MALE DOVES REARED IN ISOLATION 



WALLACE CRAIG 



The University of Maine 



Eight of my Blond Ring-doves 1 have been reared in isola- 

 tion, being removed from their parents after the age of weaning 

 but long before the age of maturity, and being brought to 

 maturity in cages where, though they could sometimes hear 

 other doves, they could never touch nor see them. The original 

 intention was to rear each dove out of ear-shot as well as out 

 of sight of all others of its species; but since this would require 

 the keeping of each dove in a separate building, with a quarter- 

 mile or more between buildings, it was found to be impractic- 

 able. Of the eight doves reared in isolation, the present article 

 will give the history of three males, Jack, No. 22; Billy, No. 

 23; and Frank, No. 30, and brief mention of the fourth male, 

 No. 39. 



Jack, No. 22. Hatched July 17, 1907. Removed from his 

 parents August 17, his 32nd day. 



Throughout the autumn and early winter this bird cooed 

 very little. But about the first of February there began a re- 

 markable development of voice and social behavior. The dove 

 was kept in a room where several men were at work, and he 

 directed his display behavior toward these men just as if they 

 belonged to his own species. Each time I put food in his cage 

 he became greatly excited, charging up and down the cage, 

 kahing 2 and bowing-and-cooing to me, and pecking my hand 

 whenever it came within his cage. From that day until the day 

 of his death, Jack continued to react in this social manner to 

 human beings. He would bow-and-coo to me at a distance, 

 or to my face when near the cage; but he paid greatest atten- 



1 For a general account of the social behavior and life-history of this species, see 

 Craig, W., The Expressions of Emotion in the Pigeons. I. The Blond Ring-Dove 

 {Turtur risorius). Jour. Comp. Neurol, and Psychol., 1909, Vol. 19, pp. 29-82. 



2 " Kah " is the name I use for the well-known cry, sounding like a laugh, which 

 has won for this dove its specific name risorius. 



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