BIRD STORIES 



whines and whimpers in a queer voice, and reaches out 

 with his teasing wings, and flaps them against her breast, 

 stretching up with his beak all the while and feeling for 

 a chance to poke his head into her mouth again. And 

 often, do you know, his twin sister gets her beak in one 

 side of Mother Pigeon's mouth while he is feeding at the 

 other side, and Mother just stands there and pumps and 

 pumps. The two comical little birds, with feet braced 

 and necks stretched up as far as they can reach, and 

 their heads crowded as far in as they can push them, look 

 so funny they would make you laugh to see them. Then, 

 the next meal Father Pigeon feeds them the same way, 

 usually one at a time, but often both together. 



Now, I think, don't you, because that is the way tame 

 Father and Mother Pigeon serve breakfast and dinner 

 and supper and luncheons in between whiles to their 

 tame twins, that wild Dame and Sire Dove would give 

 food in very much the same way to their one wild baby? 

 It might not be exactly the same, because tame pigeons 

 and wild Passenger Pigeons are not the same kind of 

 doves; but they are cousins of a sort, which means that 

 they must have some of the same family habits. 



If you should find a nest in Michigan in May, perhaps 

 you can learn more about these matters, and watch to 

 see whether, when the baby dove is all feathered out. 

 Dame or Sire Dove pushes it out of the nest even before 



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