purgative effect. The most critical period of a turkey's life is that at which it acquires the reddish colour of the full-grown bird; this occurs at two months old, and is called "shooting the red." Nutritive food seasoned with a little cayenne pepper, is the only thing that can be given to the chicks, who are now to drop

that name, and be called poults. It may be remarked that all through their feeble days the mothers are most watchful protectors of the chicks; they can discern at a great height a bird of prey in the air, and immediately utter a peculiar cry, to warn the young of danger; and so well is this understood, that every chick will imme

diately run and hide itself among the long grass or other plants within reach.

After the second month the poults are fed on common boiled plants, such as nettles, wild succory, milfoil, turniptops, cabbage-sprouts, or outside leaves well boiled down and chopped with a few mealy potatoes. When the poults are about five months old, it may be required to get them ready for the market. If so, let them be well fed twice a day with boiled potatoes mashed with meal, and given quite fresh each time. At the same time it will be desirable to keep them rather close, and to let them pass some time after each meal in the dark. By persevering in this plan for about a month, and taking care that great cleanliness and purity be observed in attending on the birds, they will be found sufficiently fat without forcing or cramming them. Eighteen or twenty pounds is a fair weight for a fat yearling bird; thirty is a good weight for a turkey of any age, and few exceed forty.

Perhaps a poultry-yard is scarcely complete without PIGEONS, and yet these birds are such persevering devourers of grain, that a large collection of them is not desirable for the farmer. The dove-cote or pigeon-house is with propriety placed at the top of the poultry-house, and is so constructed that every pair of pigeons has two holes or rooms to rest in. Without this there is constant confusion and breaking of eggs. The front of the pigeon-house should have a south-west aspect, with a platform at the entrance for the birds to alight and perch upon. The platform is painted white, and their holes are often white-washed within and without, the birds being much attracted by the whiteness of their dwelling, and being also very fond of the lime of the whitewash. Cleanliness and an ample supply of water are of the utmost consequence to these birds, as they are apt to suffer greatly from vermin. If they are kept in considerable numbers, a room or loft is set apart for their use, and is provided with shelves partitioned off into separate apartments, where the pigeons may sit in

privacy. They seldom take the trouble to make nests of their own, and therefore a basket, or an unglazed earthen pan, about three inches high and large enough

conveniently to hold the pigeon and her young, is usually put in each nesting-place. The hen lays only two eggs, but when they are hatched she will lay the same number again, and hatch eight or nine times in the season. The duty of sitting is shared equally between the cock and hen, except that the hen always sits by night. The cock also helps to feed the young. Pigeons secrete a milky fluid in the crop, commonly called "soft meat." This only appears when they are breeding, and is a provision for the early nourishment of the young.

These birds live almost entirely on grain. Tares, peas, and the smallest kind of black or brown beans, called pigeon's beans, are their proper food; but all must be ripe and dry, for new grain is apt to scour them and do mischief. Like most other animals, they are fond of salt, but an excess of it is fatal to them. The scent of coriander and other seeds is pleasant to pigeons, and it is said to attract them strongly to their dove-cote, and to allure strangers.

A mixture of loam, sand, old mortar, fresh lime, baysalt, cumine, coriander, carraway, and allspice, moistened with urine, is sometimes beaten up into a thick sort of mortar, and left for the pigeons to pick at. They are very fond of it, and, according to an old fancy, it keeps them in health. A piece of board should be placed on this mixture, that the pigeons may not scatter and dirty the lump as they alight upon it. The pigeon is not in such high repute as in former days, but is still sufficiently esteemed as a delicate article of food, to make it worthy of attention among our domestic poultry.