
however, one of the pair may be lost or killed, and it will
be desirable to provide the widowed bird with a suitable
mate. Sometimes a fancier may chance to purchase a
single bird of unusual value or beauty, and may wish to
unite it with some one which he already has in his pos-
session. In the former case, we generally allowed our
birds to please themselves; if they paired with another
single bird of a different variety, it was of little con-
sequence, as the cross-bred produce which resulted was
always both acceptable to eat and interesting to observe
as to the different degrees of resemblance which they
bore to their respective parents. But when it is neces-
46
PIGEONS.
sary to keep up a choice breed, birds must be made to
mate as we wish them.
As this contingency will always be occurring, an indie-
pen sable requisite to a pigeon-loft will be, matching-places
or mating-cages. It is better that they should be not in
the loft itself, but in some apartment contiguous to it, in
order that the birds to be coupled together may see no
other individuals of their species but themselves. If
either one or both of the birds has to be divorced from a
former mate, that mate or mates must be killed or sent
away beyond the power of return, otherwise they will be
very apt to go back to their first love, causing the new
union to be of but short duration. The time which it
takes to make pigeons transfer their affections to a strange
mate varies considerably; sometimes they will pair in
four-and-twenty hours, and commence building imtne-
diately afterwards; and sometimes they will fight and
quarrel for several days together, before coming to an
understanding. The larger pigeons, as the Powters and
the Punts, often have fierce engagements, dealing each
other severe swan-like blows with the wing for an hour
together. And in their wing-to-wing engagements, the
younger* cocks generally succeed in mastering the older
ones. "With pigeons, if the cock is not a bit of a tyrant,
the hen is apt to be an indomitable vixen. " Not with-
standing they are very constant," says the " Treatise,"
" when paired to each other, seldom parting, except when
either of them grows sick or very old, yet 'tis difficult to
make them pair to one's mind. Therefore, to oblige them
to this, there should be two coops erected, called by the
fanciers matching-places, close together, with a lath par-
tition between them, that they may see each other, and
should be so contrived that they may both eat and drink
out of the same vessels, feeding them often with hempseed
[Be sparing of this], which makes them salacious ; and
when you observe the hen to sweep her tail to the cock,
as she plays in the other pen, which is termed showing,
you may put her in to him, and they will soon be matcned.
But if, for want of this convenience,, you are obliged, at
PIGEONS.
47
first, to put them both into one coop, always put the cock
in first for a few days, that he may be the master of the
place, especially if the hen be a virago, otherwise they will
fight so much as perhaps may settle in them an absolute
aversion for ever after. But the cock, being master, will
beat the hen, if refractory, into compliance." As soon
as the pigeons give proofs that they are really mated, they
may have the range of the pigeon-loft once more, always
supposing that any former object of attachment has been
banished for life. If it be desired to make them fix upon
any particular nesting-place, they may be kept in a tern-
porary lath cage, hung in front of it, and communicating
with it; in a few days they will take to the place and
settle in it, and then the cage may be removed entirely.
It has been observed, that when a hen pigeon loses her
mate by death or accident, she generally goes off and is
lost to her owner, unless a husband be quickly supplied
(though in such cases two hens will sometimes mate
together) ; but if the cock is the survivor, he will soon
provide himself a mate from some other quarter, though
not always perhaps to the taste of his master.
HOW TO COMMENCE PIGEON-KEEPING.
Supposing, then, that the pigeon-loft is conveniently
fitted up with all the necessary fixtures and furniture, and
only awaits a colony to inhabit it, the next step is, not
merely to furnish it with a well-selected and sufficient
population, but (which is the great difficulty) to settle the
new arrivals in a state of contentment with their fresh
locality. The former object can be obtained by money ;
success in the latter demands something more, which
money alone will not buy. With all other poultry, it is
enough to get them home, feed them, and leave them to
inspect their new master's premises at their uncontrolled
leisure. Not so with pigeons. Bring a score of fine
birds to your comfortable loft; give them all the peas,
and water, and salt, they can wish for; let them out at the
48
PIGEONS.
end of a day or two, and the chances are, that in a few
hours they will all have disappeared, never to be caught
sight of by you again. Pigeons must be made to form a
strong and permanent attachment to their home, before
they can be safely trusted with liberty. , One great
inducement to them to stay where they may happen to
be brought to, is to find themselves in the midst of an
old-established and numerous society ; for though mono-
gamous, or restricting themselves to one single' mate, they
are eminently social. But the founder of a new settlement
of pigeons in a newly-built pigeon-house is not possessed
of this means of temptation wherewith to allure strangers.
Even a single pair inhabiting an old-accustomed loft, and
giving it the air of being in the habit of receiving com-
pany, would make a great difference in this respect. We
would advise that the first few pairs of pigeons that are
brought to stock a bran-new loft be only of common and
inexpensive breeds, whether young or old birds be selected
for the purpose. If they abscond, the loss will be of no
great consequence ; but if they remain, steadily and satis-
factorily, they will serve as the nucleus of a pigeon society,
and may often be made the foster-parents of more valuable
birds, whose eggs can be substituted for their own. Many
dealers and amateurs are willing to part with the eggs of
choice Tumblers, Powters, and Carriers, which may be
hatched and brought up by inferior breeds.
It is not an unusual plan to clip the feathers of one
wing, with newly-purchased birds, on turning them into
the loft, in the expectation that the interval between that
time and their next moult will be sufficient to reconcile
them to a strange home, especially if they can be induced
to breed meanwhile. But the operation does not always
answer in the end. Some birds, as soon as they regain
their powers of flight, start off, taking away perhaps a
companion or two with them, in search of their old haunts.
And besides that a clipped-wing pigeon is an uncomfort-
able sight, the stumps of the cut feathers often cause
serious injury. They do not drop so readily as whole
feathers, from their attachment to the skin, when the
PIGEONS.
49
moulting season arrives; inflammation ensues, disease
follows, ana one bird sometimes even dies in consequence.
As soon as anything of the kind is perceived, in clipped-
winged birds, the best plan is to pluck out every remain-
ing stump by hand.
If a dealer could warrant that his adult birds of choice
breeds had never been floum, but had been kept incarce-
rated from the moment of their sprawling out of the
divided egg-shell,—a warrant which he can but rarely give
with satisfaction to his own mind,—then the purchaser
might safely keep them at home just for a few days, and
afterwards let them out with but little fear of their
leaving him. But it is a rare case to be able to place any
such dependence on new-bought pigeons. Whether they
go back to their old home, or whether they simply get
strayed an (J lost, the disappointment is the same to him
who wishes to retain them. The safest way to stock an
unpeopled loft, in which the birds are intended to be
allowed any degree of liberty in the open air, is to pro-
cure, by ordering them beforehand, several pairs of the
young birds of the sorts required, as soon as they are able
to peck for themselves, i.e. at about five weeks old. They
will be better removed even earlier to their new home, if
the trouble of feeding them by mouth and hand be not
objected to. Such colonists as these will take to their
settlement without giving much trouble. Still it will be
wise to keep them shut up till they have laid their first
couple of eggs. The great fear of losing them before
that event is, that they are apt to be decoyed away by
older birds in the neighbourhood, before they have fairly
mated, and have become fully conscious that an hide-
pendent home of their own is desirable.
Such young birds, if taken in couples from the same
hatchii^g by the same parents, will generally turn out male
and female, and little trouble need be taken to ascertain
their sex at the time of purchasing them. When a pair
of pigeons rear only one young one, it generally turns
out to be a cock; when they bring up two, the largest
usually proves a cock, and the one which squeaks longest,
K
50
PIGEOXS.
a female. In adult birds, the male is known by his larger
size, his brighter colours, particularly in the glancing hues
around his neck, by the greater inflation of the crop, his
longer and louder coo, his pursuit of the hen from place
to place, and by his turning half or three-quarters "round,
backwards and forwards, like a weathercock veering on its
pivot, while he is paying his court and uttering his coo.
DISEASES.
"We say little about diseases here, partly because they
are incidentally mentioned, and will mostly be prevented
by observing the rules we give ; and partly because the
really serious maladies to which pigeons are liable, are so
deep-seated, obstinate, and difficult to cure, that the
invalid is better killed out of the way . Moulting, which
is only the natural function of renewing their plumage,
has been classed among the list of diseases. If a bird is
observed to suffer unusually, the best plan is to take it
in, hand and examine it, to see whether there are any
stumps of broken feathers, which the patient cannot
disengage from its skin. If so, they must be carefully
drawn, one by one; give plenty of good (not oily) food,
supply the bird with the means of bathing and dusting,
let it enjoy warm shelter, and it will be speedily cured.
Canker, which is an unsightly scabbiness and nakedness
of the skin, and which is attributed often to the pecking
of ihe cocks, or to drinking out of a metal vessel, is,
according to our own experience, frequently brought on
by an undue proportion of oily diet, such as hemp, rape,
poppy, &c. Abstinence and exercise are the best reme-
dies; but it is an obstinate complaint, and can rarely be
cured before the moulting-season, and frequentlv not
then. If the skin on the naked patch be broken, it may
be dusted with a little flour. Skin disease in pigeons is
as difficult to treat as in the human subject. ' Vertigo, if
not curable by air and exercise in a few days, ought to
condemn a bird to death. The same of any eruption or
PIGEOJTS.
51
pustular disorder. The internal weaknesses known
amongst the fancy as gizzard-fallen, navel-fallen, and
other indescribable intestinal disorders, show so great a
weakness of constitution, that no one would care to keep
such birds, even after they seemed to be perfectly
recovered.
CHOICE OF SORT.
The reader may be disposed to ask, which is the most
advisable sort of pigeon to keep ; to which we reply, that
tastes differ. Please yourself, without consulting others.
Nuns and Archangels are to be recommended for their
beauty, Tumblers for their performances, and Pantails
for their oddity. If handsome, court-yard, table-birds
are desired, we should be much disposed to recommend
the larger breeds, such as Trumpeters, Runts, or even
Antwerp Carriers, though most pigeon-keepers would
think it a sin to kill and eat the young of the latter.
Runts, for some reason which is not very clear, are held
in but little esteem in England. Fanciers disregard
them because they are neither elegant in shape, beauti-
ful in feather, nor pleasing in flight. Their size ought
to recommend them for economical purposes; and
although our climate is less favourable to their profitable
increase than their native birthplace, the shores of the
Mediterranean, still, warm housing and attention will in
a great measure make up for the deficiency. Their
great bulk makes them remarkable ornaments to the
aviary, and their history, as far as we can guess at it,
ought to attract the attention of the naturalist. There
does not appear to be any great distinction between the
Leghorn, Spanish, and Roman Runts. Some of the
latter are so big and heavy, that they can hardly fly;
which circumstance, if not the result of domestication,
would account for their disappearance in a wild state.
52
PIGEONS.
YOUNG PIGEONS POE EATING.—HOW TO PATTEN THEM.
To have good pigeons on the table, one ought not to
wait till they can feed themselves alone, because just at
that time they begin to grow lean, their flesh loses the
tenderness and delicacy which characterize the young of
dovehouse pigeons. The time to kill them is when they
are about a month old, just before they leave the nest.
Then they are good. But if first-rate pigeons are
required, the following mode of fattening is recom-
mende.d:—
"When the squabs are about eighteen or nineteen days
old, and their wing-feathers begin to sprout, take them
out of the dovehouse, and place them in a nest in
another room, covering them with a basket on an in-
verted hamper, which will keep out the light and yet
leave a free passage for air. It is well known that all
animals which are to be fattened artificially, ought to be
kept in the dark. Have ready a quantity of maize which
has been steeped in water four-and-twenty hours. Twice
a day, namely, early in the morning and in the evening
before nightfall, take each squeaker out of the nest, open
its bill dexterously, and at each meal cause it to swallow,
according to its breed and size, from fifty up to eighty,
and even a hundred grains of steeped maiae. Continue
this treatment for ten days or a fortnight, and you will
have pigeons as fat as the very best poultry. The only
difference will be in their colour.
THE ADVANTAGE OP TWO DOVECOTS ON THE HAUTE
ESTATE.
Olivier de Serres gives a valuable hint that the way to
have an abundance of young pigeons for the table, is to
build two dovecots; one out in the open fields, the
other at home in the poultry-yard. The two different
habitations will, between them, supply a numerous pro-
duce: for to give pigeons the means of shifting their
dwelling whenever they please, and of interchanging visits.
Runt, p. 5"5.
PIGEONS.
53
is the very best way to make them multiply. So much
so, that a couple oi dovecots, in close neighbourhood
together, will give more young pigeons than will be ob-
tained from four pigeon-houses that are situated at con-
siderable distances apart.
In describing the different varieties of Fancy Pigeons,
we propose to take them in the following order:—
1. Fantails. 2. Runts. 3. Trumpeters. 4. Arch-
angels. 5. Nuns. 6. Jacobins. 7. Turbits. 8. Barbs.
9. Tumblers. 10. Bald Pates. 11. Powters. 12. Car-
riers. 13. Lace Pigeons. 14. Frizzled Pigeons.
Fanta.il Figeons are so named in consequence of having
their tail furnished with so great a number of additional
feathers as to give it the appearance of an outspread fan
nearly bent double into a hollow form. The more fea-
thers a bird has in its tail, the more valuable a specimen
it is. The number varies fi ' J '
Faon, or Peacock Pigeon; but the comparison is unfor-
tunate, and is founded on an error. " It is so named,"
says M. Temminck, " because it has the faculty of erecting
and displaying its tail nearly in the same way in which
the Peacock raises and expands his dorsal feathers. This ,
race might also be called Figeons Dindons, or Turkey
Pigeons, their caudal feathers being also placed on an
erector muscle capable of contraction and extension at
pleasure." M. Temminck is mistaken here. The tail of
the Fantail is always expanded and displayed; and when
other domestic pigeons ao spread their tail in the actions
of courtship, it is brought downwards, so as to sweep the
ground like a stiff train, not upwards like the Turkey or
the Peafowl.
" These pigeons," he adds, " are not much sought by
amateurs; they seldom quit the precincts of their
aviary; apparently the fear of being carried away by the
wind (which, acting forcibly upon the broad tail, would
infallibly upset them), is the reason whv they do not
VAEIETIES OP THE DOMESTIC PIGEON.
and-thirty. The French
54
PIGE0W8.
venture far from their domicile, nor undertake long
journeys. Lastly, these pigeons, which cannot by their
own powers travel far, have been transported to a great
distance by man; perhaps, even, they are not natives of
our climate, for many doubts arise against their specific
identity with the wild Hock Dove. Striking characters,
such as the number of tail-feathers, do not permit us to
consider the wild Bock Dove as the type of the Fantail
Pigeons."
But Fantails are by no means the miserable and de-
graded monsters that Temminck and many other writers
would induce us to believe them to be. They may be,
and often are, closely kept in cages, or dealers' pens, till
they are cramped and out of health. The most robust
wild pigeon would become so under the same circum-
stances. But if fairly used, they are respectably vigor-
ous. It is a mistake to suppose that they are deficient
in power of flight, unless their muscles have been en-
feebled by long incarceration. Their tail is not so much
in their way as the train of the Peacock. It is true that
it consists, or ought to consist according to the fancier's
rule, of three times the number of feathers which other
pigeons can boast of; but it is an excellent aerial rudder
notwithstanding. Like other pigeons, Fantails, if taken
from home, will attempt to fly back to it again; and
their qualifications as parents and nurses are far from
being despicable.
These birds, "Willughby tells us, are called Broad-tailed
Shakers, and the name is adopted in most of the treatises
on Fancy Pigeons, though seldom made use of by
fanciers. " Shakers," he accurately says, " because they
do almost constantly shake, or wag their heads and necks
up and down; Broad-tailed, from the great number of
J_I i ji _• j._M JI J o
do for the most part hold their tails erect like a Sen or
Turkey-cock."
The Narrow-tailed Shakers of the Pigeon-books are
nothing more than imperfect Fantails, either in conse-
S»IGEONS.
quence of cross-breeding, or from a tempoA
during one generation, of part of the hereditaV
liarity of the race. "When Fantails breed witn\
pigeons, in the offspring sometimes the fantaii eik
disappears, sometimes a half-fantail remains, wy
"would be a Narrow-tailed Shaker. Cases have occurs
in which, by coupling a true Fantaii with such a bird\
the last-mentioned, the pure race was re-established.
Pigeons generally can bear long fasts, and perform
long journeys better than common fowls. Their tena-
city of life under starvation is considerable. As an
instance, an amateur had a white Fantaii Pigeon which
lived nine years, and died at last almost blind with old
age. But the most curious thing which ever happened
to her is, that she fell down a hothouse-chimney, and
then walked along about sixty feet of the flue, that was
nearly choked up with soot, before she got into the fur-
nace, in which there luckily was no fire. The door hap-
pened to be shut, and poor old Fanny lived there five
days without food before her prison-door happened to be
opened. When at last she came forth, instead of being
milk white, she was all dingy, like a blackamoor. In
another case reported to us on good authority, a Carrier
Pigeon was shut up in a basket, and then forgotten for
eleven days. By mere accident, the basket was opened,
and the bird discovered. It was carefully nursed, and
recovered eventually from the effects of the extraor-
dinary fast it had undergone.
Fantails are mostly of a pure snowy white, which, with
their peculiar carriage, gives them some resemblance to
miniature swans. Their neck is long and taper, and
curved into a serpentine form. From the very backward
position in which their head is held, it often touches
the tail, and even is thrust behind it occasionally. The
more this peculiar mode of strutting is exaggerated, the
more valuable the bird is considered to be. Itarely,
Fantails are quite black -or slate-colour, and also yellow;
now and then they are seen white, with slate-coloured
patches on the shoulders, like- Turbits. Fanta^ have a
PIGEONS.
rery short beak, and are exceedingly full-breasted. The
most singular habit which they have, is the trembling
motion of the throat, which seems to be caused by excite-
ment in the bird. The same action is observed in the
Hunts, in a Jess degree. The iris of the Fantail is of a
dark hazel, the pupil black, which gives to the eye a
fulness of expression quite different to what is seen in
most other birds. Colonel Sykes, in the Transactions of
the Zoological Society, makes the colour of the iris an
important guide in determining the affinities or dissimi-
larities of species, believing it occasionally to manifest
even generic distinctions. Now amongst fancy pigeons
the iris varies greatly, and is thought of much conse-
quence, as is known to every amateur. The cere at the
base of the Fan tail's bill looks as if covered with a white
powder.
The jRunts are by far the largest and heaviest race of
domestic pigeons, and are less known and cultivated in
this country than they deserve to be, mainly because
their powers of flight are not such as to afford much
amusement to the amateur. A pair of good Hunts will
weigh two pounds and a half, or more. There are Leg-
horn Hunts, Homan Hunts, and Spanish Hunts ; but the
truth is, that Hunts of various breeds are to be found all
along the shores of the Mediterranean. The most re-
markable point respecting them is their extreme anti-
quity. Pliny and other Homan writers make frequent
mention of them, as Campanian Pigeons. The English
name Hunt is probably a corruption of the Italian
Tr^nfo. "Willughby calls it " the greater tame pigeon."
If placed in favourable circumstances, Hunts are very
prolific birds. Twelve young ones in the course of the
season is not an uncommon produce for a single pair.
Their heaviness unfits them for being the occupants of
ordinary dovecots ; they have a difficulty in flying up to
any height, and are therefore best accommodated in a
low house or nesting-place, raised only a few feet from
the ground. Many a rabbit-hutch would be very easily
convertible into a convenient Hunt-locker, where the
PIGEONS.
57
birds might be petted, and wherein they would bring
forth abundantly. The Runts prefer walking and rest-
ing on the ground, to perching on buildings, or strutting
on roofs. Hence Buffon very properly calls them Pigeons
Mondains, which we might English by applying to then?
the designation of Ground Doves, were not that tern
already appropriated by a family of wild foreign pigeons.
The eggs of Runts are much larger than those of other
breeds. Buffon truly says that the mondains are nearly
as big as little hens. "We are told of one bird fatted up
to the weight of two pounds eight ounces.
Runts vary in colour, also in having feet feathered or
not, and somewhat in bulk; but the limits of their
variations are not hard for the experienced eye to detect,
though not easy to describe. A marked characteristic is
the way in which they carry their tail, holding it up
ordinarily above the tips of the wings, which some have
compared to the gait of a duck. In Runts, the principal
standard of merit is weight; they are short-necked and
very broad-chested. They prove themselves excellent
nurses, if accommodated with a nesting-place suited to
their habits ; and we believe that the want of being pro-
vided with that, is the sole cause why they have failed
with some breeders, and that it has been recommended
to take their eggs or young from them to be brought up
by other pigeons. Eulness of the cere at the base of
the bill, terrestrial habits of life, and plumpness and
inactivity of body, are among their principal character-
istics. Their prevailing colours are shades of brown,
light slate-colour, and white; cinnamon-colour and very
dark slate are favourite tints with amateurs. The cooing
of Runts is less distinct than in other breeds, having a
sort of muffled sound. They tremble when excited,
though not so much as the Fantails. Many travellers in
Italy have noticed, with retrospective relish, the size and
flavour of these excellent birds, which attain there not
only great magnitude, but for pigeons a very unusual
degree of fatness. English sailors who go to the Medi-
terranean, are very fond of buying Runts at the ports
68
PIGEONS.
they visit. They are great pets on board ship; they
breed there in lockers and hencoops, and are sometimes
allowed their liberty, and permitted to fly round about
the vessel while she is pursuing her course on a fine
day. If the breeze is but steady, they get on very well,
and enjoy themselves as much as they would in calm
weather on shore. Squally weather would be their rum ;
and then they are kept safe within-doors.
Notwithstanding the disproportion of size and incom
gruity of habits, Runts breed freely with other domestic
pigeons, and the half-breds are so excellent for the table,
that in many situations it is well worth while rearing
them with that object in view.
The Trumpeter, in the language of fanciers, is very
runtishly made, and nearly allied to that race of birds.
It is considerably larger than the Dovehouse Pigeon, and
approaches to the Runt in size. Trumpeters are very
prolific, good nurses, and fatten well for the table; they
are therefore a desirable breed to keep, if merely for
that purpose, without any reference to their curious
appearance. They have one great advantage over Runts,
in being better flyers, and more able to save themselves
out of harm's way, as from the clutches of a cat, a rat,
or a dog.
The most usual colour of Trumpeters is pure white,
though they are often found mottled with black and
white in so regular and even a manner, almost every
alternate feather contrasting in colour, as to give their
plumage the general effect of a chessboard, or a black and
white marble pavement. Their most distinguishing
characteristic is the tuft of feathers which sprouts from
the root of the beak; and the larger this tuft grows, the
greater is the value set upon the bird. A well-grown
moustache is the point which the amateur is advised
most strongly to insist upon. It has a helmet-like turn
of feathers at the back of the head, and should be very
feather-footed and legged) or booted as we might call it.
This soldier-like appearance and fierce military air, while
cooing before its mate, probably suggested the appella-
PIGEONS.
59
fcion of Trumpeter,—unless that name is another corrup-
tion of the Italian Tronfo. The trumpetings, however,
are much exaggerated in the printed descriptions. They
differ very little from the cooing of other Eunts : perhaps
the inspiration of the end of the coo may be a little more
sonorous. Good Trumpeters are not common in England ;
they are much more frequent on the continent; but there
little pains is taken to pair them properly, and numerous
half-breds are the result. The Trumpeter is one of the
" pearl-eyed " pigeons ; that is, its iris is delicately shaded
with pink ; it is also one of the breeds which are deno-
minated " Toys " by old-fashioned fanciers.
The Archangel Pigeon is both rich and unique in its
colouring. The head, neck, and fore part of the back and
body, are chestnut, or copper-colour, with changeable hues
in different lights. The tail, wings, and hinder parts of
the body, are a sort of blue-black; but many of the
feathers on the back and shoulders are metallic and iri-
descent—a peculiaritynot usual in other domestic pigeons.
The chestnut and blue-black portions of the bird do not
terminate abruptly, but are gently shaded into each other.
There is a darker bar at the end of the tail. The iris is
very bright orange-red ; the feet clean and unfeathered,
and bright red. Archangel pigeons have a turn of
feathers at the back of the head very similar to that of
fhe Trumpeter, or to Aldrovandi's woodcuts of his
Colvmba cypria. It is the colouring rather than the form
which so specially distinguishes them. Their size is very
much that of the Eock Dove. Neither the older orni-
thologists nor the pigeon-books (with the exception of the
"Dovecot") furnish any hint of Archangel pigeons, that
we have been able to find. They are sufficiently prolific
to be kept as stock birds, and a flight of them is a par-
ticularly beautiful object; but they are at present too
valuable, either as presents or for exchange and sale, to
be consigned to the hands of the cook. Still it is with
the higher rather than the lower class of pigeon-fanciers
that they are in much request, in spite of the bright and
glowing hues with which their plumage is adorned.
60
PIGEONS.
Their name is probably derived from their having been
originally brought to us from the RussiaD port, or vid
Archangel from some other quarter, as Tartary, India, or
the Chinese empire.
The Nun is perhaps the very prettiest and most striking
of the Toy pigeons. It is smaller in size, but resembles
the Trumpeter in having a tuft of feathers rising from
the back of the head, and bending forwards, like a hood
thrown a little back. The small bill and pearl eye of this
bird also add to the neatness of its appearance. Their
colouring is various, but in all the varieties is strongly con-
trasted. In almost all cases the body is white, while the
head, tail, and the six flight-feathers of the wings are
either black, red, or yellow; and they are consequently
styled black-headed, red-headed, or yellow-headed Nuns.
The colour of the tail and the flight-feathers must cor-
respond with the colour of the head in the same indi-
vidual. "Whenever the colour of the feathers differs from
these rules, or there is a white feather in the wings, tail,
or head, or a dark feather on the body of the bird, it ren-
ders it what is called foul-feathered, and is a great blemish
and drawback from its value.
"The most beautiful specimens of Nuns," says Tern-
minck, " are those which are black, but have the quill-
feathers and the head white: they are called Nonnains
Maurins." We have never been so fortunate as to see
any birds of this kind, and believe them to be of great
rarity. But the most usual sort—and exceedingly charm-
ing birds they are—are what Buffon styles Coquille Sol-
lemdaise, or Dutch Shell-pigeons, " because they have, at
the back of their head, reversed feathers, which form a
sort of shell. They are also of short stature. They have
the head black, the tail and the ends of the wings also
black, and all the rest of the body white. This black-
headed variety so strongly resembles the Tern (hirondetle
de mer), that some persons have given it that name."
Several other fanciful names have been bestowed upon it
in former times and in foreign countries, but none appears
so appropriate as that of Nun, especially in the black-
Nuns, p. 60.
Jacobins, p. 61.
PIGEONS.
61
headed variety. The best-marked birds will sometimes
throw out a few foul feathers; and those that do so but in
S small degree, though not so muoh valued in themselves,
will often breed as clean-feathered birds as those that are
not.
The flight of Nuns is bold and graceful; they are very
fairly prolific, and by no means bad nurses. A peculiarity
in the new-hatched squabs of the blackheaded Nuns is,
that their feet are frequently, perhaps always, stained
with dark lead-colour. All the Nuns are great favourites,
except with those fanciers who are devoted to Tumblers
and Powters. A flock consisting entirely of the black-
headed sort has a very pleasing effect; but one contain-
ing individuals of all the procurable varieties of colour
(the arrangement of this on the birds, and their shape,
being exactly similar), would have a very charming
appearance.
" Jacobines," says "Willughby, " are called by the
Low Dutch Cappers, because in the hinder part of the
head, or nape of the neck, certain feathers reflected
upwards encompass the head behind, almost after the
fashion of a monk's hood, when he puts it back to
uncover his head. These are called Cyprus Pigeons by
Aldrovand, and some of them are rough-footed. Aldro-
vandus hath set forth three or four either species or acci-
dental varieties of this kind. Their bill is short; the
irides of their eyes of a pearl-colour, and the head in all
white."
Jacobine, Euffled Jack, Buff, Pigwn Carme, Columba
eucullata, and Capuchin, are names all applicable to the
same type of bird, however bred or crossed, and all
derived from some reference to ecclesiastical costume.
The Jacobines are about the most unproductive of our
pigeons ; they lay small eggs, which they incubate un-
steadily, and if they hatch them, nurse carelessly. It is
best to transfer their eggs to some more trustworthy
foster-parents. On account of this difficulty in rearing
them, good Jacobines are both scarce and dear. They
are included among the pigeons technically called " Toys
62
PIGEONS.
Tumblers, Powters, and Carriers being alone considered
worthy of the serious attention of fanciers.
The Jacobine has a range of feathers inverted quite
over the hinder part of the head, and reaching down on
each side of the neck to the shoulders of the wings,
forming a kind of hood, something like a Jacobine friar's,
from whence it takes the name. The upper part of this
range of feathers is therefore called the hood; and the
more compact these feathers are, and the closer they are
to the head, so much the more the bird is valued. The
lower part of this range of feathers is with us called the
chain, but the Dutch call it the cravat, the feathers
of which should be so long and close, that, were you to
strain the neck a little, by taking hold of the bill, the two
sides should fold over each other, which may be seen in
some of the best specimens. -Sometimes the pigeon-
dealers, it is said, cut a piece of skin out between the
throat and the chest, and sew it up again, by which means
the chain is drawn closer.
The Jacobine should have a very small head, with a
sudden rise at the forehead, and a spindle beak, the
shorter the better, and a pearl eye. "With regard to the
feather, there are various-coloured ones, such as reds,
blues, mottled, blacks, and yellows; the preference of
which seems to be given to the last-mentioned ; but what-
ever colour they are of, they should have a clean white
head, with white flight-feathers and a white tail. Some
of them have feathers on their legs and feet, others have
none; and both sorts are equally esteemed, according to
the taste of fanciers.
The Turbit is another of the small Toy Pigeons. Its
great peculiarity is, that the feathers on the breast open
and turn back both ways, standing out almost like a
fringe, or the frill of a shirt; the feathers arranged in
this unusual way are called the purle; and the handsomer
and more conspicuous the purle, the higher the value set
upon the bird. Their tail and the back of their wings
ought to be of one entire colour, as blue, black, or dun;
but in yellows and reds, the tails should be white; and
Almond Tumblers, p. 67.
PIGEONS,
63
those that are blue, should have black bars across the
wings; the flight-feathers, and all the rest of the body,
should be white. As Nuns are described according to
the colours of their heads, so Turbits are spoken o 'i with
reference to the colours of their shoulders: thus there are
black-shouldered, yellow-shoulderd, and blue-shouldered
Turbits : there are, however, whole-coloured Turbits, such
as entirely white, black, or blue. These are often known
as Owls; and whatever nice distinctions between Turbits
and Owls dealers may make, our eyes can perceive no
other difference than that just mentioned. All Turbits
and Owls ought to have a short round button head, and
a short beak like a partridge,—the shorter the better; on
which account this pigeon is called, by the Dutch, Cort-
beke, or Short-bill. The iris in the brown-shouldered
Turbit is dark hazel, surrounding a large black pupil;
and the attention of naturalists may be directed to the
similarity in the shape and air of the head in the Fantail,
the Jacobine, and the Turbit, all races with striking pecu-
liarities of plumage.
Several French writers have asserted the Turbit to be
the most distinct breed of all the races of domestic
pigeons, and to have greater claims than any of them to
be regarded as a separate species. Our own experience
and observations do not confirm this remark. It is just
as distinct, and no more so, as the other domestic breeds.
Whatever right they may be adjudged to have to specific
honours, the Turbit also has, but no greater. Temminck
complains of the difficulties which amateurs experience in
making them propagate with the other breeds of pigeons
which are supposed to be derived from the Blue llock
Dove; but cases are known in which the Turbit has
paired and bred with the Eock Dove itself. Instances
sometimes occur of sterile males among Turbits—a fact
which may have led Temminck to suppose that these birds
entertain some general aversion to the females of other
breeds; but like cases of infecundity occur with China
Ganders, and even with Turkey-cocks. Turbits, if the
faulty members of the family are rejected, are a satisfae-
64
PIGEONS.
torily prolific race. Buffon says of tlie Bigeon Oravafo,
or Turbit, that it is scarcely larger than a Turtle, and
that, by pairing them, hybrids are produced—a statement
which is quoted by Temminck. We can only observe,
that the Turbit Pigeon differs from the Turtle in one very
important point; its time of incubation is the same as
that of other domestic pigeons, whereas the Cellared
Turtle at least hatches in a much shorter period. It is
not easy to discover the meaning or the derivation of the
name by which this breed is known.
The Barb Pigeon, like the Barb horse, derives its name
from Barbary, in Africa. It is an elegant little bird, very
quiet and demure in its appearance, and yet full of fun
and activity. Its chief characteristic is a naked, wrinkled,
red skin round the eye, which books say, most likely with
truth, increases till the individual is four years old.
Pigeons improve much, both in appearance and in con-
stitutional powers, with age. They live, we believe, and
continue fertile much longer than is generally imagined.
Many young pairs of pigeons are condemned because
their owners do not exercise sufficient patience with
them ; and, from their peculiar habit of attaching them-
selves to one fixed home, to which they will return at all
hazards, if they can, it is not easy to possess a good stock
of birds (unless by buying them and retaining them in
constant confinement) without passing through this pre-
liminary discipline of patient pigeon-feeding.
The best, though not the only colour for Barbs, is an
entire black. In such 11 ' '' 1 adings of the
round the eye forms a very handsome contrast. Dun-
coloured Barbs are also met with occasionally. Pied,
mottled, or fowl-feathered specimens, are held in but
little esteem. To this breed must also be referred the
Mahomet, or Mawmet Pigeon, as it is called. It is
clearly nothing but a white or cream-coloured Barb, with
a cross of the Turbit in many instances.
Barbs have a short beak, which is often compared to
that of the bullfinch, and a pearl eye. The rate at which
neck are particularly
scarlet circle
PIGEONS.
65
they breed is not to be complained of; and as to their
crossings with other breeds, the rule of the paramount
influence of the male, amongst pigeoni; seems to obtain
with these birds also.
"Tumblers," saith "Willughby, " are small, and of
divers colours. They have strange motions, turning
themselves backwards over their head, and show like
footballs in the air." The general characteristics of
Tumblers are, to be below the average size of pigeons,
to have a short body, a slender neck, a full breast, a
short round head, with the forehead rising perpendi-
cularly from the beak, a small spindle bill often com-
pared to that of a goldfinch, and a pearl eye. Tumblers
■with feathered feet and legs are not at all uncommon.
Those Tumblers which are self-coloured, or whole-
coloured, i.e., all black, or all cinnamon-colour, in various
shades, or all cream-colour, are called Kites: there are,
besides, various Splashes; as myrtle-splash, cinnamon-
splash, and others. The Tumbler is known in Trench as
the Pigeon culbutcmt, and in Latin as the Columba
gyratrix. Choice specimens of the Tumbler fetch high
prices, and are especial favourites with the pigeon fan-
cier; though even the common Kite, such as you would
buy for two or three shillings the pair, may boast of its
own intrinsic merits. Do you want a bird to eat P It
is as good as any; a merit, though an humble one. It
breeds as freely, and with as little trouble; and there is
nothing so neat and trim as it is among domestic birds,
not ever the most perfect of the Sebright Bantams. If
we look to its performances in the air, we must allow it
to be decidedly the most accomplished. member of the
aerial ballet. Pirouettes, capers, and tricks of agility, all
come equally easy to it in turn. Other pigeons, certainly,
can take any course in the air, from a straight line, that
would satisfy Euclid as being the shortest distance
between two points, to circles and ellipses that remind
us of the choreal orbits of the planets round the sun;
but the Tumbler, while it is rapidly wheeling past some
sjiarp corner, seems occasionally to tie a knot in the air
66
PIGEONS.
through mere fun; and in its descents from aloft, to
weave some intricate braid or whiplash. Tumbling in
the air, on the part of good Tumblers, is to themselves
an act of pleasure. They never do it unless they are in
good health and spirits: their best performances are
after being let out from a short confinement. The young
Tumbler, as soon as it has gained sufficient strength of
wing, finds out by chance that it can tumble; it is de-
lighted at the discovery, and goes on practising, till at
last it executes the revolution with satisfaction to itself.
Often and often the young Tumbler may be seen trying
to get over, but cannot nicely. The same firmness of
muscle and decision of mind are required to execute that
feat, which enable the leading men at Astley's to throw
their fortieth or fiftieth somerset backwards. Beginners
are incapable of such excellence.
Fanciers strongly advise not to keep any other sort of
pigeon in company with Tumblers, for fear of spoiling
their flight. The recommendation is a good one; be-
ca^se, while other pigeons ought to circle, or stretch
straight out, Tumblers ought to mount. High flying is
required of them ; their powers shbuld be directed to an
upward course. They should also keep close company
together. A few good birds that have been used to
high flying, will be serviceable in training the young
ones to be lofty soarers. Once a day is quite often
enough to allow them to take this exercise; and a clear
bright morning is the most suitable time. As soon as
they are all returned into the loft, the trap should be
shut for the rest of the day. It has been observed that
there are times when Tumblers will take a more extra-
ordinary flight than usual; when their young are about
half-reared, for instance, and the parents need no longer
concoct the food given them. Again, when swallows
and other birds are sporting in the upper regions of the
atmosphere, Tumblers will make extravagant flights,
both for height and length of time. On the other hand,
it is imprudent to let them out in foggy weather or
during a gale of wind. Many a valuable bird has been
PIGEONS.
67
lost in this way, and has been detained prisoner in a
trap which it had entered for temporary shelter.
The Almond Tumbler, or as some have it, the Ermme
Twmbler, is said to be the result of cross-breeding be-
tween the various Kites, such as blacks, whites, and
cinnamons, and the various Splashes, as myrtle-splash,
and cinnamon-splash. Their form is the same as in
other good Tumblers, but their colouring must be a
combination of at least three tints on each feather, if
possible, so as to give the idea of the petal of a well-
broken tulip, or a rich and polished fragment of breccia
marble. To obtain this, great patience is required; and
even to keep up a stock of good Almond Tumblers, con-
siderable experience and judgment are indispensable,
making the breeding of Almond Tumblers almost a study
and a fancy by itself. The birds themselves, it must be
confessed, are as curious as any of the domestic pigeons.
The more they are variegated in their flight and tail
feathers, especially if the ground is yellow, the greater is
the value set upon them. Birds with a fine bright yellow
ground have always the precedence of all other colours;
for twenty may be bred that are light-grounded, for one
deep ground; besides, the light-grounded ones are for
the most part wanting in yellow, both in the tail and
the flight feathers. By rejecting all foul-feathered birds,
and by judiciously mating the best-coloured individuals
together, Almond Tumblers have been brought to a state
which amateurs and fanciers pronounce to be " perfec-
tion." One writer boasts, " I have had some in my
collection that have had few feathers in them but what
have contained the three colours that constitute the
almond or ermine; namely, black, yellow, and white,
variously and richly interspersed. In short, their beauty
far surpasses all description, and nothing but the eye-
can convey a just idea of them."
Eor those who wish to possess the perfect tri-
coloured Almond Tumbler, it is better, in purchasing
young ones, not to form a judgment upon the birds
themselves, but, if it can be managed, to get a sight of
f 2
68
riGEONS.
the parents. For instance, the bill shrinks, that is,
hardens, for some weeks after the old ones have ceased
to feed them; and the harlequin's coat in which the
adults are clad, appears only very partially in early youth.
At the first moult, many of the diverse markings break
out for the first time, and Tumblers in general do not
attain their complete beauty till they are at least three
years old. "We have proved thus far by our own expe-
rience; but, what is very curious, it is stated on good
authority, that in the decline of life they gradually
decrease in splendour till they become sometimes merely
mottled, splashed, or even whole-colour, like vulgar kites.
It will be evident that all these intricate markings are
lost to the ey* unless the pigeon be kept to be looked at
in a loft, almost like a cage-bird, which it often is. We
would not express any opinion about tastes, so long
as they are innocent; but it will be perceived that, at
any distance from the eye, whole-coloured birds are by
far the most telling in a group, and the most ornamental,
when Tumblers are flown, and not mewed in a pigeon-
loft all their lives long. Almond Tumblers, however
beautiful near at hand, can only look dirt-coloured when
seen from any distance.
The most curious point about Almond Tumblers is the
form which some of them have been brought to attain ;
the whole thing, however, is very simple. The common
well-bred Tumbler, in its ordinary state, has a compact
little body, with a round head, a short beak, and neat
little feet. But this did not content some fanciers. By
pairing together birds in which these qualities were the
most exaggerated, they got bodies still more compact,
heads yet rounder, beaks shorter, and feet neater. It
was the breeder's art carried to the uttermost, but no
sample whatever of the creative power of man, as several
French naturalists chose to phrase it. As to the beaks,
do what the fancier would, they still were not small
enough to his liking, and then the penknife was brought
into play to pare them down below the standard. The
young of the birds so operated on had not, perhaps,
Carrier, p. 95.
PIGEONS.
68
smaller beaks than those originally possessed by their
parents; but still they sold, and that was enough. By
coupling the most monstrous individuals of a race, a
family of monsters were kept in existence for a time.
Tumblers have been bred with their beaks so small that
they cannot feed their own young, and with their frames
so compact that they cannot fly to the top of their
breeder's bedstead. They are called Tumblers only
. because they would tumble if they could fly. The varia-
tion of the species Tumbler has been pushed to its utmost
possible limits. Were the limit exceeded, the bird could
not be propagated, if it could exist at all.
Bald-pates, sometimes called Bald-pated or Bald-
headed Tumblers, are pleasing birds, with a very genuine
look about them. The character of the head much
resembles that of the Turbit and the Jacobine. Some
varieties have the dark hazel eye, others the pearl eye.
Their name is derived from their having usually the head,
tail, and flight-feathers white, and the rest of the body of
some uniform colour: those with slate-coloured bodies
are as pretty as any. Sometimes the arrangement of this
colouring is reversed; the body is white, and the head,
tail, and quills coloured ; they then answer to the descrip-
tion of a breed which is called the Helmet in most
pigeon-books. Nearly allied to the Bald-pates are the
pigeons which are called the Magpie and the Spot. The
former derives its name from the singular admixture of
colours which it exhibits, having the head, neck, body, and
tail dark, while the wings are white ; hence its supposed
resemblance to a magpie. The latter has a black spot on
the forehead and a black tail, with all the rest of its
plumage white.
Bald-pates and theip varieties are robust birds, of hand-
some appearance, good breeders, and sufficiently prolific
to be kept for table purposes. They are no novelty in
the pigeon world, having been described by the older
writers.
Powters are the rivals of the Tumblers in the eyes of
many fanciers; or rather, there are two classes of fanciers,
70
PIGEONS.
one of which is devoted to Powters, and the other to
Tumblers, while both look down upon a third set of
fanciers, whose taste specially leads them to the keeping
of Toys. The peculiar characteristic of Powters is the
size of their crop, which they are fond* of distending intc
a ball by inflating it with air. Hence, in many parts oi
England, they are called Croppers, which is not a vul
garism, but an old form of speech. " Croppers," sayw
"Willughby, " are so called because they can, and usually
do, by attracting the air, blow up their crops to that
strange bigness, that they exceed the bulk of the whole
body beside, and which, as they fly, and while they make
that murmuring noise, swell their throats to a great
bigness, and the bigger the better and more generous
they are esteemed." The hen Powter has also an inflated
crop like the male, the same in kind, though less in
degree. "When zealous fanciers want to form an opinion
of the merits of a Powter Pigeon, they inflate the crop
by applying the bird's mouth to their own, and blowing
into it, exactly as if they were filling a bladder with air,
till it is extended to the very utmost. Nor does the
patient seem in the least to dislike the operation, but the
contrary; and when set upon its legs, chokeful of wind,
it will endeavour to retain the charge as tightly as it can,
and appears actually to be pleased with, and proud of, the
enormity of the natural balloon which it carries about
with it. The only analogous case we are acquainted with
is the fish which blows itself out with air, and then floats
on the surface of the sea belly upwards. An over-
inflated Powter is, of course, in a comparatively helpless
state for the time being, and liable to accident; when
out of health, or satiated with food, his crop hangs loose
5ke an empty bag, and the bird does not show himself to
advantage. If, as some writers have held, the inflation
of the crop is the peculiar distinction of the pigeon,
Powters ought to stand at the head of the whole family
of Colwnbidee.
As Tumblers are noted for one peculiar mode of flight,
so Powters have theirs; and they are not considered
PIGEONS.
71
good birds unless' they execute it properly. After
" playing " a little while in front of their trap, they
ought to launch into the air, performing a number of
stately and dignified circles, clapping their wings loudly
immediately after their first starting. The inflated crop
ought not to be collapsed by the exertion of flying, but
should be seen moving through the air like a large per-
manent soap-bubble, with a body and wings attached to
it. Other pigeons will indulge in the same noisy action
to a less degree^ but Powters are especially expected to
be clappers; and hence we believe the Smiters of Wil
lughby and other writers to be only a synonyme of the
present kind, or some of its varieties. He says: "I
take these to be those which the forementioned Hollander
told Aldrovandus that his countrymen called Draiiers.
These do not only shake their wings as they fly, but also,
flying round about in a ring, especially over their females,
clap them so strongly, that they make a greater sound
than two battledores or other boards struck one against
another. Whence it comes to pass that their quill-feathers
are almost always broken and shattered, and sometimes
so bad that they cannot fly." Smiters and croppers, or
something very like them, must have been known and
kept so long back even as Pliny's time. His words are :
"You would think they were conscious of their own
colours, and the variety with which they are disposed;
nay, they even attempt to make their flight a means of
clapping in the air, and tracing various courses in it.
By which ostentation they are betrayed to the power of
the hawk, as if bound, their feathers being entangled in
the action of making the noise, which is produced only by
the actual shoulders of their wings."
Panciers who, through fear of accident, keep their
birds constantly confined in a loft, lose all the amuse-
ment to be derived from the flight of Powters, and are
obliged to content themselves with their carriage and
play. But Powters have considerable powers of wing, as
weU as hardiness and memory of their home. The
Powting Horseman, a cross between the Powter and the
72
PIGEONS.
Antwerp Carrier, has gained great favour by its habit of
frequently dashing off, and acting as a decoy for stray
pigeons that have missed their way home—" a pleasing
satisfaction to those who delight in the flying fancy
and there are instances of their returning home from sc
great a distance as twenty miles.
A pair of pigeons of the Cropper kind were given to
an amateur by a friend, and were confined about a
month, with the view of breaking off the thoughts of their
former home; but, as soon as they had their liberty, they
flew towards their old habitation. The hen arrived imme-
diately; but, strange to say, her mate did not till two
years afterwards. No doubt he was trapped, and re-
mained in confinement during the whole of that time.
The distance to their old home was no more than four
miles and a half; but what seems curious is, that a
pigeon should recollect his home after two years'
absence.
The carriage of the Powter is a great point to be
attended to. He ought to walk upright, almost like a
man; he must, therefore, be kept in a lofty coop,, to
avoid getting a habit of stooping. In the language of
the fancy, the Powter should play erect, with a fine well-
spread tail, which must neither touch the ground nor sink
between his legs; neither must it rest upon his rump,
which is a great fault, and is called rumping. He should
draw the shoulders of his wings close to his body, dis-
playing his limbs without straddling, and walking almost
upon his toes, without jumping or kicking, as is tho
maimer of the TTploper, but moving with an easy majestic
air. The TJploper is nothing but a smaller variety of
Powter, brought from Holland, whose name is derived
from the Dutch word uplopen, to leap up, because, in
making his salutations to the hen, he leaps towards her
with his tail spread. In East Anglia, to lope is an old
provincialism for to leap. Before a perfect carriage is
attained, a great deal of time must be spent upon them,
in order to make them tame and familiar; they must be
nsed to see company, to receive frequent visits, to be
PIGEONS.
73
talked to often in fancy language, to have their back a
stroked, and to be clucked to, as a hen does to her
chickens. If they once become shy, they lose one of the
properties for which they are admire.d, and which is called
" showing." The partisans of Almond Tumblers have
therefore made the sarcastic observation, that Powters
were birds more peculiarly suited to watchmakers, cob-
biers, weavers, and such other tradesmen as work in the
same room where their pets are kept, than to gentlemen
fanciers; for the humbler class of amateurs alone can
converse with and familiarize their birds without wasting
the time which ought to be devoted to their necessities.
Powters are of various colours; the most usual are
blue, buff (in fancy language, clotJi), and white. These
are splashed in various mixtures. Pure white Powters
are really handsome, and look very like white Owls in
their sober circlings around the pigeon-house. Apropos
of the blue and the cloth-coloured birds, it has been
stated that if you pair a chestnut with a blue Powter,
the cock being, say the chestnut, the chances are that
of their offspring, the young cock is blue, and the hen
chestnut, and that their offspring will come vice versa,
round again. An objection to this variety of pigeons is,
that the largest-cropped birds seldom have their crops
perfectly covered with feathers, but show a great deal of
naked skin (from their rubbing off), which leaves the
beholder to imagine the beautiful plumage which ought
to be beheld. They are also apt to be gorged by over-
feeding themselves; in which case we have proved the
benefit of the following directions, adding to them, how-
ever, on our own responsibility, a calomel and colocynth
pill. When Powters have been too long from grain,
they will eat so much that they cannot digest it; but it
will lie and corrupt in the crop, and kill the pigeon. It
this, therefore, at any time happens, put them into a
strait stocking, with their feet downwards, stroking up
the crop, that the bag which contains the meat may not
hang down; then hang the stocking upon a nail, keep-
ing them in this manner till they have digested their
74
PIGEONS.
food, only not forgetting to give them now and then a
little water, and it will often cure them. But when you
take them out of the stocking, put them in an open
basket or coop, giving them but a little meat at a time,
or else they will be apt to gorge again. The mode of
cutting open the crop, and sewing it up again, and of
tying a portion of it up with a ligature, to let it rot
away, has the effect of spoiling the bird's beauty for
life.
Ifrom the point of the beak to the end of the tail, the
Powter should measure eighteen inches, with a fine
shape, and a hollow back sloping off taper from the
shoulders. The legs should be seven inches long from
the toe-nail to the upper joint in the thigh. The crop
ought to be large and circular towards the beak,
rising behind the neck, so as to cover and run neatly off
at the shoulders. According to the best judges, a pied
Powter ought to be marked thus :—The front of the crop
should be white, encircled with a shining green, inter-
spersed with the same colour with which he is pied; but
the white should not reach the back of the head, for then
he is <?alled ring-necked. There should be a patch of tjie
same colour with which he is pied, the shape of a half-
moon, falling upon the chop ; when this is absent, he is
termed swallow-throated; the head, neck, back, and tail
should all be of the same uniform colour; and, if a blue-
pied bird, he should have two black bars near the end of
each wing. If these bars are brown, they greatly detract
from the value of the Powter, who is then termed kite-
barred. When the shoulder of the wing is speckled with
white, in the form of a rose, it is called a rose-pinion, and
is highly esteemed, and really does add greatly to the
beauty of the plumage ; they must not be naked about
the thighs, but their legs and thighs must be stout and
straight, and well covered with white soft downy feathers.
Whenever the joints of the knees, or any part of the
ihigh, are tinged with another colour, he is foul-thighed.
If the nine flight-feathers of the wing be not white, he is
foul-flighted. The greatest authority upon all these points
PIGEONS.
75
sums up the whole philosophically thus :—" A Pewter
that would answer to all these properties might very
justly be deemed perfect; but as absolute perfection is
incompatible with anything in this world, that pigeon
which makes the nearest advances towards them is most
undoubtedly the best."
Powters have deservedly a bad character as nurses,
and it is usual to put the eggs of valuable birds under
other pigeons to hatch and rear. Por this purpose the
Dragon is often selected,—an intermediate race between
the Antwerp Carrier and the Tumbler, or better, between
the Antwerp Carrier and the Blue Bock Dove. We can
speak from experience of the valuable properties which
this latter cross amongst pigeons displays. The breed-
ing of Powters is, in several other respects, both expen-
sive and troublesome. Por instance, it is common to part
the birds during winter, and to keep them singly in cages
by themselves. The frequent necessity for crossing*the
strain, and introducing fresh blood, is also an incon-
venience. Powters must not be bred in and in, nor near
relations be allowed to mate, lest they should degenerate
in size, and become worthless in a fancier's judgment.
That the very same degeneracy is a merit in the Tumbler,
is only a proof of the capriciousness of the taste of the
fancy. When so many difficulties have to be overcome,
it is not surprising that a pair of perfect Powters should
sell for twenty guineas, or more.
Carriers are a remarkable race of pigeons, which, from
a remote antiquity, have been employed in the office of
bringing, rather than of carrying letters. They fetch in
telligence home from whatever place, within their power
of return, they may have been purposely sent to. • They
do not carry letters out wherever they are bid, as some
ignorant people have supposed. To avail oneself of the
services of Carrier Pigeons, birds muSt first have been
sent to the place from which intelligence is desired; so
that in cases where difficulty of access is likely to occur,
considerable foresight has to be exercised. It would be
of no use wishing for the arrival of a courier pigeon from
76
PIGEONS.
a fortified town, or the Eddvstone Lighthouse, if the one
were in a state of siege, and the other fairly in for six
weeks' bad weather, with no previous provision of Car-
riers from without. The birds have to be kept confined
in the places whence they may be required to start on
any emergency. If the points from which intelligence is
to be conveyed, are situated in widely-different directions
from each other in respect to the central home, different
sets of birds have to be maintained. The pigeon which
will travel with practised ease from London to Birming-
ham, will be unable to find its way to Birmingham, if
taken to Bangor or to Edinburgh. Carrier Pigeons have
been largely employed in conveying messages across the
English Channel; and there are few seaport towns on
our eastern and southern coast, from Great Yarmouth to
Penzance, in which there are not one or two pigeon-
trainers resident, to whose hands a variety of birds are
constantly intrusted. Even the wider breadth of the
Irish Channel is crossed by Carrier Pigeons, both from
Holyhead to Dublin, and from Ireland to the coast of
Wales. It is over seas and desert tracts that pigeons
are the most useful, as well as the surest messengers;
in civilized and thickly-peopled countries they are less
needed, and are, moreover, apt to get entrapped or shot,
and their secret stolen from them. Accordingly we find
that they have been much used in the East. The Carrier
Pigeons employed in Europe are merely an imitation of
Oriental example.
The question has often been discussed as to how the
pigeon finds its way through such long distances as we
know to be occasionally traversed by it. Mr. George
Combe, and the phrenological writers, account for the
fekts performed by Carrier and other pigeons, by suppos-
ing them to result from the action of a special organ of the
brain, which they have named Locality, and which, when
highly developed in man, appears as two large prominen-
ce$, of singular form, a little above the eyes, commencing
near each side of the nose, and going obliquely upwards
and outwards, almost as high as the middle of the fore-
PIGEONS.
77
head. Sir George Mackenzie considers the primitive
faculty to be that of perceiving relative position. The
organ is affirmed to be large in the busts and portraits
of all eminent navigators and travellers, such as Colum-
bus, Cook, and Mungo Park. Dr. Gall believes the
organ to be possessed by the lower animals, and relates
several amusing stories of dogs returning to their homes
from a great distance, without the possibility of their
having been guided by smell or sight; indeed, his whole
work is full of delightful illustrations of natural history.
Similar facts with regard to other animals and birds must
occur to the memory of every reader ; and we must allow
that no credible hypothesis for the means by which this
surprising faculty is exercised has been offered, except by
the phrenologists. Dr. Gall considers it to belong to the
organ of Locality. The falcon of Iceland returns to its
native place from a distance of thousands of miles ; and
Carrier Pigeons have long been celebrated for a similar
tendency, though of inferior power. The migrations of
swallows, nightingales, terns, and others, are attributed
by Dr. Gall to periodical and involuntary excitement of
the organ of Locality; for this excitement, it cannot be
denied, occurs even in birds kept in cages and abun-
dantly supplied with food. "We must admit that at least
some affections of the mind are subject to involuntary
and periodical excitement of various intensity.
Repeated experiments, however, have been tried with
the view of ascertaining whether Carrier Pigeons can
instinctively return to their homes from a distance,
or whether, to make them useful as messengers, it be
necessaiy to teach them the road. The result clearly
proves that the Carrier is guided in his journey solely
by memory, and a knowledge of the country he has to
traverse. These birds, when employed to carry intelli-
gence from one part to another, are trained by being
taken, first, say five miles from home, then ten, and so
on, till the whole journey is completed by short stages ;
and even if* the bird should know the road, it cannot
travel in foggy weather. In Turkey, Carriers are called
78
PIGEONS.
Bagatms, or Couriers; and the Turks and Persians make
a common practice of breeding these pigeons in their
seraglios, where there is a man whose business it is to
feed and train them for their intended use. When a
young one is come to the perfect use of its wings, and
has acquired its full strength, they carry it in a basket,
or otherwise, about half a mile from home, and there
they turn it out; after this they carry it a mile, then
two, four, eight, ten, and twenty, till at length it will
return from the furthest parts of the kingdom. But it is
found that if pigeons be not practised when young, the
best of them will fly but very indifferently, and will not
uncommonly be lost. In the same way, before the sub-
marine telegraph was laid down between England and
Prance, the captains of the packets to and fro, used to
take with them baskets of Carriers in different stages of
training, to be let off soon after the boat had started, iia
mid-channel, or near the opposite coast, according to the
previous practice which the birds had undergone and
had performed satisfactorily. Among these creatures,
as among men, some are more easily taught than others,
and the fanciers distinguish the best birds by the height
and fulness of the membrane above the nostrils; and
the method which dealers practise to set off an indif-
ferent bird, is to raise this membrane, and puff up the
part by stuffing pieces of cork under it.
It is doubtful how far the faculty or instinct of these
birds would enable them to discover their home through
long intervals of unknown country, where the space be-
tween, say, two of their horizons from their highest ele-
vation, is all fresh and devoid of recognizable landmarks.
It is not usual to trust to such a power ot discovery in
birds that are to be employed on any important service,
but to train them, by taking them further and further
away from home. Inexperienced birds find their way
back from short distances very easily, if the ground over
which they have to fly lies all in one plain, or in one
valley; but if any high ground intervenes between the
place where they are thrown off and their home, they are
3PIGKE0NS.
79
very apt to lose their way. In short, even if the phreno-
logical doctrine be true, that the pigeon finds its way by
means of the organ of Locality in its brain, still that
organ requires to be exercised, in order to be of service
on any unusual emergency.
The flight of the Carrier Pigeon is clearly not con-
ducted by the same principle which guides the Stork,
the Quail, and the Woodcock, over wide seas, by night.
That may be an excitement of -the organ of Locality;
this is not. We have had birds that had been taken
from home six or seven miles, come back at last at the
end of two or three days; i.e., they could not find their
way immediately. In the same space of time in which
they accomplished these six or seven miles, migratory
birds would have passed over four or five hundred at
least. The merchants and manufacturers of Belgium
have done more to test the capabilities of pigeons than
any other people. Their annual pigeon-races produce an
excitement almost equal to our horse-races. In 1844
one of the greatest raees took place, from St. Sebastian,
in Spain, to Yervier. The distance would be about 600
miles. Two hundred trained pigeons, of the best breed
in the world, were sent to St. Sebastian, and only seventy
returned. In another race to Bordeaux, eighty-six
pigeons were sent, and twenty returned. A strange and
mistaken notion prevails, that it is only necessary to
send a Carrier Pigeon away from home, and that its
instinct will invariably lead it back. Let any one try
the experiment, and send the best-bred Carriers at once
to Birmingham, for instance, and we venture to assert
that not one would return to Manchester without pre-
vious training,—namely, taking them short distances at
a time, and then increasing by degrees. It has been
said that pigeons are guided on their return home from
long distances by instinct. Instinct is said to be un-
erring; not so the pigeon's flight. If instinct be the
guide, why not fly through foggy weather with equal
speed and facility as in clear sunshine ? This, it is noto-
rious, they cannot accomplish. When the ground is
60
PIGEONS.
covered with snow, pigeons seem to miss their points of
guidance, and are lost. This would seem to favour the
opinion that they travel by sight, and are less indebted
to instinct than is generaliy imagined. Carrier Pigeons
do not fly at night; they settle down if they cannot
reach their home by the dusk of evening, and renew
their flight at daylight next morning.
The velocity of a pigeon's flight seems to be greatly
overrated. Many persons will be surprised to be told,
that a locomotive railway engine can beat a Carrier
Pigeon in a distance of 200 miles.
Several treatises direct that the letter to be carried
must be gently tied under the bird's wing, in such a
manner as not to incommode its flight; and it is in such
guise that we commonly see columbine messengers de-
picted. But an express pigeon-flyer would just as soon
think of tying a letter to a bird's tail, as under its wing.
The practice is to roll some fine tissue paper neatly
round the leg, secured with a thread of silk; and thus
the bird can travel, without the paper causing resistance
or impediment to its flight.
Carriers are mostly black in colour; a few are dun, or
cinnamon, while others are splashed or mottled; the last
are held in less esteem. They are above the ordinary
size of pigeons, and their form is a happy combination
of strength with gracefulness ; their beak is thick, long,
and straight, in contrast with that of Turbits and Turn-
biers. Though an inch and a half is a long beak, it must
not measure less than an inch and a quarter in length.
The head is long, oval, and flat: this appearance is
increased by the plumpness of the wattle. The neck is
long, thin, and taper, forming a cone well adapted to
cleave the air. At the base of the bill and around each eye
there grows a naked, fungous, fleshy excrescence, called
the wattle, which is a very remarkable and striking feature
in Carriers and such pigeons as are cross-bred from them.
It increases with age ; and the greater its development,
the higher value is set upon the bird displaying it.
Horsemen and Antwerp Carriers, though perpetuating
PIGEONS.
8>
themselves as a distinct breed, are undoubtedly derived
by crossing the Carrier, as some say, with the Tumbler
or the Powter, but more probably with the Blue Bock
Dove. They display, in a less degree, the same caruncu-
lated flesh *\t the base . of the beak and naked circle of
flesh around the eye, and the same length of beak and.
taper form, together with a size of frame above the ave-
rage of pigeons. To be used as letter-carriers, they require
to be trained in exactly the same way, and are admirable
both as excellent breeders of their own young and as
nurses of the progeny of other breeds. In all cases
where it is desirable to make Antwerp Carriers take
charge of the squabs of other pigeons which are bad
nurses themselves, such as Powters and Almond Turn-
biers, it is better to substitute a couple of eggs, and
cause them to be hatched by the foster-parents, than to
shift the young from one to the other at a later period.
Well-bred birds, both Carriers and Horsemen, are often
kept during their whole lives in dealers' cages, and then
little observation of their movements can be made; but
when indulged with liberty, they are impetuous and
active, even more so than the Bock Dove, which would
be the next best bird to employ as a letter-carrier. Such
incarcerated birds can sometimes be bought with a war-
ranty of their having never been flown; but even then
great caution must be exercised in letting them out for
the first time; they are apt, in their joy at emancipation,
to dart off in a straight line, as if by some instinctive im-
pulse, even though they have no known home to go to,
and so lose themselves beyond the power of retracing
their way; their acquaintanceship with the other pigeons
of the same loft offers the best chance of regaining them
in such cases.
The Lace Pigeon, and the Frizzled Pigeon, or Frill-
bach, are both rare birds The former is entirely white,
approaching in size, and shape to the Bunt. The web of
the feathers is loose and disunited throughout the whole
plumage, which has a considerable resemblance to what is
observed in the Silky Powls. The Drizzled Pigeon has
82
PIGEONS.
its feathers curling br.ck, as if they had each received a
twist with a pair of curling-irons. Aldrovandi, in his
" Ornithology," figures a " Columba crispis pennis,"
a " Dove with frizzled feathers," without giving a de-
scription of it; but proving, however, that among pigeons,
as among fowls, there have existed, for some hundred,
vears at least, frizzled—or, as they are called by some,
iFriesland—races of birds. It would appear that more
than one breed of pigeons occasionally produces laced and
frizzled individuals.
PIGEONS THAT ABE USUALLY KEPT AS CAGE-
BIBDS MERELY.
Besides the above domestic pigeons, there are one or
two other species so well known in captivity, and so inter-
esting in themselves, that our present book would be in-
complete if it neglected to make some mention of them.
Amongst these, the most popular favourite is decidedly
the Collared Turtle, the Columba risorius of Linnaeus,
and the Turtur risorius of other authors. A confusion
exists in the mind of many people between the common
Turtle, Columba turtur, which is frequent in a wild state
in England during the summer months, or the Turtle
Dove, in popular English, and the Collared Turtle, or
Turtur indicus, as given by Androvandi, which in England
is only known in captivity. As the European King
Pigeon has a similar ornament on the neck with our
present species, the latter has received a distinction of
name founded on its coo, which strongly resembles a laugh,
and from which it has been called the Turtur risorius, or
Laughing Turtle.
The Collared Turtle has been admitted into the class
of pigeons that are found both in a wild and a domestic
state, rather by courtesy than by righth In their wild
condition, they are met with in Southern Europe, Northern
and "Western Africa, and in Western Asia ; in their tame
state, they are dispersed all over the civilized globe
where the winter temperature does not forbid their intro-
duction.
pige0n8.
83
As domestic animals, they can hardly be said to have
yet received a sufficient training. Their intellect has
just attained to that child-like stage of development, that
they love everything about them intensely, and are pleased
with everything they see; but if they were once lost in
the labyrinth of a lane, or in the mazes of a grove,
they would wander up and down, like the babes in the
wood, picking a seed here and a berry there, searching in
vain all the while for their wished-for cage or chamber,
till they were drowned in the first thunderstorm, or
perished by the first, frosty night. And then the Eobin
Bedbreast, or the sighing wind, would cover them with
leaves, and complete their sylvan funeral.
If we could but advance this incomplete mental growth,
only just a little, and add to it the intelligence and domes-
ticity of the fowl, and the local memory of the Carrier
Pigeon, we should then have a bird which, in spite of the
tenderness of its constitution, would occupy a very im-
portant place in our rural economy. But the result of
all our attempts of this kind is, to find that the grand
scheme of nature is unalterable by man. We cannot
educate and improve the Collared Turtle to be a Dove-
house Dove—at least, a two thousand years' trial has
proved unavailing. These unyielding limits assigned by
the Creator must be acknowledged to have an existence as
a rigid law.
The Collared Turtle, we know, is intrusted sometimes
with a sort of half-liberty—the run of a large mansion, or
the permission to pop in and out a greenhouse. A letter
from a friend, now lying before us, says : " I have Turtle
Doves flying about, mixing freely with the other pigeons,
and so tame as to light upon my head." But, in truth,
the Collared Turtle is only allowed to play at domesticity,
and is, all the while, only a jealously-watched captive.
Our own birds have often got loose in summer-time; and
they seemed to think it excellent fun to do so. And then
they would go cooing about with short flights from tree
to tree, sometimes keeping close at home, sometimes
getting out of bounds and losing themselves. The coo
g 2
84
TIG EONS.
answers the purpose of a call-note when the pair are
invisible to each other among the branches. It has
escaped from Aristotle, in his account of pigeons, that
blinded Turtles were frequently kept as decoy-birds. But
our runaways were at last heartily glad to be caught and
brought home; and, like truant schoolboys on the approach
of nightfall, would rather encounter a scolding, or even a
whipping, than face the horrors of a supperless night,
without a bed to lie on.
These birds may be easily kept. They will live well on
wheat, barley, gray peas, bread in crumbs, or even boiled
potatoes. They ought to have a flat vessel of water to
wash in, as well as to drink, sufficient earth with gravel
to rub themselves in, and from which they can select
stones for swallowing into their gizzards for the tritura-
tion of their food. They should also have a piece of rock-
salt, of which all the group are excessively fond, and it
seems to be a wholesome stimulant to their system.
Cages are too small for their healthy, handsome, and viva-
cious existence. They like to fly at times from perch to
perch in a room, which should be well lit, not exposed to
cold, and, above all things, frequently cleaned out. They
enjoy sunshine much, and in it exhibit very elegant atti-
tudes, and good contrivances to receive as much of its
light and warmth as possible.
The Collared Turtle is strictly monogamous, and it is
from their constancy and tender affection for one another
(for their attentions deserve that name) that the charac-
teristic has been proverbial. The male is somewhat larger
than the female, and the colours a little lighter; but
the distinction is so slight as to require a practised eye to
notice it. The male is also a bolder bird, so pugnacious
as to fight even with inanimate objects; although the
female, when sitting on her eggs, or when nurturing her
young, is courageous and even passionate.
The Laughing Dove builds rather a careless fabric of a
nest. Both male and female assist in the work; that is,
the cock brings the materials, and the hen is the archi-
tect. She lavs two white eggs. The birds sit alternately
PIGEONS.
8$
and assiduously. The cooing of the bird which is not
sitting is incessant, and the attention paid to the one on
the eggs most exemplary, and creditable to their family
character. After the chick is hatched, a whitish fluid is
supplied from the crop of both male and female to the
young; its bill is then quite soft, and is thrust down the
throat of the parent birds for nutriment, which action, like
most functions of necessity, is a pleasure to the giver as
well as to the receiver. This lactiferous secretion has led
to the existence of the once problematical notion respect-
ing " pigeons' milk." As the bird grows and begins to
peck, the parents put him on his own resources; the
secretion grows less ; the young bird sheds the outside
skinny covering of his soft or sucking bill; it gradually
hardens, so that he can peck gravel and corn; and his
parents turn him adrift to form other friendships for him-
self, as they then have done with him. From the first,
the education of the young birds is steadily proceeded
with. When they are about a month old, the female
considers it high time for them to learn to support them-
selves. She therefore refuses to feed them more than
twice a day. But the youngsters, not liking the trouble
of picking up the hard grains of wheat and barley,
become clamorous, and chase whichever parent happens
to come in their way, stoutly demanding food all the
while. The mother acts up firmly to her principles; so,
finding her unyielding, they then attack their unfortunate
father. lie cannot resist their cries and flapping of
wings, and goodnaturedly opens his mouth for the recep-
tion of the soft spoon-shaped bills. But he is made to
suffer for his weakness; the lady soon drives away the
petitioners, and then beats her lord right well, laughing
heartily all the while, for attempting to interfere with
her system of instruction. This discipline is often so
severe, and commenced so early, that the young ones
must be removed and brought up by mouth, if it is in-
tended to rear them at all. The Collared Turtle will also
exercise its combativeness on any strange bird of mode-
rate size that ventures to intrude within its aviary. Of
86
PIGEONS.
all sleepers the Collared Turtle is one of the lightest.
Each time during the night that a clock strikes, the birds
announce the fact by cooing loudly. Any noise is
observed by them, and never passed over in silence. The
sound of a piano in an adjoining room, or the tramp of
footsteps in a passage close by, will excite the never-
forgotten coo.
Their feet are formed for walking and perching ; they
feed on the ground accordingly, but most usually roost
upon a perch. Their colour is a light fawn, of different
depths of shade, the back the deepest, with a nearly black
half-collar on the hind neck, inserted within a very narrow
white circlet, which throws up the dark collar brilliantly.
Young birds do not have this black stripe distinctly
marked till they have moulted. The irides are crimson,
the pupil black, the bill black, the feet lake-red. A
wide distinction between the pigeons and the turtles is
indicated by the time of incubation of our present bird
being only fifteen days from the laying of the first egg.
The eggs, too, are laid on consecutive days. The growth
of the squab of the Collared Turtle is even more rapid at
first than with domestic pigeons ; afterwards it proceeds
at a slower pace. The little thing is hatched blind, and
weak, and covered with fawn-coloured down. On the
fourth day its eyes are partially open, and feather-stumps
begin to appear on the wings. Both the parents will
sometimes be on the nest, and strive which can administer
food the fastest. In five days more it is pretty well
covered with feathers, and begins to squeak.
The Stock Dove (Columba anas) makes a very elegant
and pleasing aviary bird. Its plumage is rich, bluish
gray being the prevalent hue ; and the changing colours
of the neck are more gem-like than those of common
pigeons. Taken from the nest when young, it is easily
reared, and becomes as familiar and apparently as much
attached to home as the other sorts usually kept. It
will even return to its cage after being loosed from it.
But as the birds get older, a pining for the woods comes
over them; they make excursions to the neighbouring
i*!GE0N8.
87
groveB, returning less and less frequently to the place
where they have been nurtured, and are still supplied with
food by man, till at last they are utterly fascinated by the
delights of sylvan freedom, and become followers of Robin
Hood and other forest-haunting outlaws ; not that they
love man less, but that they love the woods more. If,
therefore, they are to be retained in captivity, an aviarv
must ever be their prison, unless it is preferred that they
should go at large in a still more sorrowful condition,
with a clipped wing or a shortened pinion. The food of
the Stock Dove, in a state of nature, is composed of young
green leaves, seeds of plants and trees (hemp, rape, and
others), berries, beech-mast, acorns, peas, and grain ot
various sorts. A Stock Dove and a Blue Rock Dove have
in vain been kept together a long time, for the purpose
of making them pair.
The Ming Move (Columba palumbus) is a much larger
bird, of perhaps still more beautiful plumage. It is, how-
ever, more difficult to rear. The best way to procure
them for the aviary is, to get from the nest three-quarter
grown squabs, and feed them, by mouth, with peas and
water. They are too large to be easily brought up by
domestic pigeons as foster-parents. In a wild state, they
are extremely shy and suspicious; but many authentic
and interesting anecdotes are on record of the strong
attachments they have formed when reared as pets.
Ring Doves are irregularly migratory, sometimes
appearing in large flocks, the numbers composing which
eem incredible when estimated. They commit great
avoc on the new-sown grain and the buds of the young
over-plant; they eat great quantities of mast, and als< •
the seeds of noxious weeds. Rewards have been offered
in Scotland for their destruction, with the view of keep-
ing them down; but this is of little use, unless at tins
same time a tall net, over which they could not fly, could
be stretched, as a colossal fence, somewhere between
Norway and our eastern coast. The best means of
reducing their numbers is, to publish their excellence for
the table at the times when they do not feed upon tur-
88
PIGEONS.
nips. "When they do, they punish the farmer indeed,
pecking holes in the bulbs for the frost and wet to work
upon. The young birds would be .acceptable in London
during the height of the fashionable season; but then no
gamekeeper will allow a gun to be fired in his preserves,
lest more valuable prey should be driven into the next
parish.
The Turtle Dove {Columba turtwr) is a very pretty, very
untrustworthy little creature, less known than the pre-
ceding species to common observers. When reared from
the nest, it becomes tame enough to be even an interest-
ing cage-bird; but a pair thus educated, and seeriiingly
contented, in a greenhouse, slipped out cunningly, and
were never heard of again. Perhaps, by the time their
flight was discovered, they had got half way to Africa;
for the very best part of the year only, from May till
September, will suit them with us. They adopt the
lamily habits of drinking deeply at a draught, and tick-
ling each other's heads. The coo might be mistaken for
the croaking of a frog or a toad. When heard close at
hand, it has a sort of burring, bubbling sound, and con-
sists of two syllables or measures, the second being redu-
plicated, and the whole accented like the words, " Ah,
mamma!" The Turtle Dove is much the smallest of our
native Columbidee. The plumage may be generally de-
scribed as ashy brown; the spot on the side of the neck,
and the white tips to the tail-feathers, are the most orna-
mental points of it. In the spots on the neck trifling
variations occur, which may safely be referred to age. In
Shropshire, this bird is believed to be found nowhere else,
except about the Wrekin, and hence is claimed by them
as the Wrekin Dove.
Ourselves have kept a pair of Turtles for a considerable
time as cage-birds. After a while, the hen died, we fear
from the fright and annoyance caused by a terrier puppy
occupying the same room (our study) at night. We had
110 hope of finding up, in England, a mate for the solitary
widower, so we turned him out into the garden to give
him an opportunity of migrating and finding a partner in
PIGEONS.
89
some other quarter of the world. He flew away into a
neighbouring clump of trees and shrubs, and we concluded
that he was gone for ever. But on entering our stable,
after the interval of a day, we heard something flutter
there. It was the Turtle Dove come back for food and
shelter. "We took pity on his helpless plight, and re-
stored him to his cage again.
We will briefly notice a few foreign pigeons, as suitable
for the cage or the aviary.
First stands the Wonga-wonga Pigeon, the Leucosarcia
picata of G-ould's " Birds of Australia " (from the Greek
leucos, white, and sarx, flesh; picata being Latin for
"besmeared with pitch," in allusion to the black-patched
plumage of the bird). This bird is an object of more
than ordinary interest, since, independently of its attrac-
tive plumage, it is a great delicacy for the table; its large
size and the whiteness of its flesh rendering it in this
respect second to no other member of its family—the one
at all approximating to it being the Geophaps scripta. It
is to be regretted that a bird possessing so many qualifi-
cations should not be generally dispersed over the con-
tinent of Australia ; but such is not the case. Its dis-
tribution depends mainly upon whether the surface of
the country be or be not clothed with that rich character
of vegetation common to the south-eastern portion of the
continent. As the length of its tarsi would lead one to
expect, the Wonga-wonga spends most of its time on the
ground, where it feeds upon the seeds and stones of the
fallen fruits of the towering trees under whose shade it
dwells, seldom exposing itself to the rays of the sun, or
seeking the open parts of the forest. While traversing
these arborean solitudes, one is frequently startled by the
sudden rising of the Wonga-wonga, the noise of whose
wings is quite equal to, and not very different from, that
made by a pheasant. Its flight is not of long duration,
this power being merely employed to remove it to a suffi-
cient distance to avoid detection by again descending to
the ground, or mounting to the branch of a neighbouring
tree. Of the nidification of this valuable bird, no precise
90
PI&EONS.
information had reached Mr. Gould, from whose great
work the above particulars are taken. It is a species that
bears confinement well, and (in his opinion) with an ordi-
nary degree of attention, may doubtless be rendered
domesticated and useful. We should be glad to find
that result confirmed by facts, but confess ourselves to be
less sanguine than he is. The sexes present no external
difference in the markings of the plumage, but the female
is somewhat inferior to the male in size.
The Bronze-winged Pigeons follow next to the Leuco-
mrcia in interest; which, however, arises from totally
different considerations. No hope of domestication can
be admitted here, even if it were allowable for others.
The Bronze-wings love to dwell on the most sterile plains,
where they feed almost exclusively on grass-seeds and
berries, and whence, on the approach of evening, they
wing their way, with arrow-like swiftness, to the water-
holes many miles distant, for a supply of that element so
essential to life ; besides which, they are nearly all strictly
migratory birds. Africa has her Honey-guide, and Aus-
tralia may boast her Water-witch. The Bronze-wing is
the friendly indicator of waters in the wilderness, when
the thirsty and dying traveller has almost ceased to hope.
In Australian maps, the name of "pigeon-ponds," given
to welcome pools of water, still marks the mode of their
first discovery.
In these birds, the rich metallic lights which adorn
the necks of our pigeons, seem transferred to the wings.
Temminck's description of the Bronze-wing is most
inviting. It is one of the most beautiful pigeons known
to him. " Brilliant specks, of a radiant lustre, are
sprinkled on the wings of this bird, whose plumage,
generally of a uniform colour on the rest of the body,
aids still more to relieve the dazzling richness of these
spots, which shine like so many rubies, sapphires, and
opal-stones. The species appear in general very abun-
dant in all parts of the Pacific Ocean; they are found at
Norfolk Island, in different parts of New Holland, and
are especially very common in the environs of Sydney
Cove and Botany Bay."
PIGEONS.
91
Can we conceive a more charming tenant of the aviary
than a bird like this ?—a bird which flits at the present
hour before the eyes of our fellow-subjects and blood-
relations at the antipodes ; which must have engaged the
attention, and doubtless often diverted the sad remorse-
ful thoughts of the convict; which excited the curiosity,
and satisfied the cravings after fresh meat, of such men
as Sir Joseph Banks and Captain Cook. "When we see
it caged in our presence, and trimming its glittering
epaulettes in the sun, we cannot look upon it with indif
ference, without some wish that it could be made to
dwell, unrestrained, in our dovecots, and afford matter of
instruction to our children, by the innumerable asso-
ciations and lessons connected with its history.
The Australian pigeons are specially interesting, inas-
much as their whole history, from the first acquaintance
of civilized man with them, is likely to remain ever acces-
sible to future naturalists, and so will, hereafter, furnish
a record of what modifications, if any, captivity and
domestication are able to effect in their .outward appear-
ance and inward disposition. They have not yet all
been brought alive to this country ; but every fresh ship-
arrival may obviate that cause of ignorance here, respect-
ing their capabilities. It is in England, probably, rather
than in their native country, that their domesticability
and readiness to breed in confinement will be tested, as
has been the case with the Black Swan and the Cere-
opsis. Some of this family, as the Crested Marsh
Pigeon and the Common Bronze-wing, have already bred
in confinement. It remains to be proved whether the
Wonga-wonga, Mr. Gould's special protege, will turn out
as manageable as he anticipates. The migratory habits
of the Australian Pigeons are an apparent bar to their
domestication ; but, in truth, they have no dhoice,
except to migrate. In the interior deserts nearly all the
birds are compelled to change their ground, as the terrific
summer advances. All the feathered tribes, Pigeons,
Bitterns, Cockatoos, and other birds, are compelled by
the intense heat and total want of water, to pass away
simultaneously in a single day.
92
PIGEONS.
The power of ventriloquism is a faculty that one would
hardly expect to find amongst Pigeons. Some of these
birds, however, do possess it. "Whether it is exercised
generally, or on occasions only, does not appear. Tem-
minck says, that " it is easy to make sure of the Luma-
chelle's (or Bronze-wing's) retreat, for their very sonorous
cooing, at a certain distance, resembles the lowing of
cows." Wilkinson's " Manual fqr Emigrants" speaks of
" the unearthly sound made by the Bronze-wing Pigeons,"
during the moonlight stillness of a South Australian
night. Those who have kept the common Bronze-wing
in a cage, say that it can throw its voice to a distance,
making it sound as if it came from some bird a long way
off, though the creature itself may be close to one's
elbow. Another species, the Geopelia tranquilla, one of
the tiny Ground-Doves, exercised its talents in puzzling
Captain Sturt, during his exploring expeditions; from
which, circumstance he named it " the Ventriloquist."
The fact is, that the creature possesses the power of
throwing its voice to a distance ; he therefore mistook it
for some time for the note of a large bird on the plains,
and sent a man more than once with a gun to shoot it,
without success. At last, while sitting one day under a
tree, he again heard the note, and sent his man once
more to try and discover what bird it was; when, on
looking up into the tree under which he was sitting, he
saw one of those little doves, and ascertained, from the
movement of its throat, that the sound proceeded from
it, although it still fell on his ears as if it had been some
large bird on the plain.
The Harlequin Bronze-wing ([Phaps peristera of
Gould) is an extremely beautiful creature. It derives
its name probably as much from the black mask with
which its face is covered, as from the1 gay colours with
which other parts of its person are decorated. It has
lately bred in this country, under most paradoxical cir-
cumstances, if we were to estimate its degree of hardi-
ness from the climate of its native regions. It is an
instance, very similar to the Guinea-fowl, that practical
PIGEONS.
93
zoology, or the art of breeding and rearing animals, is as
much an empirical science as practical chemistry; and
that we can form no safe a 'priori conclusions respecting
the constitutional powers of any untried living creature.
Everything must be tested, both singly and in combina-
tion, or by inter-breeding. The Harlequin Bronze-wing,
a native of the burning wastes of Central Australia, bred
in the menagerie of the late Earl of Derby, at Knowsley,
towards the close of the summer of 1850. They made
their nest on the ground in an open pheasantry, merely
Under the wired part, and were occasionally exposed to
heavy rains; notwithstanding all which, young were
I feared. But it is probable that if the squabs had been
coddled up in heat, they might not have thriven so well.
Still, their being reared at all is an extraordinary fact.
The temperature of their birthplace, at Knowsley, would
be at least 60° or 70° lower than in Australia. Who then
can guess at any creature's powers of endurance, their
oVra included, till they try them ?
Unfortunately, the Speckled Dove, Graceful Ground
Dvve, Geopelia cuneata, is an instance that hardihood is
not the universal rule with pigeons that have been brought
up to bear the bakings of the great Australian oven. All
that we read or imagine of the softness and innocence of
the dove is realized in this beautiful and delicate little
bird. It is very small, and has a general purple plumage
approaching to lilac. It has a bright-red skin round the
eyes, the iris being also red, and its wings are speckled
^vet with delicate white spots. Its note is exceedingly
plaiintive, resembling, though in a softer tone, the coo of
the European Turtle Dove. It is a great pity that such
a sweet little creature can hardly be got through a
British winter in a snug cage in a warm room. Admiring
amateurs are advised to purchase in spring instead of in
autumn.
0]o pass to other continents, the Passenger Pigeon,
from North America, and the Long-tailed Senegal Dove,
from Africa, are both equally propagable in an aviary, un-
manageable in a cage, and unsusceptible of domestication.
94
nrnom:
Escaped individuals of the former species have been made
the pretext of its admission into tue British Fauna; but
there is no instance of its nesting here. The Senegal
Doves might be naturalized in England, if poaching
naturalists would only allow them. In the woods about
Knowsley they have been heard uttering their curious
song, which sounds very like the commencement of a
negro melody—two crotchets to one bar, and four quavers
to the next, in regular succession, all on one note.
The pigeons mentioned in the last few pages are all
suitable for the aviary only, except the dwarf little
Speckled Dove, a pair of which, if a gardener would but
consent to their presence, would thrive best in the dry
stove. There seems, however, no reason why a hothouse
should not be devoted to the convenience of birds, instead
of plants, in the grounds of a wealthy bird-fancier. For
the welfare of foreign pigeons in an aviary, live turf, cal-
careous earth, gravel, shell-sand or calcined oyster-shells,
salt, fresh water, and shallow bathing-places are desirable.
Our ordinary grain and pulse may suffice for their diet;
but it should not be forgotten that many of them are
vegetable and fruit-eaters; it is wise, therefore, to offer to
any little-known species that may come to hand, cabbage,
Swede turnips, hips, haws, snow-berries, and such like, in
their season. A shelf screened off in an obscure corner
near the roof will sometimes tempt them to breed; a
wooden bowl, stuck among the branches of a tree, will
give the hint that eggs may be laid there. A few sticks
and straws scattered about are great inducements to
amorous birds to begin furnishing their apartment. And
finally, whoever has the taste and the wealth to amuse his
leisure with this kind of relaxation, will also have the tact
to know that Nature is the best aviary-guide.
RABBITS.
ANTIQUITY OE THE DOMESTIC BEEEDS.
This little treatise does not furnish the proper occasion
to inquire into the origin of our domestic rabbits ;—when,
where, or whether at all derived from the wild rabbits
which now inhabit our island. Suffice it to say that there
appears every probability that the most remarkable varie-
ties have come to us from the East,—from Persia, namely,
Arabia, and the adjacent countries. The tame races
which have the greatest claim to style themselves abori-
ginal, were in all likelihood existing in their present
ntate long before the commencement of any historical
epoch in Great Britain. Caesar's well-known passage,*
to our mind, states as much, when he writes, " The inland
parts of Britain are inhabited by those whom fame reports
to be natives of the soil. They think it unlawful to feed
upon hards, pullets, or geese ; yet they breed them up for
their diversion and pleasure." We have little doubt that
the domestic "hares" thus alluded to were magnificent
fancy rabbits, such as we now so highly admire. A rabbit
as large, and nearly of the very same colour as a hare,
might excusably be mistaken by the Bo man invaders to
he one actually. An advertising dealer has even called
his pet breed " Hare-Babbits "—more, we presume, to
indicate their weight and stature, than to imply them to
• De Bdlo Gallico, lib. v. cap. xih
96
RAIiUTTS.
bo the result of any crossing of the two species.* It was
to be expected, in the records of Holy Scripture, that a
creature whose flesh was forbidden as unclean, should
receive little further notice than the simple prohibition:
" The coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth
not the hoof, he is unclean unto you."t
USES AND MERITS.
The utilitarian value of the rabbit to man is greater
than appears at first sight. Independently of the fur,
which enters largely into the manufacture of hats and
other felting processes, and which is often the first point
of consideration with warren proprietors, the skin makes
an excellent glue. The flesh, if not particularly nutri-
tious, is at least a light and agreeable article of food.
The immense importation from Ostend to London is
a proof, on a large scale, of the way in which it is appre-
ciated; while none but those who have lived in the
country, and have received the unexpected visit of friends
to dinner, can form an adequate idea of the convenience
of having a plump rabbit or two at hand in the hutch.
The dung of these animals is an excellent manure for
clayey soils, and is particularly serviceable in the culture
of many fibrous-rooted greenhouse plants.
But we hold that, besides their material profitableness,
there is a moral value attached to these creatures. They
afford an early lesson to the young of the responsibility of
having live animals to tend ; their proprietorship affords
an opportunity of exercising the priceless qualities, in
after-life, of thrift, attentiveness, good management, for-
bearance, and forethought. Innocent and unfailing amuse-
ment is thus derived from the daily practice of prudent
habits, which are an excellent preparation for a subse-
quent charge of greater importance and difficulty.
The rabbit shares with the fowl and the pig the merit
* All attempts of the kind have failed utterly,
f Leviticus, xi. 5.
BABBITS.
97
of being a save-all—a transmuter of useless scraps and
offal into useful and valuable fur and flesh. All sorts of
hedge-trimmings, tree-prunings, box-clippings, and weeds'
which are not of too moist a nature—all of which would
otherwise meet with no better fate than to be swept
away to the rubbish-heap—will, with the addition of
sufficient dry food, serve to maintain a little stud of
rabbits. The cast-out refuse of three or four gardens, in
the hands of many an ardent young stock-master, would
serve, under a judicious administration, to rear, feed, and
fatten his little flock. And in housekeeping, as well as
in agriculture, trifling means of profit ought not to be
neglected, when they are capable of being secured with
only trifling exertion and the outlay of a small amount of
capital, and especially when they are, as in this instance,
the natural appendage of every poultry-yard or homestead
which pretends to be of the least importance. The mis-
fortune is, that exaggerated promises have from time to
time been given to the world. Tor instance, it could do
no good that a Trench writer, M. Despouy, should gua-
rantee (on paper) an income of 800? a year to whoever
would invest a capital of 20?. in rabbits, and follow the
instructions contained in his pamphlet.*
On the other hand, it is a false accusation to charge
these animals with consuming any undue and enormous
quantity of fodder. Some authors have asserted that ten
rabbits will eat as much as a cow; but it seems to be
proved that it would take at least fifty or sixty of them
to effect so great a consumption as that. Probably the
observers who have stated the fact, founded their calcula-
tions on the superfluous quantity of herbage which might
have been supplied, and which the rabbits soon reduced
to the state of filthy litter. The objection made to the
unwholesomeness of rabbit-keeping, in consequence of
the smell which their hutches emit if neglected, is equally
applicable to any other breach of cleanly habits. The
* Le Lapin Domestique. Paris : 1838.
H
98
BABBITS.
evil and the remedy are in the hands of those who make
the complaint. The rabbit itself is naturally a cleanly
animal, and when confined by itself will always choose
one particular spot or corner to deposit its ordure in, and
will be careful not to defile any other. The cabbagy
taste with which Boileau has stigmatized the flesh of the
tame rabbit is easily prevented by feeding the animal on
a more proper, natural, and rational diet. The cottager,
the only meat on whose table is often a morsel of salt
pork, will not prove so hard to please when he sits down
to a fine rabbit of his own rearing and fatting. Tastes,
moreover, differ as to the preference to be given to the
wild sort or the tame.
NATTJEE AND HABITS.
Every class of stock-keeping and menagerie manage-
ment, in order to be permanently successful, and not con-
ducted at mere haphazard, must be founded on a previous
knowledge of the habits and constitution of the creatures
kept; and therefore, as we here desire to communicate all
the information which a novice requires, we believe that
the inexperienced rabbit-keeper will best understand the
theory and principles of his art, if we first make him
acquainted with the precise nature of the animal with
which he proposes to deal.
The rabbit belongs to that order of the class Mam-
malia, or suck-giving animals, which is called Incisores,
because they cut their food with the front teeth of their
upper and lower jaws. They do not grind it, like the
horse, the ox, and the elephant, for the simple reason that
they have no grinders or molar teeth. Some of these
" cutters " are carnivorous, or rather omnivorous, like the
rat; others are herbivorous in general, but occasionally
insectivorous, like the Q-uinea-pig (which the old French
writers call the Connil d'Inde, or Indian rabbit) ; some, like
the hare, feed exclusively on vegetables and grain; and
the rabbit, unless under exceptional circumstances, to be
mentioned by-and-by, belongs to this latter category.
The rabbit and the Guinea-pig are the only "cutters"
BABBITS.
99
that have been strictly domesticated by man; though he
has made pets of the squirrel, the dormouse, the marmot,
the albino mouse, and one or two others.
The male rabbit is called " a buck," the female " a
doe." The English language has not, like the Erench,
a special word Qapereav) to denote the young. " Coney"
is an old word for rabbit, nearly obsolete in modern
speech, but which still has its representative in many of
the European languages. Babbits are polygamous ; one
male being quite sufficient for as many as thirty females;
in warrens, only one is allowed to a hundred. The adult
bucks are unbridled, overbearing, mischievous, and quar-
relsome. Success very much depends on the way in
which they are managed; and consequently rabbit-keeping
is an amusement better adapted for boys than for girls,
unless, indeed, they have an elder brother or parent who
will take upon himself the entire direction of the breed-
ing department.
BKEEDING.
Although doe rabbits sometimes will and can breed
before they are six months old, that age is the earliest
period of their life at which they ought to be allowed to
do so. If they begin earlier, they are liable to abortion;
and even if that misfortune is avoided, their little ones
come into the world exceedingly weak, and sometimes
defective. It cannot be expected to happen otherwise.
Nature, in spite of all her efforts, will fail to develop at
the same time the strength of the mother and of her off-
spring also. The attempt will assuredly be made at the
expense of one of the two—probably of both. The young
ones will have to suffer from an insufficient supply of milk;
their constitution will prove weak and rickety; and the
chances are, that they will die of debility before attaining
an age to be of any use. The mother is kept in a lean
and excited state; and, with every pains that may be
taken, it will be found extremely difficult to bring her
100
BABBITS.
into condition again. In selecting young does to breed
from, it is better to choose such as have been dropped in
the month of March; they will then be ready to go to
the buck by the beginning of November, and their first
produce will be fit for sale in the course of the following
winter.
The doe goes with young thirty, or sometimes thirty-
one, days; in common parlance, call it a month. A fort-
night after she has littered, she is ready to visit the male
again, with whom she should be placed in the evening,
and returned to her young the following morning. She
might be put to him five or six days after bringing forth,
as she is almost always in heat; but she requires a fort-
night's repose to recover her strength. She breeds
throughout the winter as well as in summer, and will,
therefore, according to strict theory, produce eight litters
in the course of a single year. But all this supposes
every circumstance to be invariably favourable; that she
sfiould be thoroughly well fed, never out of health, and
that no untoward accident happen. A much safer calcula-
tioh is to reckon upon six litters a year; some breeders
are dyen contented with supposing five to be successfully
reared. When the buck is not more-than five or six
years old, and the doe than five, it is very rare that she
misses. But should it so happen, give her a nutritious
and stimulating diet, such as parsley, celery,fennel, thyme,
and other aromatic herbs, besides a liberal diet of oats,
bran or pollard, and sweet hav ; keep her tolerably warm,
and in a few days she will be all right again. After her
night's absence, she will be returned to her own hutch,
and will then suckle her last progeny another week
longer. To keep all the parent animals in this constant
state of isolation is one of the main and fundamental
maxims of rabbit-keeping; for the buck will not only
greatly harass the doe, if he is allowed free access to her,
but will often kill the young while they are still blind and
helpless.
The number at a birth varies from two or three, up to
tight, ten, and even fourteen young ones. In general,
BABBITS.
101
the larger the breed, the fewer at a birth. As many as
eighteen have been known in extreme cases. But eight
or nine are a much better average: some breeders prefer
to have no more than five or six, and take away those
that are in excess. When it can be done without too
much disturbance, the plan is a good one, especially
when the doe has lost or destroyed her tormer litters.
Sometimes, when she is weak and exhausted at the time
of littering, and leels that she can only suckle a limited
number, she herself will save her owner the trouble of
killing the supernumeraries, and will calculate according
to her strength how many ought to be spared. But
take six as the average number of little ones to be pro-
duced at each of six litters, and we have thirty-six
rabbits in the course of a twelvemonth as the produce of
a single doe. More than that; at six months old, the
young rabbit is fully capable of becoming a parent in its
turn. In two years, therefore, we should have four sue-
cessive generations of rabbits all the while that the fecun-
dity of the original ancestress is still going on; thereby
interweaving amongst themselves intricate degrees of
relationship, which would puzzle the most learned
genealogist to define accurately, and amounting to such
a multitudinous rabbit population as no arithmetician'
can accurately calculate, from the impossibility of fore-
seeing the accidental checks to which so redundant an
increase »is liable. Pennant's sum-total will suffice as
a specimen. Babbits, he says, will breed seven times a
year, and bring eight young ones each time. On a suppo-
sition that this happens regularly during four years,
their numbers will amount to one million, two hundred
and seventy-four thousand, eight hundred and forty
head.
MANAGEMENT OE THE BEEEDING DOE.
The breeder ought to know by his stud-book (for he
will probably give names to his favourites) the day on
which each doe is to bring forth. A few days before-
hand, he will throw into the hutch a large handful of
102
BABBITS.
coarse but sweet hay. She will immediately make use
of it to form her nest, and will employ for the same pur-
pose any scraps, shreds, or odd bits that she can lay
hold of. This first outside structure arranged, she then
strips off the fur from beneath her belly, and devotedly
denudes herself, to secure a soft warm couch for the
reception of her expected young. At this period neglect
may be fatal; she must at the same time be kept quiet,
and well fed to support her in nursing. The omission
of a single meal may check her milk,, and occasion the
death of several young. Few things are better for her
than carrots and oats. "Wet vegetables are especially
injurious. During the first week let her have plenty of
bran, mingled with a little salt.
If the doe has had a previous litter, they must all be
removed before she brings forth a second time; her
hutch, too, ought to have been well cleaned out. Take
care not to touch the young; unless, at least, they are
deposited in a wet place, or any of them die. All unne-
cessary disturbance or handling, is apt to make the
mother kill the whole of her family. When you find
that a doe overlays or eats her young, mark her well, and
remember the circumstance; for should the same mis-
fortune happen "again, the best thing to be done is to
fatten and kill her. If, however, she be a favourite
animal, and an attempt at reformation be resolved upon,
she must be abundantly fed with good substantial food
and disturbed no more than is absolutely necessary.
MANAGEMENT OE THE YOUNG.
The little rabbits are born blind and helpless, covered
only with a short velvety down. On the fifth day they
open their eyes; on the sixth, the liveliest fellows
amongst them begin to peep outside the nest. At a
month old they eat alone, and partake of food together
with their mother. At six weeks old they no longer
require the doe, and ought to be weaned. This short
period is quite sufficient to allow to be spent in the first
term of rearing them. If they were left longer, they
BA.EBITS.
103
would be apt to exhaust the dam, which ought to be
avoided. After weaning, two modes of feeding have
been adopted with equal success; the first is, to intro-
duce all the weanlings, from time to time, into a large
hutch or common apartment, in which they are tended
carefully, kept warm and clean, and fed several times in
the course of the day. At each feeding-time, every par-
ticle of victuals'which has been trampled upon, is scru-
pulously withdrawn; and it is found that, by observing
these regulations, the losses ar^ very few, or none.
When two months* and a half ol(l, they are placed with
those that are destined for the table. In this case, the
precaution is taken to cut the males before they are thus
set at liberty in mixed society. They will fatten on
carrots, oats, hay, and bran, with a few peas now and
then.
The second plan is to keep together all the young
rabbits of the same month; that is to say, they are dis-
tributed in six large hutches or apartments, care being
taken to separate the males from the females (or to cut
them) by the end of the third month. From the fifth to
the sixth month, all those intended for sale are disposed
of, after selecting the handsomest and best-tempered
does to serve as breeders. Does will continue prolific
till they are five years old ; after that it is usual to fatten
them for the table, though in such cases the purchaser
may have to complain that he has met with a hard bar-
gain. Beyond that age, it is rare to meet with rabbits
surviving in a domestic state. The duration of their
natural life is said to be no more than from six to eight
years. Buffon extends the term to nine.
FEEDING AND KILLING FOR THE TABLE.
The flavour of tame rabbits is improved by feeding
them, a few days before they are killed, on aromatic
plants, of which the list is numerous. Some people also
104
BABBITS.
fill the belly of the rabbit, after it is killed and drawn,
with a wisp of thyme, marjoram, and sage. The usual
mode of killing tame rabbits by giving them a blow
behind the ear, is faulty, and liable to the objection that
a large quantity of blood coagulates about the place
which is struck. It is better to kill them exactly like
fowls, by cutting the jugular artery, and then to hang
them up by the hind legs. In that position the blood
drains away, and the flesh is rendered beautifully white.
The skins, however, suffer, and sell for less if they are
besmeared with blood. The cook's perquisite is thus
diminished; and, in rabbit-keeping on a large scale, the
reduction of price would be of serious importance.
CASTE ATION.
The contempt with which such small cattle as rabbits
are usually regarded by practical people, is the cause
why they are but rarely subjected to the operation of
castration, which, in their case, is performed with greater
ease, and even more satisfactory results than on oxen,
sheep, and pigs. Nearly three hundred years ago, the
practice was strongly recommended by the famous
[French agricultural writer Olivier de Serres. Does, he
truly says, are very much better to eat than the entire
males; and castrated rabbits are as much superior to
does, as the flesh of a capon is to that of a hen. His
plan was to turn out into the open warren a number of
emasculated males which had been reared in hutches,
and allow them to grow and fatten at liberty in the open
air. "We have eaten caponized rabbits in London; and
they were far superior, both in size, flavour, and fatness,
to what they would have been if suffered to remain in
their natural state. "We would advise every rabbit-
ieeper to castrate, at the age of three or four months,
every young buck which he does not intend to dispose
of or retain for breeding purposes. Besides the rapid
increase in size, a great advantage gained is the conver-
sion of a mischievous into an inoffensive animal. Instead
of being often a dangerous enemy to the does, to the
BABBITS.
105
young ones, and to the other bucks (for the males, if not
so treated, will engage in deadly combats when they
meet), it may then be suffered to associate indis-
criminately with the others without fear or appre-
hension.
The mode of castrating rabbits is very simple. It is
performed by seizing with the thumb and the two first
fingers of the left hand one of the testicles, which the
animal will endeavour to draw up internally. When the
operator has succeeded in grasping it, he divides the
skin longitudinally with a very sharp knife, presses out-
wards the oval body which he has seized, draws it out,
and throws it away. After repeating the performance
on the other side, he anoints the wounds with a little
fresh hog's lard, or he closes them by a stitch with a
needle and thread,—or perhaps he leaves the cure to
nature. When the operation is skilfully performed, the
healing process is rapidly completed; and it not only
disposes the animal to carry a great deal more flesh and
fat, but the skin also is considerably increased in value.
DISEASES—THEIB PEEVENTION AND CUBE.
Amongst rabbits, as with poultry, diseases are more
easily prevented than cured. We have not yet seen
advertised in the newspapers specific medicines for ailing
coneys. "Eoup and Condition Pills," and "The Poultry
Restorative—a certain cure for all Diseases," may pro-
bably be useful tonics in the case of fowls; but with the
delicate species of quadruped which is the subject of the
present treatise, negligence and mismanagement are so
fearfully punished, that it strongly behoves the amateur
to take care that his arrangements and mode of feeding
be such as to give him the least amount possible of disease
to deal with. The loss of whole litters at once, or even a
general mortality amongst his entire stock, will often be
the consequence of carelessness and want of judgment.
Many and many a small farmer and market-gardener has
made the attempt to keep rabbits, and has soon given them
up again, in utter disgust at the complete want of success
106
BABJilTB.
which has attended his efforts. A few plain hints might
have saved him the disappointment, and have enabled
him to conduct his experiment with a more satisfactory
and profitable result. On this account we think it right
to give a few short paragraphs on rabbit disease an early
place in our practical essay.
BEDDING.
Thus, the quality of the litter given to domestic rabbits
is a very essential point in rearing them successfully.
The bad state of that is the cause of many of the diseases
to which they are liable. The straw used for this purpose
ought to be thoroughly dry, and frequently renewed.
Every three weeks, the entire mass of their litter should
be changed, especial care being taken to have it done a
fortnight before the does kindle, and a fortnight after the
birth of the little ones. It is a good plan, during the
interval, to cover the old litter with a sprinkling of fresh'
straw from time to time.
Injudicious disturbance also will sometimes have as fatal
an effect as a severe epidemic. "We have seen that it is
absolutely necessary not to be too much in a hurry to
look at the young ones, for at least a week after their
birth. It should also be remembered that the rabbit is
naturally an animal of nocturnal, or we ought rather to
say of crepuscular, that is, twilight habits. It is there-
fore an error to believe that it is requisite to give them a
substantial meal at noon; on the contrary, nature and
observation indicate that they ought to be left in quiet at
that hour, when they are almost always in a state of
repose, especially during summer. The best feeding-
times are, v^y early indeed in the morning, and about
sunset in tae evening. They usually eat with the
greatest appetite during the night. In some parts of
England it is a popular notion that at full moon the
wild rabbits purposely leave the mouths c f their nesting,
holes open, in order that the young ones may then venture
out for the first time, and make their debut in the worjld
by moonlight. At full moon, country labourers say,
BABBITS.
107
"We must now look out, to catch the young rabbits,
because the mouths of their holes will be open."
QUIET.
However, one little act of disturbance may be ventured
upon with due precaution. A few days after the birth of
the rabbits, it will be advisable to ascertain whether their
mother has deposited them in a dry spot; for if their nest
is at all damp, they will infallibly perish. In such a case,
the nest must be cautiously moved, in a lump, and shifted
to the driest corner of the hutch. Experience has proved
that this operation, if judiciously executed, caused no
injury whatever to the young, and also gave no offence to
the mother; but, after all, the expedient must be used
with caution. The inconvenience which compels the
rabbit-keeper to have recourse to it ought to be avoided
by cleaning the hutches at regular periods, so that there
shall be no necessity to intrude upon the privacy of the
doe's nursery at the time when she is likely to be of a
susceptible and jealous disposition. Eor this purpose it
is requisite to note accurately the date of the doe's visits
to the buck, in order to be able to change the litter
in good time, and also to remove a first set of young
ones when there is a prospect of their soon being followed
by a second.
OPHTHALMIA.
Young rabbits are subject to a disease of the eyes,
which is apt to attack them towards the end of their
suckling, and which puts an end to them in a very short
time. This disease is unknown to those who are scru-
pulous about the cleanliness and drainage of their
hutches. It appears to be occasioned by the putrid
exhalations from filth and urine in a decomposing state.
In short, it is neither more nor less than ophthalmia,
brought on by the caustic nature of ammoniacal vapour.
When the malady is discovered in time, the young rab-
bits may sometimes be saved by transporting them into
108
BABBITS.
another hutch that is perfectly clean, and well furnished
with plenty of fresh straw.
the eot and pot-belly.
The great cause of the shortness of rabbits' lives in
domesticity is their liability to the rot, or liver-disease,
produced by their being supplied with too much green
food. Dry food, in short, is the grand thing to insure
success in rabbit-keeping. That peculiar quality of diet
is so absolutely necessary to the animals' well-being, that
" dby eood," in capital letters, ought to be painted
within sight of every rabbit menagerie, whatever may be
its form, size, or importance. Even the wild races, in
wet seasons, are found lying about dead, as if their warren
had been stricken with pestilence. The rot is as fatal to
rabbits as to sheep. Therefore, a very necessary precau-
tion, which cannot be too strongly insisted on, is to
avoid giving tame rabbits too great a quantity of green
and succulent herbage, which not only causes numerous
deaths from indigestion, but what is worse, is apt to
bring on another disease, only of too common occur-
rence, which is occasioned by the accumulation of an
excessive quantity of water in the abdomen and bladder,
and which usually proves fatal. The patient, in fact,
becomes dropsical; and even if apparently cured for a
time, is so apt to suffer a relapse, that the wisest way is
to part with the animal. Rabbits so diseased are said to
be pot-bellied; and when they get to an advanced stage
of the complaint, doctoring is of but little use, and gene-
rally of none at all. Common rabbits, in such a case,
are hardly worth the trouble of nursing. Eor fancy
kinds of greater value, the attempt may be made; but
we much more strongly urge the observance of preven-
tive than of remedial measures.
The patients should immediately be put upon a drier
diet. Pamper them with split-peas, barleymeal, malt-
combs, and oatmeal. Oak-leaves, and the shoots of the
tree, as food, are excellent. They should have hay,
sound corn, and aromatic plants, such as thyme, sage,
RABBITS.
109
marjoram, &c. In fact, all rabbit-masters who have a
garden, will do well to cultivate an extra-sized bed of
sweet herbs, as the best apothecary's shop *which they
can have recourse to in time of need. The whole family
of umbelliferous plants appear to be both grateful and
medicinal to the rabbit tribe; even hemlock and fool's
parsley, poisonous plants to many other animals, are
welcome as occasional dainties to them; hogweed, or the
wild perennial parsnip, has been recommended by Cobbett
with his usual force of natural eloquence. Garden par-
snips and carrots are excellent, both for their tops and
roots ; likewise fennel, parsley, and chervil.
If the sick quadrupeds are kept to a regimen that is
absolutely dry, a little water may now and then be given
them; at all other times it is absolutely a forbidden
thing. But wetted herbage, we insist, even if only moist-
ened with dew, is poison to rabbits. The best mode of
avoiding the danger is to cut their food the day before,
and spread it out, in the sunshine or under shelter, to
dry and wither. On the other hand it ought not to be
cut several days beforehand; for it' thrown into a heap,
and so left to heat, it is likely to prove equally injurious.
Of course, all diseased individuals should be carefully
separated from those that are in health.
The same prudential sanatory measure is imperative
when rabbits are attacked by a sort of consumption, or
" rot," which reduces them to the extreme of leanness,
and they become covered with a contagious scabbiness
which is extremely difficult to cure. This disease, which
attacks them when young, checks their growth, takes
away their appetite, and at last causes them to die in
violent convulsions. If it is not arrested in time, it may
soon spread throughout the whole of the stud. It is
usually attributed to damp and to superabundant mois-
ture in various forms, which seem to be the mortal
enemies of the rabbit. As pot-lelly, or dropsy, is caused
by a too succulent vegetable diet, so "rot" is brought
on by eating putrid greens, or even those that are in the
"boated" state of incipient fermentation. It is be-
110
BABBITS.
lieved that the repeated indulgence in this kind of unna*
tural and unwholesome food produces the purulent pus-
tules with which the unfortunate animal's liver is some-
times entirely covered, as well as engendering, we know
not how, the parasitic creatures called flukes or hydatids
that are found in the substance of the diseased liver.
The remedies, with the addition of salt, are nearly the
same both for " pot-belly " and " rot; " indeed, it is not
very easy to distinguish them till after a somewhat
advanced period. Flour of sulphur, sprinkled on the
skin, has been recommended in case of mange or scab.
The wisest way, however, is to prevent the further
spreading of the contagious form of disease by sacrificing
at once every animal that is attacked by it.
bed-wateb, the snuffles, and diabbhcea.
Besides the former, there are a few maladies which
only make their appearance in badly-attended and mis-
managed studs, or during unusually fatal seasons ; such
as red-water, produced by inflammation of the kidneys
and a highly febrile state of the animal. High-coloured
urine is then voided, in its worst stage mingled with
blood. Bad food, acrid and poisonous vegetables, or
sudden chills, may either of them be the immediate
cause of the complaint. The remedy will be, mild muci-
laginous food, such as endive, dandelion, sowthistle,
lettuce, with cooked potatoes and bran, besides a warm
and cleanly lodging. The snuffles is occasioned by the
catching a violent cold in the head, and may degenerate
into bronchitis and inflammation of the lungs. Comfort-
able shelter, and protection from all draughts and wet, is
the cure which common sense prescribes. Diarrhoea, or
undue looseness of the bowels, is the result of eating too
great a quantity of wet and acid rubbish. Dey food must
again be the prescription ; add to it toasted bread-crusts
and the skins of baked potatoes. To avoid the evil, it
should be particularly borne in mind that all changes-of
diet with a confined animal, especialy from a drier to a
moister—and in spring and autumn—should be gradually
BABBITS.
Ill
made. No shock of any kind, not even in transitions of
regimen, ought ever to be given to the system of so
nervous a creature as the rabbit is.
BABE CASES.
Human pathology and surgery has its chapter excra-
sively devoted to rare cases ; the same thing occurs with
fowls and with rabbits. One of these is furnished by a
correspondent of the Cottage Gardener:—" On examining
a rabbit of the lop-eared breed to-day, I found one ear
completely filled with a hard matter resembling scurf.
On touching the ear, the rabbit screamed out. I then
took ashnuch of the hard stuff off as I could, and bathed
with warm water; after that I greased the ear well. I
took two pieces as large as a man's finger from the ear,
which seemed to reach quite to the farthest extremity."
Many others no doubt might be added; but they are more
valuable as curious facts, than as being of any great
practical utility.
HANDLING.
Babbits are sometimes injured by being handled clum-
sily. The proper way to take hold of them is, to grasp
the ears with the right hand, and to support the rump
with the left. To seize them by the leg is apt to dislocate
a limb, especially in the case of creatures that are shy;
an injudicious gripe round the neck or the body may
prove unexpectedly and suddenly fatal, by injury to the
vertebrae, compression of the lungs, or breaking of the
ribs ; a hasty clutch at the tail may cause the fur of that
ornamental member to come off in one piece, and spoil
the animal's beauty for life. The instantaneous way in
which an adroit hand will kill a rabbit, apparently by the
merest touch, gives a forcible hint of the caution we
should use in allowing a favourite animal to be captured
and pulled about by inexperienced persons. For does
with young, the greatest tenderness is indispensable.
112
BABBITS.
feeding.
Rabbits should be fed twice a day—at morning and
night. If they are on green food, it ought to be tho-
roughly dried before it is put into their racks or thrown
upon the floor of their hutches. This diet would princi-
pally consist of the refuse of garden vegetables, taking
care to give only a moderate quantity of cabbages, let-
tuces, and of all other cold and watery plants. "Wet
hebbage,—we obstinately reiterate,—is deadly poison
to rabbits. The leaves and roots of carrots, all sorts of
leguminous plants, the leaves and branches (or the
prunings) of all kinds of trees (which are too much neg-
lected as rabbit-food), wild succory, parsley, pimpernel,
<&c., may be the diet of rabbits during summer. The
great point, however, at all seasons, is to make the dry
preponderate over the moist. We even believe that,
under circumstances where the more costly kinds of dry
food, as hay and corn, are not attainable, sawdust and
withered leaves might be given to keep rabbits in
health. Cobbett judiciously says, " Abundant food is the
main thing; and what is there that a rabbit will not eat ?
I know of nothing green that they will not eat; and if hard
pushed, they will eat bark, and even wood. A variety of
food is a great thing; and, surely, the fields and gardens
and hedges furnish this variety,—all sorts of grasses,
strawberry-leaves, and ivy. They should have oats once
a day. When the doe has young ones, feed her most
abundantly with all sorts of greens and herbage, and with
carrots and the other things mentioned before, besides
giving her a few oats once a day. That is the way to
have fine healthy young ones, which, if they come from
the mother in good case, will very seldom die. But do
not think that, because she is a small animal, a little feed-
ing, or a little care, is sufficient. To those gentlemen
who keep rabbits for the use of their family (and a very
useful and convenient article they are), I would observe,
that when they find their rabbits die, they may depend
cm it that ninetv-nine times out of the hundred starvation
«ABBITS.
113
ia the malady. And particularly short feeding of the doe
while and before she has young ones ; that is to say, short
feeding of her at all times ; for, if she he poor, the young
ones will be good for nothing. She will live, being poor,
but she will not, and cannot, breed up fine young ones."
Sowthistle and mallows are great favourites with many
juvenile rabbit-feeders. One of Buffon's neighbours fed
his rabbits (which he accustomed to assemble at the sound
of a whistle) on wheat-bran, hay, and a great quantity of
juniper branches, of which they ate all the berries, the
leaves, and the bark, leaving nothing unconsumed but the
thick wood. This diet gave them a game-like flavour;
and their flesh was as good as that of wild rabbits.
Eor winter use it is as well to reserve hay, potatoes,
Jerusalem artichokes, turnips (common and Swedish),
field beetroot, the haum of peas and beans, &c. The use
of salt is equally advantageous to them as to other domes-
tic animals; it increases their appetite, and seems to have
a decided tendency to keep them in health. Bran, grain
ot all kinds, and particularly oats, when they are to be had
at a reasonable price, ought also to form a portion of their
diet. They eat them greedily, and nothing is better for
them, especially for does which are suckling their young.
It is a good plan too, as Cobbett recommends, to vary the
diet of rabbits frequently when they are kept in a captive
state.
MODES OE BABBIT-KEEPING.
WABBENS.
An account of rabbit-keeping would be incomplete
without a few words on the subject of warrens; more,
however, to avoid treating the subject defectively, than
with the hope of imparting much useful knowledge to
our readers. "Warrens, at the present day, very much
depend upon local rights and the local qualities of soil.
Where there is not a natural warren, it is very difficult to
114
BABBITS.
make one artificially. There are two kinds of wild rabbits
in England with which warrens are stocked—the silver
sprigs, and the " wild coloured " or greys. The latter are
much the more common of the two ; the former are more
valuable for their fur, and also, it has appeared to us,
come to a larger size; at the same time, they are less
hardy in constitution. But those who have them are so
tenacious about keeping the breed to themselves, that it
is extremely difficult to procure living individuals of the
kind. The grey rabbit is also so much bolder an animal,
that if a depopulated warren be stocked with both, in a
few years there will be none but greys surviving. The
author of " British Husbandry " correctly observes, that
though warrens are found to return a large percentage
on the capital employed, the animals are so destructive of
fences and growing crops, that the land on which they are
maintained appears in a state of desolation ; and they are
1 ' 1 leighbours, that, however profitable
and efforts are constantly made to annihilate them. Many
warrens have therefore been abandoned. Considerable
expense too is incurred for warreners, for nets and traps,
for the repair offences, and for the destruction of different
kinds of vermin, as well as for protection from poachers*
who, if not watched, would soon depopulate the place.
Whoever becomes the proprietor of a warren must keep
one or more warreners. These men make a regular pro-
fession of their business, which renders information here
less necessary ; they moreover are a peculiar set, and are
not a little jealous of revealing the secrets relating to
their modes of trapping and snaring. Babbits are much
shyer of traps than hares, which latter go blundering
on to their death. The best plan to get rabbits der
stroyed, is to employ different and rival warreners at
once.
The " Survey of Lincolnshire " states that in the war-
rens there, one buck serves a hundred does, which go to
buck the day they bring forth their young. The common
winter stock is three couple per acre, and the produce
considered as a public nuisance,
BABBITS.
115
five or six couple killed. New land is more productive
than old warrens ; and on 250 acres of worn-out sainfoin,
turned into a warren, two thousand couple were for many
years killed, leaving about seven hundred couple on the
ground; and it was reckoned that they would annually
clear 100Z., besides paying the rent. It is not, however,
all profit. During the dull time of the year, warren
rabbits must be fed. Turnips, clover, and sainfoin hay,
are the most proper kinds of food in winter, and oat or
barley straw is sometimes given in severe seasons, pro-
vided the snow be not deep enough to cover the corn.
In severe storms turnips are preferable, as the animals can
find them by the scent, and will scratch the snow off when
covered; and it will require two large cart-fulls, or else a
load of hay a day, to fodder such a breeding-stock as that
above mentioned.
In Glamorganshire there is an inclosed warren of
1,600 or 1,700 acres within a wall. It is stocked with
various kinds of rabbits, and produces a very good
ineome, probably as much as 1,600Z. a year. One foreign
customer has paid as much as 800Z. per annum for skins
of one particular variety, for the German fairs, whence
they travel into Eussia and the East.
In another county with which we are acquainted, on a
farm of two. thousand six hundred acres, a portion only
of which was warren, the skins and flesh of the rab-
bits paid the rent, beside the expense of the warreners.
Of those officials there were seven, with dogs and imple-
ments in abundance. Besides wages, they were allowed
all the rabbits they could eat, and bread, bacon, vege-
tables, beer, &c., from the farm-house, to be consumed in
their huts on the warren, where they cooked, in hermit-
like solitude, for themselves. During the killing season
they worked in the night, finishing off at about two in the
morning. This took place every night, Sundays ex-
cepted. The catch was immediately " hulked," or dis-
emboweled, coupled, and then sent off to London in
regular vans. During the day false burrows were dug in
the portion of the warren to be worked in the evening
i 2
116
JlABBITS.
which was afterwards partially encircled with a net
"When the rabbits came out to feed, they were driven by
dogs and beaters into the inclosure. Taking refuge by
droves in the false burrows, they were easily caught by
the men; those that escaped thence were intercepted by
the nets. One bright moonlight night, when we wit-
nessed the chase, two hundred couple were taken. The
dogs not being allowed to touch them, very few rabbits
indeed were mangled or torn. Stretching their necks
was the mode of death. In some existing warrens, rab-
bit-traps, like large rat-traps are made use of, and were
occasionally employed here. Five hundred acres of the
warren were subsequently broken up and cultivated,
which materially diminished the value of the farm.
A large warren near Thetford, in Norfolk, was long
held by a gentleman, who made a fortune by it. The
rabbits consumed the greater part of the produce of a
farm attached to the warren, on which there were a
mixture of different coloured rabbits.
Several French writers, copying the idea from Olivier
de Serres, describe a sort of inclosed or artificial warren,
which is a pattern of luxury, convenience, and expense ;
but we will still give a few particulars for the guidance
of any rich amateur who may choose to indulge in the
costly whim.
The warren is to be established on a rising ground
that slopes to the east or to the south, on a light soil, a
mixture of clay and sand, and to be planted with shrubs
and trees of such species as will afford them shelter, and
resist their teeth. Certain evergreens, as gorse, will
answer the purpose. Other quick-growing trees must
be added, in order that their loppings may be used as
food upon the spot; such as fruit trees, oaks, elms,
junipers, &c. The trees must be protected when young,
to preserve them from injury by the rabbits. All sorts
of odoriferous plants, such as thyme, maijoram, and
lavender, ought to be grown abundantly within the
warren; lastly, grasses, leguminous plants, and roots,
must be introduced, when the extent of ground does not
BABBITS.
117
supply a sufficiency of food. That extent, according to
Olivier, ought to he seven or eight acres at least; and
he asserts that an inclosed warren of that size will pro-
duce two hundred dozen rabbits a year, if properly
managed. He would have the warren close to the
house, that it may be more frequently visited and better
watched; surrounded by walls of stone or brick, eight
or nine feet high, and with foundations sufficiently deep
in the ground to prevent the rabbits from burrowing
beneath them. 7The walls must be covered with a coping
at the top, and with sloping eaves to prevent foxes from
jumping over. All the requisite holes in the wall, for
the passage of water, must also be protected by a close
iron grating. Olivier considers ditches full of water, as
an excellent inclosure, when the locality permits; he
recommends the formation of a circumscribing canal,
which may be stocked with fish. These ditches ought to be
at least six or seven yards broad, and six or seven feet
deep, or more. The outer bank should rise abruptly and
steeply to a yard in height, all landslips and gaps being
prevented by a facing of brickwork, or by a bed of
thickly-planted osiers. The inner bank should slope
gently down to the water's edge, that any discontented
vagabond rabbit which may have attempted to swim
across the ditch, and escape, finding a difficulty in
climbing the opposite shore, and so compelled to return
home again, may land in safety.
The operation of digging water-ditches round the
warren affords the additional advantage of making in the
inside, with the earth thrown out, a variety of pleasant
hillocks and mounds, which will be convenient for the
rabbits to burrow in, and also to allow the animals to
drink, whenever—it is quaintly added—they stand in
need of it.
Warrens like these, if actually completed, would prove
Eerfeet rabbit paradises, except that the one surrounded
y water would be exposed to the attacks of the stoat,
who is both an excellent swimmer and a thirsty hunter
after rabbit's blood. The scheme was probably imagined
118
BABBITS.
more to amuse the writer and the reader, than with any
serious intention of carrying it into effect. We there-
to re pass on to more available modes of rabbit-keeping,
which we will class under the three forms of Rabbit-
cowrts, Rabbit-pits, and Rabbit-hutches.
BABBIT-COURTS.
Perhaps the most pleasing, and, for the animals, the
most healthy place to keep rabbits in, is a paved yard.
If well situated, it becomes, in fact, a practical realize-
tion, on a small scale, of De Ssrres's grand idea. Two
sides of the courtyard may be bounded by tall buildings,
as houses or stabling; if they stand to the north and
east, so much the better. The other two sides should
consist of a wall not more than five feet high, to admit
air and sunshine. For security from intrusion from
without, and to confine any fowls that may be kept
within, palings may be fixed to the top of these low
walls, without any inconvenience arising. The great
object is to have the court at once airy, sunshiny, shel-
tered, and secure. In one or two corners of the court,
or against one or two of its sides, there should be thrown
a broad heap of earth and rubbish, eighteen inches lower
than the top of the wall. In this, the rabbits will burrow
and amuse themselves,—though it is better to prevent the
does from nesting there, for fear of the attacks of cats and
rats. The buck, if one is kept, must be retained a close
prisoner in a box of his own. The breeding does, when
their time of kindling approaches, will'be comfortably
settled in separate hutches, to be described hereafter.
The day when each doe is to bring forth will be known
from the stud-book, even if it is not indicated by the
preparations she makes,—such as carrying about straws
and haums in her mouth, and biting them into separate
lengths. The rest of the stock will associate indiscri-
minately together in the court, with the sole exception
that all males will be withdrawn, cut, or sent to the
kitchen, as soon as they-reach an age to prove trouble-
BABBITS.
119
Some; and that young ones just weaned, i.e., from six to
eight weeks old, will be kept in a hutch by themselves
till they are strong enough to join the general herd. For
the rabbits which remain at large in the court, a few
email brick houses at the foot of the wall, with their
doors constantly open, and the burrows they will make
in the earth, will prove a sufficient shelter at night and
doring bad weather. They will also make a similar use
of any logs of wood, hen-coops, or faggots, that may be
lying or standing about the place at random.
The easy management of such a rabbit court as this, is
obvious. Food, either green or dry, has only to be scat-
tered on the pavement of the court. The small propor-
tion of individuals in confinement, will, of course, require.
extra attention, which will demand no great time to fulfil
properly. All that is necessary, is to do it regularly and
unfailingly. Babbits so kept are much more amusing
objects than when they are constantly hidden from sight
in their hutches. Their .gambols are seen,—their little
antics with one another,—their cleanly habits in brushing
their fur coats,—and even the petty quarrels and jealousies
which arise from the elder ones striving for the mastery.
They will become so tame as to eat out of the hand, and
to flock around their feeder when he enters with a bundle
of vegetables or -straw. The whole stud should be so libe-
rally supplied with provender, that those intended to be
eaten may be able to fatten upon it; the growing and
the breeding rabbits will amply repay the share they
consume of this liberal diet, by the rapidity with which
they come to hand, and the strength and thriftiness of
the litters they bring forth. A rabbit-court like this is
particularly convenient for consuming the refuse and
sweepings of a largp kitchen and flower-garden, and even
a portion of the outscourings of a stable. Forkfuls of
litter which a neat groom will cast out of doors, will be
nibbled over and relished by his minor charges. In
short, we strongly recommend a rabbit-court to those
whose premises and situation allow of such a plan being
adopted.
120
BABBITS.
EABBIT-PITS.
Another form of dwelling, imitating in some degree
the natural habitation of the animal, though less so than
the court, is the rabbit-pit. One of this kind is described
in " Farming for Ladies," and we give a woodcut from
the sketch in that work. It was the contrivance
Rabbit-Pit.
of a Kentish gentleman, who had arranged, in a pad-
dock adjoining his house, a small rabbitry and pigeon-
house, solely for his family use and amusement, and in-
closed it with post and chain, to nrevent the access of his
BABBITS.
121
horses to the place. The inclosure was only about twelve
feet in diameter, covering a pit of six feet in depth, in
which the rabbits were confined, and through the sandy
sides of which they burrowed to the extent of from ten
to fourteen feet to make their nests. The proprietor,
however, it was said, intended to fill up three feet of the
depth, as he thought' that the rabbits should be brought
nearer to the air. The mode of catching the rabbits in
the pit was with a long stick, forked at the end, which
was hooked upon their neck when they came out to
feed; or they were snared with a bit of wire fastened to
the end of a stick.
We quote another rabbit-pit from the Agricultural
Gazette * " In the Isle of Thanet, on the east coast of
Kent, the writer witnessed and superintended, on his
own property, the method which he now proceeds
cursorily to describe, and the annexed diagram will
3 tr 2.
i
Plan of Rabbit-Pit.
tend to define the limits of the spaces required. !No. 1
represents a pit four feet on each side of the square.
2 is an oblong, four feet long, and about two feet broad.
Both are dug to the depth of six feet, perfectly level at
the bottom and sides, the latter so much wider than the
wooden curbs, as to admit of a facing of four-inch
brickwork, in cement, excepting the spaces to admit of
about six arched openings (as marked) of dimensions
sufficient for the passage of the largest rabbit. 2 is the
feeding department. 3 is only an arched passage, tun-
nelled at the ground level of the bottom of the two
4-f*
—o 0
3 C
4 o?
3 C
Q Q_
122
BABBITS.
pits, about a foot wide and broad, to serve as a com*
munication between the pits. This is also bricked and
arched, but is not seen at the top. A covering of oilcloth
is added to the curb of each pit, and the cloth extends
over the frame several inches beyond the curb, in order to
prevent the entry of the heaviest rain. At the place op.,
the arched passage is always open; and so it is also at
the otner extremity marked tr., excepting only when any
of the rabbits are to be taken. Dryness is essential to
the prosperity of this animal, therefore the soil should not
only be naturally dry, but must be protected above, and
kept secure at the sides and bottoms of the pit by the best
brickwork. From what has been stated, it will be under-
stood that a sound chalky or sandstone rock fo^ms by far
the most appropriate medium for the warren, which the
rabbits burrow into, and excavate according to their own
requirements. Four does and a buck may be reckoned
a good breeding stock; and something of the kind was
found when the writer purchased the property in the Isle
of Thanet. The experience of about two and a half years
proved the correctness of the facts thus stated; and little
more remains to be said on the availability of a practice
which, while it secures the rabbits, preserves something
of their wild nature. The variety generally introduced
by the Thanet people was the one called brown: the
hardy silver-haired would be desirable, if it could be pro-
cured.' Sometimes a black rabbit was produced among
the young ones of a litter. In feeding twice a day, the
cabbage-leaves and carrot-tops of the garden were thrown
into the feeding-pit, always free from wet, but not par-
ticularly air-dried or contracted by exposure. Some
coarse pollard and a few oats, mixed, were let down in a
trough attached to a long handle. The opening tr. was
fitted with a trap-door, working freely in grooves, and for-
nished with a string and loop to keep it up. To this a
much longer string was tied, and made to act perpendicu-
larly, when any were to be taken, previously to which a
meal or two was omitted. The simple machinery being
then adapted, hunger induced a rush to seize the green
•BABBITS.
123
food thrown down; and after waiting a few minutes, it
rarely happened that a sufficient number was not secured
by the fall of the trap to admit of a proper selection for
table use. Some cautions suggest themselves. No use-
less trappings must be indulged in; the man who holds
the long string must not be seen. The passage should
always be open at other times, and the covering screen
kept on constantly, unless some operation be going on."
The general idea of a rabbit-pit being thus suggested,
it will be easy for any amateur to modify it at his pleasure.
Of the two specimens given, we would only observe that
they both appear too small in their dimensions. A pit,
also, is not a nice thing to have on one's premises ; for,
however well it may be inclosed, accidents to children and
valuable animals are always to be apprehended. We doubt
whether animals kept constantly below the surface of the
ground would be maintained in such good health as those
above it, remembering that " the stony hills are a refuge
for the coney," and also that wild rabbits delight to bur-
row in sandy dunes, and to bask and graze on their
sunshiny slopes; and, in the first case, experience seems
to have proved that the animal's dwelling-place was con-
siderably too deep. Undoubtedly, the most perfect
arrangement would be, a combination of the rabbit-court
with the rabbit-pat. Various localities suggest themselves
where such a plan would be possible,—namely, the neigh-
bourhood of worn-out gravel-pits or quarries, unused saw-
pits, and inland cliffs.
BABBIT-HUTCHES.
We now come to what appears the simplest of all mat-
ters, and which yet, if it be not well contrived, will have
a most influential effect in causing failure. Prom a tea-
chest to a worn-out portmanteau or a leaky tub, anything
has been thought good enough to keep a rabbit in.
" Everybody," says Cobbett, " knows how to knock up a
rabbit-hutch." If the rabbits themselves could only
speak, they would tell us that many a body sets about it
in a : bungling manner, and proves himself profoundly
124
BABBITS.
ignorant of the fundamental principles of rabbit archi-
tecture.
To learn these, we must go to the warren. There we
find that the rabbit makes its dwellings in a sandy soil,
and therefore well drained; in hillocks and mounds, in
preference to hollow bottoms, and therefore dry. The
burrows frequently communicate with each other, and
therefore allow a certain amount of ventilation, the wind
blowing into the mouth of the hole being often sufficient
to insure that. The thick stratum of light earth which
covers the habitations of a colony of rabbits causes
coolness in summer and warmth in winter. In the depth
of a burrow it never freezes, and is never oppressively
hot. In short, with the exception of the absence of light,
which is of little importance in a sleeping-place, a rabbits'
burrow, magnified to corresponding proportions, would
make, at a pinch, a very bearable dwelling for human
beings devoid of other shelter; the nest which a doe pre-
pares for her young is soft and warm enough for a baby
to lie in, if sufficiently enlarged. And, in truth, many
thousands of our lellow-creatures spend their lives, are
born, and die, in cellars which are less wholesome than a
rabbits' burrow on this large imaginary scale would be.
"Whatever form of hutch, therefore, be adopted, it
should be well sheltered; if possible, it should stand
within another airy building, or at least under cover. Its
temperature should never descend to the freezing point,
nor mount beyond summer heat—scarcely so high, if it
can be avoided. On this account, rabbit-hutches, or
cabins of brickwork, built in a court, offer many advan-
tages; if made of wood, the material should be solid.
Were we now to recommence rabbit-keeping, we would
contrive a hutch whose top and sides should be thatched
with straw and reeds, to avoid all sudden chills as well as
bakings and broilings from the noontide sun. In sultry
weather, rabbits are as much oppressed by overpowering
heat as a flock of unshorn sheep would be, and rush just
as anxiously into a patch of cool shade. Of course, all
sorts of drippings from eaves, draughts of air, and inun-
BABBITS.
125
dations from bad drainage, should be placed out of tbe
possibility of annoying the rabbits. Many stocks, unfor-
tunately, are constantly exposed to all these evils. Their
owners then complain that they do not succeed, and lay
all the fault of the failure on the poor, good-for-nothing,
troublesome, and tender creatures.
For similar reasons, hutches should never stand on the
level of the ground; they should be raised at least a few
inches (though a foot or two is better), either on legs or
benches. The wood of which they are constructed ought
to be thick, more for the sake of'warmth than foi^strengh;
for if the rabbits do happen to gnaw them, ten to one it
is done more for want of dry food and an irresistible
craving after it, than for mischiefs sake. The dimensions
will vary according to circumstances, and every amateur
will suit his own convenience; but no hutch, to contain a
single full-grown rabbit, ought to be less than a good
yard square in area. The depth is of less consequence.
"We give a woodcut of a form of hutch which has many
advantages, and which is useful where a large stock is
kept, because it is capable of being repeated to any
extent in length, like a row of houses, and also, as the
figure shows (page 126), may be constructed with a couple
of stories, or more. The first, or false bottom (2), is a
framework of strong splines, with a sufficient interval
between them to allow the urine and small fragments of
offal to pass through. About an inch beneath this first
bottom is a second (1), of wood covered with zinc. It is
fixed with a gentle slope from back to front, to aid the
escape of the urine to the gutter, which will be conveyed
to a pail (7), by means of a tube (6) which communicates
with the inclined bottom of each hutch. This bottom
ought to be moveable, slipping in a groove, in order that
it may be more easily cleaned. To avoid all likelihood of
infection, the bucket which receives the urine should bo
carefully emptied twice a day, and well rinsed out; for
the urine of the rabbit is the sole cause of any offensive
smell which may emanate from a hutch. The door of the
hutch (5) is a frame of wirework, suspended at the top
120 RABBITS.
Section of a two-storied Rabbit-hutch, which may be extended to contain
any required number of apartments.
BABBITS.
127
by a couple of hinges;, and opening at the bottom. It is
kept shut by a hook or a button. Doors like these are
easy to open, and allow a convenient means of changing
the litter, which requires to be removed from time to
time. If preferred, however, the door may go to slip in
a groove, or to open at the side; but the former plan is
altogether the best. Each hutch should be furnished with a
little rack, fixed against one of the sides, to prevent the
rabbits from wasting their food; for, like other of our
domestic animals, they will reject the provender which
they have once trodden and blown upon. In courts,
a little rack, on the model of a sheep-rack, is not only
a pretty toy, but a useful article of furniture. At the
back, a little trough or manger should be fixed, to hold
the bran and corn which is desirable for all, but more
especially for nursing-does. The troughs for hutches in
which weanling rabbits are kept should be very narrow,
to prevent the little ones from getting into them.
Besides the hutches destined for does, there should be
one of larger dimensions for the buck, not only to accom-
modate his robuster proportions, but to allow a doe to
spend the night with him conveniently. And as he is the
father or king of the herd, his hutch may be called " the
royal hutch," wherein, himself a sort of prisoner of
state, he lives in solitary dignity, surrounded by his cap-
tive females.
"When rabbits are kept on a large scale, the hutches are
assembled in one inclosure or building, which should be
covered with a roof and surrounded with walls, to secure
it from the weather, and the depredations of cats, rats,
and other vermin. It is desirable that the inclosure be
* 1. Sloping bottom, lined with zinc.
2. Floor of strong splines, with a small interval between them.
8. Trough to hold bran and corn.
4. Rack fixed against ore of the sides.
5. Barred door, working on hinges at the t®p.
6. Tube to carry off the urine.
7. Small tub to receive the urine,
128
BABBITS.
paved with square tiles, which should have their joints
well closed with cement, in order to prevent all leakage of
urine or slops beneath the pavement. This accident is
one of the causes most likely to engender disease amongst
the stock. The reason is plain: the earth on which the
pavements repose becomes sodden with liquid filth, an
unpleasant smell is constantly exhaled, and whatever
cleanliness may be observed above ground, beneath is a
fertile source of epidemic maladies, which will go on
increasing from month to month, and will sooner or later
cause serious injury. In this inclosure rows of hutches
are ranged, one or more stories high. The first row will
touch the wall; a passage will be left between that and
the next row, and so on, till the enclosure is full, when
you have a series of parallel passages and rows of hutches,
allowing free ventilation and easy access of the persons
who tend them.
In such an establishment, a constant renewal of air is
a matter of the first necessity, which may be insured by
fixing in the wall small grated windows opposite each
other. If unpleasant smells are perceived, on entering in
the morning, it is a hint to the rabbit-keeper to look to
his litter and his ventilation. Hutches that are too, small,
and too closely crowded together—that are cold and
damp, or dirty and fetid,—are sufficient in themselves to
bring on all the diseases to which rabbits are liable.
Their result is loss of health, ophthalmia, want of appetite,
diarrhoea, pot-belly, rot, mange, and death. In the first
stage of these disorders, something may be done by
vigorous sanitary measures of cleanliness and ventilation,
with judicious feeding and disinfection by means of chlo-
ride of lime. Babbits are naturally of a robust consti-
tution, and are but slightly liable to be attacked by small
ailments; but when they do ail anything, we may be sure
that the evil is of serious consequence.
"We next give the figure of an independent hutch with
two apartments, which we have found very useful to con-
tain a doe and her weanling young, before they were old
and strong enough to join the other fatting rabbits in the
BABBITS.
12D
court. It is also useful for the young beginner who is
making his first trial with two or three half-grown indi-
viduals of the sort which he fancies. It is easily moved
under shelter or into the open air, easily tended and
cleaned out, and not costly to make. Nos. 1 and 2 are
the divisions, the second twice as large as the first, com-
municating with a sliding-door D, which can be opened
or shut at pleasure. At each end is also a door. The
roof It It, in separate pieces, is on one side a wooden lid,
moving on hinges at the top, and available either to put
in food or hay, or to catch the animals within. T T are
Email troughs in front, for the reception of corn, pollard,
or peas. A little rack may be added at the back part;
and an iron handle at each end, as at H, will enable a
couple of persons to lift it from place to place with ease.
It stands upon legs, to raise it from the damp ground,
and to keep mice from getting in and stealing the corn.
The floor is pierced with holes to let the urine escape;
other ordure can be removed through the gap at the
bottom, into which the troughs are inserted, and which
may also be contrived to admit a false bottom, like that
of a birdcage, but perforated, which every morning may
be cleaned and scraped, besides being sprinkled with sand
or straw. The dimensions of this hutch will greatly
K
130
BABBIT8
depend upon the room which the amateur has at com-
mand ; but he will bear in mind, that the less cramped his
pets are in their lodging, the better they will thrive.
HOW TO COMMENCE RABBIT-KEEPING.
SELECTION OF STOCK.
To begin rabbit-keeping, there are two modes of obtain*
ing stock, which the amateur has the choice of adopting.
The first plan is to purchase full-grown animals, a buck
and as many does as may be required, and to let them
breed at once. Some persons are so little disposed to
wait for the produce, that they will buy a doe or two far
advanced with yocjng, in order to see her progeny arrive
as early as possible into the world. The second mode is
to obtain one or two litters of young rabbits, after they
are fairly weaned, at about nine or ten weeks' old, and to
tend them, and keep them, and feed them up, till they are
arrived at an age capable of being productive. Having
ourselves repeatedly tried these two modes at different
times of our life, we unhesitatingly recommend the
second for preference, for the following reasons:—
In the first place, whoever sets about keeping any
species of domestic bird or animal for the first time, will
have a great many little details to learn, which will be
most easily acquired by the observation of individuals
sufficiently advanced in life to do without the care of their
parents, and also so immature as not to require quite yet
the fulfilment of the great law of nature,—" increase and
multiply." There will be nothing beyond themselves to
attend to. We need only hint at the many points of
health, diet, habits, and peculiarities both of breeds, indi-
viduals, and sexes, with which the amateur will thus
become practically acquainted, and which will render him
more competent for the management of his pets when
they come to have offspring in their turn. It is also a
more economical plan, requiring less outlay, and ieaa
liable to "oss. Quite young rabbits, of any ordinary
BABBITS.
131
kinds, can be bought both on the continent and in Eng-
land for a few pence. In case of failure, deaths are of
less consequence ; in the event of success, superabundant
males and ugly and unpromising females will always be
useful to make their appearance on the table. But to
buy full-grown does that have already reared two or three
litters, of handsome appearance, and probably the favour-
ites of their owner, the purchaser must expect to open
his purse-strings, especially if he applies to a respectable
dealer; a disrespectable one might possibly sell him, at
a low price, a doe which, though a good-looking animal,
may have some unseen but serious defect, such as an invin-
cible propensity to eat her young, or lurking symptoms
of pot-belly and rot. Another point should not be for-
gotten: some does, which have proved excellent mothers
with their old master, if changed to fresh quarters (par-
ticularly if they have to travel far) when near their time
of kindling, and. tended upon by unaccustomed hands and
gazed at bv strange faces, will not do well in their new
abode. They are apt to make an imperfect nest, to neg-
lect their young, and even to kill them; and this habit
once begun is ever afterwards to be apprehended.
All these various mishaps, which have disgusted many
a young beginner, are avoided by stocking the court or
the hutches with young individuals, which can be selected
from, thinned out, or exchanged, till the amateur has got
a stud to his mind. All the males, be it observed, must
be secluded as soon as they are four or five months old.
Indeed, unless the breeder keeps a very large stock, or of
particularly choice and rare kinds, or lives in an out-of-
the-way part of the country, it will be found unnecessary
to keep a buck at all. Eor a very trifling payment, which
in most cases would amount to much less in the course of
the year than the keep of a buck, the does may be sent
when required to a neighbour's, and the trouble of main-
taiuing a "royal hutch" will be spared.
But whether old does are to be bought in, or young
ones reared till they are capable of becoming mothers, it
should be carefully remembered that rabbits vary muck
K 2
132
HABBITS.
in disposition as well as in race; and it is verj conducive
to successful breeding to keep such only as are quiet and
tractable. Some does absolutely like to be fondled, will
allow themselves to be caught without attempting to
escape, will squat on the ground when their owner
approaches to stroke them, and will submit to be carried
about in the arms as quietly as a doll; while others will
run away, like wild things, in a court, and if disturbed in
the privacy of their hutch, will squeak, grunt, scratch, and
kick their litter about, to the destruction of their nest, if
they happen to have one.
If, after the foregoing caution, it be still determined to
begin with a stock of full-grown animals, the points to be
insisted on are, in the doe, teats visibly in a healthy and
natural state, plump and swelled with milk if the term of
pregnancy is advanced or she has already littered; the
head, with reference to the length of the muzzle and the
breadth and development of the occiput, should form a
sort of wedge ; ears long, broad, and fine; chest expanded;
legs strong and wide apart. As far as profit and fecun-
dity are concerned, a doe ought to bring forth not less
than eight at each birth on an average. If she constantly
produces less, it will be advisable to change her, even
although she may be young and in good health ; for it is
an acknowledged fact that all individuals are not equally
suited for reproduction.
The buck is at his best from one to five years of age ;
the doe, from eight months to four years: of course,
care will be taken to see that they are not pot-bellied.
Hard and well-pelleted dung is a certain indication of
good health. It would be very convenient if there were
unfailing signs, as in oxen, sheep, and horses, by which
the exact age of a rabbit, up to a given period, could be
ascertained; but all that can be done is, to distinguish
vaguely an old one from a young one. The least equivo-
cal symptoms of old age are, the general solidity and
thickness of the skeleton, especially at the joints, as far as
they can be felt by handling; the development of the
belly to a considerable amount of obesity; and finally^
tho length and thickness of the nails.
BABBITS.
133
Breeding does, when kept in hutches, are much better
each in a hutch to herself, than inhabiting one common
dwelling, however roomy it may be. When a number of
does live in the same hutch, the consequences are some-
times quite as unfortunate as if the buck were in com-
pany with them. If a doe kindles, and leaves her little
ones a moment to feed, the other does immediately
crowd round the nest through an instinct of curiosity,
peep into it, and not seldom disturb it with their fore
paws. The mother rushes up to drive the other does
away; a battle ensues; and half the little rabbits are
either killed or wounded for life. The pregnant does which
take part in these skirmishes, generally suffer abortion
in consequence of their excitement, and the blows which
they give and receive in the combat. Their owner may
read the Riot Act afterwards, but the mischief is done.
THE BBEEDS OE BABBITS.
The wild or warren rabbits are only mentioned here to
warn the reader against supposing that their young, if
caught at an early age, will be of any use to bring up in
a domestic state. Of all the troublesome tasks a rabbit-
fancier can undertake, is the attempt to rear a nest of
young rabbits which have been taken from the warren,
the field, or the down. We speak on this matter from
experience. The little things remain unconquerably
wild; they will eat, it is true, and may be saved from
dying of starvation ; but they will be unceasing in their
attempts to escape: they will crawl through the merest
cranny; their inborn love of liberty will constantly keep
them in a pining state; and they will but rarely come to
any good. This is a great pity, as they really are pretty
creatures ; and in some districts it would be so easy to
supply one's hutches with young, to be fatted and killed
when occasion required, that it would be unnecessary to
keep any breeding does. The task of converting wild
British rabbits into tame ones, is found to be, at the
present day, far from an easy undertaking. The dif-
ference of disposition is so immense and radical, that
practical people are inclined to believe the two races to
134
BABBITS.
be derived from a distinct stock and origin. " Fane;
rabbits," says Mr. lingers, in his useful little treatise,
" are not, as is generally supposed, the result of an im-
provement in the English breed of rabbits; but were
originally brought from Tartary, Persia, and Asia Minor;
and have been made the means of improving the domestics
breeds in this country. They require more warmth than
the common English domestic rabbits; and thrive best
when kept in an atmosphere the warmth of which varies
from temperate to summer heat. The common domestic
rabbit will do in more exposed and colder situations;
but the fancy rabbits degenerate, unless carefully at-
tended and kept free from cold and wet."
Domestic rabbits may be divided into four general
leading varieties ; the Small Common *Tame Babbits, the
Large Tame Babbits, the Lop-eared Sorts, and the An-
goras. Between each of these there are numerous half-
breds. Angora rabbits are distinguished by having long
silky hair ; their colours are mostly either pure white, or
a mixture of black and white, or grey and white. Their
fur is valuable when the skins can be obtained in con-
siderable quantity ; but they are delicate in constitution,
less prolific, and many prejudiced persons object to eat
them because, they say, they resemble cats. Notwith-
standing which, Angora rabbits are very pretty creatures,
and well deserve the attention of those who think more
about beauty and amusement than of profit.
_ The Common Small Tame Babbits are the nearest in
size and appearance to the warren sorts. There are
black, white, parti-coloured, blue or slate-coloured, and
brown or wild-coloured. They are hardy and prolific,
suited for people living in a blustering climate with only
a limited supply of provender at command; they suffer
less from neglect than the others,—though the less of
that misfortune they have to undergo, the better. They
are cheaper to buy, and, in short, are just the stock for a
boy to begin with, till his experience entitles him to
aspire to keep the fancy kinds. On the table, their
flavour is as good as any, though they make a less mag-
nificent dish when served up whole.
Dewlap, p. 137
Half Lop, p. 136.
"BSBBIXS.
135
The Large variety of Tame Babbit is coloured much
the same as the former, except that it is more likely to
produce albinos,—white individuals with no colouring
pigment in their eyes, and thence called "red-eyed"
rabbits, because the blood circulating in the fine trans-
parent vessels gives them that tint. White Lop-eared
rabbits in general have black eyelids and common eyes.
With skilful management and liberal feeding, the large
variety may be made to attain the weight of twenty
pounds. That, or a trifle over, is the maximum. French
Flanders has been long celebrated for, and still produces,
admirable specimens of this variety. It can hardly be
called a fancy rabbit, since it has not the lop ears which
distinguish those breeds. It is merely'an exaggeration
or an enlargement of the smaller kind, though an accurate
eye will observe that the proportions of its form are
somewhat more elongated. Many dealers have favourite
races of this variety, which they style by different names,
and whose respective merits they loudly vaunt. Instead
of wishing to underrate any of these rival breeds at the
expense of the other, we would recommend each of them
as the most useful and profitable of all tame rabbits,
while their size and docility render them both ornamental
and pleasing. The Lop-ears, it may be said, are often
equally heavy and docile ; but then, they are Show Bal-
bits, and few persons would think of putting on their
table an animal which they may, perhaps, be able to sell
for several guineas.
LOP-SABS.
The Lop-eared rabbits are the kinds which fanciers
delight to revel in. The ears, instead of rising from the
head with a tendency and inclination backwards, fall
more or less to the side, as if they had been folded and
pressed down artificially, forming more or less decidedly-
pendant ears. Some few varieties of goats and sheep
exhibit a similar malformation, for so it may be fairly
called.
In rabbits, the first approximation to this peculiarity,
is shown by the Half-lop, when one ear falls downwards
13 G
BABBITS.
or frontwise, and tlie other remains in its natural posi-
tion. This difference of the ears is very unsightly, and
is a great blemish in a fancier's eye ; because the ears of
all fancy rabbits ought to be exactly alike, both in their
shape and in the way they point or fall. Otherwise, it
is as if a man had one short arm and one long one, or
one half of his face with a different sort of countenance
from the other half; and yet, a Half-lop doe, if her
other qualities are good, is not to be hastily discarded;
because she may, if judiciously coupled, produce a few
approved specimens in almost every litter. For it is
curious that with fancy rabbits, when both the parents
are perfectly formed, have model ears, and are hand-
somely marked, their progeny do not invariably turn
out the same; while from imperfect parents, if they have
good blood in their veins, there is a considerable chance
of rearing at least a small number of superior young,
ltabbit-breeding in such a case acquires the same sort of
interest as the florist enjoys, when he hopes to find in a
bed of seedling dahlias or carnations a first-rate speci-
men or two that shall reward him for all his patience
and expense. Still, the chances of success are greater
when both the parents have the desired characteristics.
The Oar-lop is the next stage of deflection, when the
ears extend horizontally outwards on each side, forming
a line that is more or less straight, giving the idea of a
pair of oars which a waterman is resting out of the
water in his rowlocks, while having a gossip as he is
sculling along. The term Oar-lop is sufficiently de-
scriptfre.
The Horn-lop rabbit has ears which descend obliquely
from the sides of the head, somewhat like the " cow with
the crumpled horn," in the immortal " House that Jack
built."
Flat-lops are the most unnatural, and therefore the
most perfect and valuable, rabbits in a fancier's esti-
mation. The ears of the animal, instead of pointing
upwards and backwards, take a sudden turn downwards
and forwards, immediately from the crown of the head.
BABBITS.
137
THE DEWLAP.
The dewlap is a point not to be neglected in the ap-
pearance of a fancy rabbit. It is sometimes compared
to the dewlap of a bull, or to the pendant skin, hardly
to be called a pouch, which hangs under the chin in
certain species of geese; but is really more like the
double chin one sometimes sees ornamenting the neck of
a well-fed old gentleman, or a full-blown matron, whose
circumstances are easy and whose labours are slight. It
has the appearance of a goitre without its unseemliness,—
though goitred ladies are not without their admirers.
The rabbit looks as if it had put on a fur-tippet of
the same material as its own, by way of a comforter,
serving also as a cushion for the chin to rest upon when
" Bunny" is enjoying her afternoon's dose. A thick
dewlap is considered a great beauty and recommen-
dation, but is only slightly visible till the animal has
arrived at its adult state.
MAEKINGS: THE SMUT AND THE CHAIN.—CAEEIAGE.
Other points in fancy rabbits are more conventional
and variable, and depend more upon individual taste.
Peculiarities which are the rage to-day, may be only
coldly looked upon to-morrow. Amongst these are those
varieties of the animal which are discriminated by the com-
bination of colours respectively belonging to them. "We
quote a paragraph from Mr. Rogers :—
" The fur of fancy rabbits may be blue, or rather lead-
colour and white; or black and white; or tawny and
white, that is, tortoiseshell-coloured. But it is not of so
much importance what colours the coat of a rabbit dis-
plays, as it is that those colours should be arranged in a
particular manner, forming imaginary figures, or fancied
resemblances of certain objects. Hence the peculiarities
of their markings have been denoted by distinctive desig-
nations. "What is termed the ' Blue Butterfly Smut,' was
for some time considered the most valuable of fancy rab-
138
BABBITS.
bits; it is thus named on account of having bluish or
lead-coloured spots on either side of the nose, considered
as having some resemblance to the spread wings of a but-
terfly, what may be termed the ground-work of the
rabb'it's face being white. A. black and white rabbit
may also have the face marked in a similar manner,
constituting a ' Black Butterfly Smut.'
" But a good fancy rabbit must likewise have other
marks, without which it cannot be considered as a perfect
model of its kind. There should be a black or blue patch
of fur on its back, called the saddle; the tail must be of
the same colour with the back and snout; while the legs
should be all white; and there ought to be dark stripes
on both sides of the body in front, passing backwards to
meet the saddle, and uniting on the top of the shoulders,
at the part called the withers in a horse. These stripes
form what is termed the ' chain,' having somewhat the
appearance of a chain or collar hanging round the neck.
"Among thorough-bred fancy rabbits, perhaps not one
in a hundred will have all these markings clearly and
exactly displayed on its coat; but the more nearly the
figures on the fur of a rabbit approach to the pattern
described, the greater will be its value, so far at least as
relates to colour. The beauty and consequent worth of
a fancy rabbit, however, depends a good deal on its shape,
or what is styled its ' carriage.' A rabbit is said to have
a good carriage when its back is finely arched, rising full
two inches above the top of its head, which must be held
so low as for the muzzle and the points of the ears
to reach almost close to the ground."
SALEABLE VALUE.
As to the value of fancy rabbits, choice specimens are
worth,—whatever they will bring. They can no more be
estimated by any rules of intrinsic value than can Cochin
China fowls, race-horses, old pictures, or unique tulips.
The author of " Farming for Ladies " inquired of a gen-
tleman who exhibited some fine specimens of Lop-ears at
the Metropolitan Fancy Babbit Club, what might be their
BABBITS.
139
value, and learned that he had, the day before, sold a very
young pair to a friend, as a favour, for five pounds; but,
on surprise being expressed, he introduced the gainer of
the prize (a handsome silver goblet), who, it seems, pur-
chased the rabbit some time before at the price of eighteen
guineas. Mr. Eogers says: " The price of a fancy rabbit,
like that of any other curiosity, must depend upon its
displaying more or less of those qualities which have been
considered as constituting the perfection of its kind.
Considerable sums have no doubt been sometimes paid
for particularly fine specimens of fancy rabbits. It is
said that the sum of twenty guineas has been given for a
first-rate doe, and we have heard still more exorbitant
prices mentioned; but five pounds was the most we have
ever actually seen paid for a fancy rabbit. "Well-bred
rabbits may frequently be purchased at reasonable rates
when young; and if well tended and managed, they may
afterwards prove very valuable." This is some contrast
to the price of warren rabbits in Norfolk,—eightpence or
ninepence each, and occasionally cheaper.
RABBIT SHOWS.
That the reader may have a general idea of the rules
and regulations of a rabbit show, we give an abstract of
those adopted by the Britannia Eancy Rabbit Club, held
at the Britannia Inn, George-street, Maidstone, which
have been kindly furnished to us, and which will serve as
a tolerably clear guide to the subject.
Among the bye-laws are these: That each contending
member be subject to the following fines:—Non-attend-
ance on each meeting-night, by half-past seven o'clock in
the winter, or half-past eight in the summer, first hour
3c?., second hour 6c?. No rabbits to take a prize under
seventeen inches in the ear. That the judges, committee,
and sub-committee be at the club-house on the show-day
at eleven o'clock, or be fined 6c?.; if not there by half-
140
BABBITS.
past eleven, to be fined Is. That the prizes be awarded
before dinner. That all members having rabbits to con-
tend for prizes shall cause them to be at the club-house
at eleven o'clock, or be fined Is.; and if not there at
twelve, to be disqualified altogether. That every member
shall furnish the secretary with a list of all the rabbits he
intends to show for prizes, stating the day when littered,
their colours, and the colours of the doe they came from,
at least one week previous to the show-day. Any mem-
ber or members not complying with the above bye-laws
will be fined 5s. each. That the secretary shall be com-
pelled to visit and inspect every member's rabbits that
have any entered to show, at least three times before the
show-day, under a fine of Is. for every member he shall
neglect to visit.
Of the rules and regulations, the following are desirable
to note ;—That this society may consist of an unlimited
number of members; each member to be admitted by
ballot; every member to pay Is. per month contribution;
honorary members sixpence. That the monthly meeting
nights shall be the first Monday in every month, at eight
o'clock in the evening, at the above house. All rabbits
bred by the members of this club, to contend for prizes,
must be kept upon such members' own premises, other-
wise they will not be eligible to be shown. That any
member shall be allowed to enter as many does that have
kindled as he thinks proper; but no member be allowed
to show any rabbit unless it be entered on or before it is
seven days old; the colours to be named on or before the
fourteenth day from the time of their being kindled, or
such rabbits will not be allowed to be shown. That any
member be allowed to see a brother member's rabbit that
is entered at a proper time; any member refusing to show
them to him, or endeavouring to deceive the society in
any manner whatever, such member or members shall be
fined the sum of 5s., or be disqualified to show any rabbit
at the ensuing show. That if any member brings any
rabbits to contend for prizes which shall be proved to be
older than stated, or should be proved not to be bred
BABBITS.
141
by him, such member showing them shall be imme-
diately expelled, and forfeit all moneys he has paid
towards the funds of this society. That this club
agrees to give nine prizes, at each half-yearly show, which
shall be awarded as follows:—First, for the longest ears;
Second, for the next best; Third, for the next best;
Fourth, for the best black and white; Fifth, for the best
yellow and white; Sixth, for the best tortoiseshell;
Seventh, for the best grey and white ; Eighth, for the best
blue and white (the last Jive for all properties) ; Ninth,
for weight. No member to be allowed to take more than
one prize at each show. That two exhibitions shall take
place in each year—the first Monday in February, and
the first Monday in August; the judges to be chosen
previous to the show-day. All rabbits sold on the meet-
ing nights of this club, the seller to pay one shilling in
the pound to the general fund; if less than a pound, six-
pence. No rabbit shall be considered legal to contend
for any of the above prizes if proved to be a cut or imper-
feet rabbit, in the consideration of the committee; no
rabbit will be eligible to be shown if under eight weeks,
or which exceeds eight months of age at the time of being
shown; no rabbits will be allowed to take a prize for
weight if proved to be with young at the time of being
shown, but may be eligible to contend for any other pro-
perties. That each member on entering a doe as having
kindled, do pay sixpence.
For still more precise details, we are indebted to Mr.
Clinton. In competing for prizes there are seven pro-
perties required :—First. Length of ears—the longer the
better; one sold by Mr. Clinton had ears twenty-two
inches in length. Second. The width of ears; the extreme
has been five inches.* Third. Carriage of the ears, i.e.,
* A correspondent of the Cottage Oardener states himself to be a
rabbit-fancier of thirty years' standing, and that he bred the longest-
eared rabbit ever known. He has her (for it was a doe) preserved
in a glass case. Her ears, from tip to tip, measured twenty-two
inches, and each ear in width was five inches and three-eighths.
Her weight was eighteen pounds.
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BABBITS.
the way they fall. They ought to be nearly perpendicular
in their fall, i.e., so as to drop close to the outer corner of
the eye. Fourth. The size and form of the eye—the
larger and fuller the better. Fifth. Colour of the fur.
These are—blue and white, yellow and white, grey and
white, tortoiseshell, black and white, grey, black, blue,
and white with red eyes. Sixth. Shape. Of the general
beauty of form, any common observer can judge. High
forehead and broad poll is required for first-class animals.
Seventh. "Weight. At little over seven months the
heaviest are from ten to twelve pounds. They are not
admitted to compete for prizes beyond eight ninths old.
143
APPENDIX.
TO COOK PIGEONS AND RABBITS.
english wats op cooking pigeons.
Pigeons, quails, and otlier dark-fleshed birds, have
Ike reputation of being a heating diet. However that
may be, one epicurean rule holds good with pigeons,
which is, whatever recipes may be given to serve them
hot, in all forms they are better eaten cold.
There are, in point of fact, only two orthodox English
ways of cooking pigeons ; namely, in a baked pie, and in
a boiled pie, or pigeon-pudding.
Baked Pigeon-pie.—Pluck, singe, and draw the birds.
Cut off the heads and necks, and put them aside with
the livers and gizzards. Boil thesb down for gravy, with
a piece of beef, adding pepper, salt, and mace. Some
persons put the pigeons whole into the pie-dish, but it is
more convenient to help at table if they are cut in halves,
by splitting them lengthwise down the back and along
the breastbone. Put a pie-cup inverted in the centre of
the dish, to retain the gravy. At the bottom of the dish
put a layer of lean beefsteak. On the beefsteak lay
the pigeons, till the dish is full. Have ready some hard-
boiled eggs peeled from the shell; halve them crosswise,
and make use of them to fill up any hollows that may be
between the pigeons, with the view of making the crust
with as smooth a surface outside as possible. The feet
144
COOKING PIGEONS.
and legs of the pigeons must have been cut off at the
knee. When the crust is on the dish, and the pie is
finished making, stick a bunch of these feet and legs in
the middle, to mark what sort of pie it is. This pie is
intended to be eaten cold. As a rule in cookery, all
meat pies containing hard-boiled eggs, are meant not to
be eaten hot. The pie-dish is here mentioned thus
particularly, because it is not the fashion to make pigeon-
pie with a standing crust, the pigeon being too small a
bird to bone without a great deal of trouble.
Boiled pigeon-pie, or pigeon-pudding, is made exactly
as the above, except that the hard eggs are omitted,'
and the pie-dish is lined throughout with paste. Tie a
cloth tight over it, and boil it a couple of hours. This
pie is eaten hot.
FEENOH "WATS OF COOKING PIGEONS.
Boast Pigeons.—The birds should be killed by haying
their necks broken, and should not be bled. When they
are plucked, drawn, singed, and trussed, cover them
with three or four thin slices of bacon, and as many
vine-leaves tied round them with a coarse thread. Boast
them on a spit, and baste them well with good veal broth
and a slice of butter. If they are young and tender,
half an hour is long enough to cook them. If they are
to be eaten hot, dish them up as they are, simply taking
off the thread which confines the vine-leaves and the
bacon, and serve them with a sauce piquante made by mix-
ing a little mustard, salt, tarragon vinegar, and pepper, with
the gravy which comes from them. If the gravy is poor
or short in quantity, add a little very good Florence oil.
If the roast pigeons are to be eaten cold, as advised,
they will keep a better shape if the thread is not re-
moved till they are quite cold, supposing it be intended to
let the bacon and vine leaves remain upon them. In
this case, serve with a garnishing of watercresses, nas-
turtium and borage flowers, and the heart-leaves of cab-
bage-lettuces. Let them be accompanied by a sauce-
boat containing salad mixture. If the barding (as bacon
COOKING PIGEONS.
145
so employed is called) and vine-leaves be removed, the
pigeons must be glazed, or glace'd, when they are half-
cold, with a glazing made by boiling down the remains
of a ham, with a small knuckle of veal or a piece of shin
of beef. Garnish with slices of lemon and savoury jelly
turned out of very small moulds.
To carve roast pigeons, cut them in quarters, leaving
the portion of breast attached to each wing or leg that
is helped.
Pigeons a la crapaudine; Broiled Pigeons, or, as we
might call it, Pigeons toad-fashion.—Select young "Birds
which have the down still hanging to the tips of their
feathers. Singe them as before, cut off the neck from the
body, and split them open down the back. Flatten them
as well as you can without breaking too many bones.
Smear them with oil or butter, and sprinkle them with
salt, pepper, and parsley and chives, minced fine. Make
this seasoning stick on in as great a quantity as possible.
Cover them also with bread-crumbs or raspings, or with
T 11 on the gridiron, and grill them
charcoal. "When they are nicely browned and thoroughly
cooked, serve them with a sauce made of verjuice or
vinegar, salt, pepper, minced shallots, and a morsel of
butter; or they may be served with the above-mentioned
sauce piquante. Young rabbits may be cooked in the
same way.
N.B. Broiled pigeons, rabbits, and chickens, will come
to table a better shape if they are flattened and held
together with fine iron skewers, parboiled for ten mi-
nutes, in good veal troth, instead of water, suffered to
cool, and the skewers then withdrawn. So prepared,
they are convenient for innkeepers and others to have at
hand to put on the gridiron, and serve at ten minutes*
notice. The sauce for broiled pigeons, most agreeable
to English palates, is mushroom sauce, i.e., pickled
mushroom buttons thrown into melted butter, with
which a little ketchup, Beading sauce, Soy, or other
approved browning, has been rrevimislv mingled.
course, should be made with
146
COOKING PIGEONS.
Pigeons and Green Peas.—Truss the birds with their
feet inside. Put them into a stewpan with a piece of
butter and some bacon cut into small pieces. Make
them take a good colour, and then add a quart of young
green peas, and a bunch of sweet herbs, including mint
for those that like it. Give them a toss or two over the
fire, and then let them have a dusting of flour. Moisten
with a little broth; cook till they are done enough, over a
slow fire, and serve with only a very small quantity of
the gravy.
Pigeons m curl-papers, or en papillotes.—Cook them
gently in a stewpan, with chopped bacon, butter, salt,
pepper, and nutmeg. "When they are half done, add
small herbs, mushrooms, and a minced shallot. Care
must be taken not to cook them too much. When they
are cold, cut them in halves down the back and breast,
cover them with their seasoning, and wrap them in oiled
or buttered writing-paper. Grill them a quarter of an
hour over a slow fire.
Chartreuse of Pigeons.—A chartreuse, in the language
of French cookery, is meat or poultry of various kinds
brought to table in such a way that no animal food is
seen, but all which meets the eye are vegetables. It is a
practical and standing joke against the Carthusian monks,
who profess to live on a vegetable diet, but who are
hereby insinuated to be in the habit of smuggling in a
morsel of meat. Forgetting its satirical tendency, a
chartreuse, well cooked and served, makes a very whole-
some, agreeable, and handsome dish.
To make a Chartreuse of Pigeons, toss up three pigeons
in a stewpan, with slices of bacon, onions, a little spice,
half a glass of white wine, and the same quantity of broth
or gravy. When they are done enough, take them out. •
Then cook in the same stewpan, together with \tfhat
remains, some carrots, turnips, and lettuces that have
been blanched, and are bound round with a packthread.
Also cook separately some green peas and French beans,
which latter nust be cut up into lozenges. Cut up the
carrots and turnips into long narrow strips. Mix all
COOKING BABBITS.
147
these vegetables together, and thicken them with a littlo
strong stock or gravy. Butter the inside of a mould or a
stewpan, and ornament the sides and bottom with carrots
and turnips, cooked, and cut into round slices like half-
pence. Arrange around your mould the pigeons cut in
two, and between every one put a large carrot and a let-
tuce. Put your ragout of vegetables in the middle, and
cover with lettuces. Press it a little; heat it up, and
turn it out whole upon the dish. To succeed in this, the
vegetables must have been well drained. The place of
lettuce may be supplied by cabbage.
ENGLISH WATS OP COOKING' BABBITS.
Roiled Rabbit, smothered with Onion Sauce.—The rabbit
must be skewered and trussed, so as to come to table in
a crouching posture. Dust it with flour, as you would a
boiled chicken, to make it come out the whiter. Tie it
in a cloth ; if young, put it into boiling-hot water; if old,
into cold water. The time of boiling must be entirety
regulated by the apparent age and tenderness of the
rabbit. N.B. Tomato instead of onion sauce is a
much-approved variation of this dish.
While the rabbit is boiling, prepare your onion sauce
thus:—Peel your onions, halve and quarter them, put
them on in a saucepan in cold water, boil till perfectly
soft, strain them from the water, and then braid them
through a colander. To the pulp thus made add a lump
of butter and some thick cream, with a little pepper and
salt. Then make it just boil up, being careful that it
does not burn, and pour it over the rabbit as it lies on its
dish. Serve at the same time a piece of boiled white
bacon to eat with it, and a tureen of melted butter.
Roast Rabbit. A genuine warren recipe.—Make a -
forcemeat of bread-crumbs, minced beef-suet, lemon-peel,
nutmeg, pepper, and salt, and a little lemon-thyme if
sweet herbs are approved. Beat up two eggs, and mix,
with them, the whole into paste. Put this forcemeat
inside the rabbit, and sew it up, and skewer it into the
proper form. Bub the outside of the rabbit over with
L 2
148
COOKING BABBITS.
butter, flour it a little, and stick on very thin slices of
bacon by means of small skewers of iron wire. A French
cook would lard them with a larding-needle. These
slices of bacon will roast up till they are become quite
crisp and dry; the fat which oozes from them will keep
the rabbit moist and juicy. Still, it ought to be well
b&sted while roasting. Make a gravy with a small piece
of beef (or the livers of the rabbits, if they are not roasted
inside), a whole onion put in without peeling it, some
whole peppercorns, a blade of mace, and a clove or two,
with a small crust of bread toasted very dry and brown,
but not burnt. When the gravy is boiled enough, strain
it, and add a little ketchup and flour well braided together.
Make the gravy just boil up (not for a minute or two)
before serving with the roast rabbit, in a separate tureen
by itself. Some add a glass of port wine to the gravy.
Stewed Babbit.—Cut the rabbits up into joints. Half-
fry them in butter, and lay them in a stewpan. Fry
some sliced onions, and put them over the rabbit in the
stewpan, with a little powdered mace, pepper, and salt.
Pour sufficient water over them to cover them, allowing
for the waste by evaporation during cooking. The stew
must be done very slowly, only being allowed just to
simmer. It will take two hours to do it properly; when
enough, take out each piece of rabbit and lay it on the
dish on which it is to be served; with the gravy which
remains in the stewpan mix a pickled walnut finely and
smoothly braided, with a good table-spoonful of ketchup
and a dust of flour. Set it over the fire, and pour it
over your rabbit directly that it shows symptoms of
boiling up.
Babbit Pie.—Cut the rabbits into joints, and simply
stew them with water, pepper, salt, and pounded mace,
till they are half done. Proceed then as for pigeon-pie,
putting in veal or pork, or both, instead of the beef. Cover
with paste, and bake till enough.
To Curry Babbits.—Take a young rabbit or two, skin
and cut them into conveniently-sized pieces to serve, put
them into a frying-pan with some butter, and fry them of
COOKING BABBITS.
14.9
a nice light-brown colour; then place them at the bottom
of your stewpan.
Slice and fry lightly six or eight large onions; place
therii over the rabbit in the stewpan. Then mix four
table-spoonfuls of best curry-powder and some good stock
gravy (which is a great point in insuring success), with
salt, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, three or four slices of
lemon with the peel on, a small quantity of chopped
pickles of all kinds that are at hand, and a glass of
sherry.
Boil well, and pour it over the rabbit and onions in the
stewpan; let all simmer together for three hours ; serve
it up in a dish encircled with rice that has been boiled in
the following maner:—
Put the rice in cold water, and when it boils let it boil
exactly sixteen minutes afterwards. The seventeeth minute
would spoil it utterly!* It is as with the charmed bulleta
of Zamiel,—" The six (-teenth) shall achieve, the seven
(-teenth) deceive."
PBENCH WATS OB COOKING BABBITS.
Marinade of Babbit.—The French have the habit of
steeping or pickling many viands, especially white meats
and freshwater fish, in what they call a marinade, or
pickle, of various composition.
If you are going to make use of a tame rabbit, hulk it
as soon as it is killed, and stuff the inside with thyme,
bay-leaves, sage, basil, pepper, and .salt. Boast it till it
is half done, and let it get cold. Cut it into joints, and
put them into a marinade composed of white wine (or
cyder), lemon-juice, and parsley, shallots, thyme, bay-
leaves, and a clove of garlic, all chopped up fine together
After they have soaked an hour, dip them in batter, and
fry them in oil or butter which is not too hot. Fry them
to a bright clear brown, and serve them dry, garnished
with fried parsley.
Gibelotte is the name of a particular mode of stew 01
fricassee, in which various meats and poultry may be
served. Gibelotte of rabbit (which is the original gibe
150
COOKING BABBITS.
lotte) is thus made:—Cut a rabbit into joints. Put a
lump of butter into a stewpan, and some lean bacon cut
into dice. When they are browned fake them out, and
put your rabbit in. As soon as it has had a toss or two,
add a spoonful of flour, a glass of white wine, and a glass
of good broth, a little pepper and nutmeg, a dozen small
onions, a few button mushrooms, or instead of them a
dessert-spoonful of ketchup, and a bunch of sweet herbs.
When the rabbit is done enough, take out the bunch of
sweet herbs; put the rabbit bit by bit with a spoon on the
dish on which it is to be served, take the fat off the
gravy; thicken it if required, so that it be neither
too thick nor too thin; pour it over the rabbit, and serve
garnished either with pieces of toast or of fried bread
round the dish.
It is a not uncommon practice with French cooks, to
add an eel or two, out into short pieces, when this and
similar dishes are half-cooked, and then to serve the
whole together.
Civet is the French name appropriated to a dish of
stewed hare; but rabbits are commonly dressed in the
same way, when hares are out of season. Civet of rabbit
is made by cutting it into joints-, putting it into a stew-
pan, and giving it two or three turns on the fire. Then
add a dusting of flower, a liberal allowance of red wine,
salt, pepper, and a few slices of bacon. Throw in some
small onions that have been fried whole in butter, with a
bouquet of sweet herbs. Make it boil up, and skim off
the fat. As soon as it is done enough, take away the
bouquet, and serve hot. N.B. But a small quantity of
the gravy should come to table.
Babbit Bate.—A very useful standing dish, may be
made of any size, the larger the better.
Have ready your rabbits; cut them up into joints ; have
also an earthern or stoneware pate-dl&h. with a close-
fitting cover. This kind of pate is made without any
crust. At the bottom of the dish lay slices of bacon,
and over that a layer of minced meat, of any kind you
happen to have at hand, mixed with chopped parsley,
COOKING BABBITS.
151
chives, a large clove of garlic, mushrooms, and pepper.
Upon this bed lay the whole of your rabbits, as closely
as you can pack the pieces, and then the remainder of
your mincemeat, and some more slices of bacon to cover
the whole. Shake it well together. Throw in a glass or
two of white wine, put the cover on the dish, and set it
into the oven till it is enough. It must not be touched
to be eaten till it is cold.
Mn papillotes, or in curl-papers, is a favourite Trench
way of serving small portions of meat, such as joints of
poultry and game, chops, cutlets, &c.
Tor rabbits in curl-papers, cut them into quarters if
they are very young, and into joints if they are full-
grown; marinade, or pickle them, several hours in a
mixture of oil, salt, pepper, ketchup, and chopped
parsley and chives, well mingled together. Have ready
some oiled or buttered white writing-paper, prepared
exactly as for cutlets en papillotes ; do up each piece of
rabbit with a little of the seasoning and a thin slice of
bacon inclosed in the paper; grill them on a gridiron
over a very slow fire, and when they are thoroughly
done, serve them smoking hot in the paper, just as
they are.
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