RESULTS OF HYBRIDIZING RING-DOVES. 299 







II. METHODS AND NOTES ON BREEDING HABITS. 



Mating was accomplished usually by placing birds to be 

 crossed in adjoining cages where other doves could not be seen. 

 Visual impressions seem to be the significant factors in the 

 mating. Other doves may be heard, but little or no attention 

 is paid to them so long as they are not in sight. It was also 

 found advisable to keep the mated pairs where they could not 

 see other doves. 



After a few days in the mating cages, a gentle shaking of the 

 wings by both birds usually indicates that a mating has been 

 accomplished, and the two may be placed in one cage with a 

 nest. As males cannot be distinguished from females, with 

 certainty, mistakes are often made in attempts at pairing. 

 At such times, a pseudo-mating may result between males or 

 between two females. Even copulation may take place, and 

 only the appearance of two pairs of eggs or of no eggs at all after 

 a reasonable period of waiting reveals the fact that the birds 

 are not of opposite sex. Such birds readily take other mates 

 when they are placed in cages as described above. 



Fertile eggs may be laid in a few days after the birds are 

 placed together. Thus on May 28, 1904, a pair of doves which 

 had been kept in alternate cages for a few days were found to be 

 amorously inclined. They were put in the same cage, and the 

 first egg was laid on the 3 1st. This egg hatched about 8:30 

 A.M., June 15. The second egg was laid on June 2, and it 

 hatched about 8:30 A.M., June 16. There was no reason to 

 believe that the female had been fertilized by another male 

 before the mating was begun. On June 23, the young doves were 

 observed rising on their feet in the nest and elevating their 

 wings. Their eyes were open on this date. These nestlings left 

 the nest on the 2yth, and one was observed sitting on a perch 

 a few inches above the floor of the cage on June 28. Both were 

 seen feeding from the seed dish used by their parents on the 3Oth. 

 The plumage at this time was well developed except about the 

 bill as is characteristic of young pigeons. The feathers of the bill 

 region develop after the birds are weaned. 



It was my experience that adult ring-doves more than one 

 year old may begin breeding, when kept in a heated building, 



