cross-bred stock. There is no advantage to be gained by crossing the blood lines of two or more varieties for breeding purposes. This is true in pigeons the same as it is true in every other line of pure bred stock. The best results will always be obtained by using pure bred birds and in selecting the variety to stock your plant you must have in mind the investment which you expect to make and the market on which you will sell your squabs. In all cities the squabs are graded according to size and quality and the heavier birds will bring a premium over those of light weight but in some cases the extra heavy birds bring such a premium that it is worth while to produce squabs of unusual size, while in the average market the extra heavy birds bring a little more than those of good weight but not enough to justify the increased expense in producing them.

After an experience of twenty years in this business I do not hesitate to say that for the general market under all conditions, the best paying investment for the beginner is the straight American bred Homer. Reputable breeders of this variety will furnish stock of good size and they are the best workers and best feeders and will stand more abuse and mistreatment than any of the other varieties I have ever handled.

Squabs from the best American bred Homers usually weigh eight and ten pounds per dozen with occasional lofts that will produce squabs weighing as heavy as twelve pounds to the dozen.

Inferior stock that has not been properly fed will produce squabs much smaller than the above, but at the same time you will find their squabs weighing six or seven pounds to the dozen. If the squabs are plump and of good quality, they will bring a fair price.

The Homers are the fastest workers and the best feeders and they will produce squabs under unfavorable conditions that would discourage all other varieties. For a second selection for the experienced squab breeder who has a market for large squabs of extra quality I would suggest the Giant Carneaux (pronounced Karno). These birds come to us from France and Belgium and they are a little larger than the Homers, fast workers and produce squabs of the whitest meat. Breeding stock in this variety is higher in price and usually costs two or three times as much as the Homer stock, and bearing in mind the added cost of foundation stock it would be noted at once that the returns must be larger from this variety to justify the increased expenditure. The Carneaux is a bold appearing, beautiful bird and comes in solid red, solid yellow, and red and white splashed. The latter color being much preferred by squab breeders.

The Swiss Mondaine is an extra large variety that has met with considerable favor in this country, and the squabs from this variety often weigh as heavy as twenty-four or thirty ounces each. These birds very much resemble the American bred Homer in appearance except, of course, they are much larger. They are slower workers and the squabs require about two weeks longer to mature for market. Breeding stock is usually quite high in price.

Duchess, Runts and Maltese Hens are all large birds and have some merit but I have not found them as profitable as the Homers or Carneaux because they are much slower to mature and do not breed as rapidly, moreover the stock is much higher in price. There are many Runt-Homers, Runt-Carneaux and other crosses on the market being widely advertised and boosted as great squab producers, but the infusion of the blood of any of the larger varieties is bound to make such birds slower workers and less prolific.

Taking all of these things into consideration and as a result of many years in the business and after carefully testing the merits of so many varieties I must insist that the beginner will do the best with straight American Bred Homers of the right quality, or the Giant Carneaux.

BUYING THE STOCK

Always buy of a reputable breeder whose word may be taken for the quality of his birds. The reputable breeder sells in the hope of selling again and sells only such birds as he can recommend and knows will give satisfaction.

If the reputable breeder says the pair he sells are mated it may be depended upon that there are an equal number of each sex in a purchase and that these pairs are already mated and ready to go to work almost as soon as they are in their new homes.

The beginner must not be impatient if the birds after shipment are a little slow in going to work, for he must remember that many of these birds have been taken from their nests and their young and shipped many miles with indifferent care en-route and some of the matings may have been more or less broken up. Many beginners fuss too much with their birds and disturb them until the birds have little chance to settle down in their new homes and go to work. If you provide clean fresh water and feed as directed in this book and leave the birds to themselves they will soon be working.

Some very reputable breeders sell young birds with the understanding that they are sold just as they come from the nests, the buyer knowing when he buys these birds that they are not mated and that he must wait until the birds have arrived at mating age and get ready to mate themselves.

When birds are bought just as they come from the nests, there are always more cocks than hens among them, as about nine times in ten when only one bird is reared in a nest that bird is a cock; but there is nothing unfair in this sort of sale, as the buyer gets his birds at a lower price than he would have to pay for mated pairs ready to go to work.

If it should be found when the birds are settled to work in their new home that some mistake has been made in selecting mated pairs and odd birds are found in the loft any reputable breeder will furnish birds of the opposite sex to mate with these odd birds at a reduced price, so the purchaser will have nothing but mated and working pairs for his money.

WHAT IS MEANT BY MATED PAIRS

When we say mated pairs, we do not mean simply an equal number of birds of each sex. We mean pairs which have mated and married and are ready to go to work and rear squabs without further waiting after they have been received. Pigeons mate in pairs and remain constant to each other for life, as a rule. Matings are some times broken by the birds themselves especially when some accident has befallen the young in the nest, or when the birds are being disturbed by rats or mice, or when cooped and shipped with a number of other birds in small shipping coops.

Pure White Maltese Hen Pigeon.

When a pair have gone through the courting stage and have mated ready to build a nest and hatch young, they remain true to each other as long as they live, or as long as they are allowed to remain together. If a mating is broken by death or separation, the birds will mate with other birds. This rule of constancy is rarely broken and may generally be depended upon.

Some pigeon books say that a beginner can do as well with the common pigeons that fly about the streets as with the straight Homers. This statement is absurd on the face of it. The common pigeon has bred indiscriminately and inbred until the squab produced by it is thin, light in weight, skinny and dark fleshed to such a degree that they sell for about $1.50 a dozen in the markets. Most people would willingly pay three times that for the plump, meaty squabs from straight American bred Homers.

The beginner who secures the right kind of stock has made the first long step toward success as a squab-breeder and he should not hesitate to pay the price which good breeding stock is worth, for poor breeding