igS Practical Bird-Keeping. — III. Pigeons and Doves.


recover. Do not hurry its recovery, let it at least be able to hold

its head up and to sit upright in your hand before you put it

back in the nest, and be sure and do this very gently, or the

second young one may jump out too, and do not attempt it while

the old bird is in the nest. Of course, you may just send it off,

but there is a great risk it might not come back, and in that case

you would probably lose both young ones.


It is useless, however, to attempt to restore a young bird

to the nest when it has got beyond the fledgling stage, and is

getting fully feathered, for it would only jump out again. If a

young bird should leave the nest just a day or two before it

naturally should do, it is better to leave it and not interfere.


When the young ones are out, take away all your hay bed,

save a small handful in one coiner for the young birds to nestle

in, (for a soft floor quickly makes weak legs), they should be

prevented from wandering into any part of the aviary where the

top is open netting or the floor damp. If you do not do this they

will be certain to squat where they should not, for their little

legs are soon tired, and the result will be an internal chill caused

by contact with the cold surface. The next stage will be that the

young one will become greatly relaxed, and will weaken and die,

for the parents will purposely neglect an unhealthy young bird.

It is not a bad plan to put lidless boxes (turned on one side) with

a snug bed of hay in, for the young ones to go into at night, as

they will probably not return to the nest after once leaving it,

indeed, as they are not yet at the flying stage it would be an

impossibility when once they are on the floor.


On the question of hand-rearing a deserted young bird, I

think there is much to learn, and all being well this summer I

hope to make some experiments. I used to think it a hopeless

task, but recently I have rather changed my mind from an

accidental discovery.


The most important point is to know zvhen to take the bird

in hand. If the weakness has got ahead there is a poor chance

of overtaking it, and whilst ever there seems a chance that the

parents are doing their duty one is reluctant to interfere.


Quite accidentally last year I learnt hozv to feed a young

dove. Doves, as you know, feed the young from the crop, the



