hunters or
hawks. Never try to capture a pigeon that may stop for a rest at your
loft. He may be in a race and his owner may be waiting for his return
five hundred miles away when every minute counts in winning a prize.

Another large class of birds that make fine pets although they are not
strictly in the class of birds bred by the fancier are the ornamental
land and water fowl. The chief objection to these birds as pets is the
expense of buying them. The list of birds in this class is very large.
In swans the leading varieties are mute, American whistling, black
Australian, white Berwick and black-necked swans. The largest class
are the pheasants. They are exceedingly beautiful, especially the
golden, silver, Lady Amherst, Elliott, Reeves, green Japanese,
Swinhoe, English ring neck, Melanotis, and Torquatis pheasants. The
common wild geese are Egyptian, Canadian, white-fronted, Sebastopol,
snow, brant, bar-headed, spin-winged and many others. In ducks, there
are mallards, black, wood, mandarin, blue and green winged teal,
widgeon, redhead, pin-tail, bluebill, gadwell, call and many others.
Beside pheasants, ducks and geese there are also the various storks,
cranes, pea-fowl and herons in the "ornamental fowl" list.

These are all wild fowl. The commoner varieties will cost from six to
fifteen dollars a pair and the rare ones several hundred. To keep the
semi-wild birds from flying away they are usually pinioned, a process
of taking off the end joint of one wing. The colours of some of the
ornamental fowl are more beautiful than any birds in nature. Pheasants
especially are easily cared for and make interesting pets. They can
be tamed and if kept outdoors they will seldom be subject to disease.
Most of these birds are as easily cared for as chickens.

[Illustration: A home-made rabbit house]

Rabbits make fine pets for boys and girls. They are clean in their
habits, hardy and gentle. The common kinds are white rabbits with pink
eyes or albinos, and brown rabbits or Belgian hares. With rabbits also
there is a "fancy." The Fur Fanciers' Association recognizes the
following distinct breeds: Belgians, Flemish giants, Dutch marked,
English, Himalayan, silvers, tans, Polish, lops, and Angoras.

A rabbit hutch or coop is easily built from old packing boxes. One
third of the coop should be darkened and made into a nest, with an
entrance door outside and the rest simply covered with a wire front,
also with a door for clean