THE LOST DOVE 



it can fly, though it is fat enough to be all right until it 

 gets so hungry it learns to find food for itself. Perhaps 

 you can watch, too, to see why Dame and Sire Dove 

 seem to be in such a hurry to have their first baby tak- 

 ing care of himself. Is it because they are ready to build 

 another nest right straight away, or would Dame Dove 

 lay another egg in the same nest? Tame Mother Pigeon 

 often lays two more eggs in the next nest-box even be- 

 fore her twins are out of their nest. Then you may be 

 sure Father and Mother Pigeon have a busy time of it 

 feeding their eldest twins, while they brood the two eggs 

 in which their younger twins are growing. 



It would be very pleasant if you could watch a pair of 

 Passenger Pigeons and find out all these things about 

 them. If you could! But I said only ^^ perhaps,'' because 

 the people who know most about the matter say that 

 Michigan has lost more than a million, or possibly more 

 than a billion, doves. They say that, if you should w^alk 

 through all the woods in Michigan, you would not hear 

 one single Passenger Pigeon call, ^'Kee-kee-kee" to his 

 mate, or hear one pair talk softly together, saying, ^^ Coo- 

 coo. " There are sticks and twigs enough for their nests 

 lying about; but through all the lonesome woods, so we 

 are told, there is not one Sire Dove left to bring them 

 to his Dame; and never, never, never will there be an- 

 other nest like the millions there used to be. 



157 



