140



On the Becl-crowned Pigeon.



arranging their feathers, and only leaving their perch to fly to the

food-tray, from which they ate greedily and copiously of rice boiled

in sweetened milk, with bananas and other fruits cut into small

pieces. The birds very soon recovered from the effects of the

voyage, so that I was able to exhibit a pair at the show which we

organised in June, 1914, at the Jardin d’Acclimatation, in Paris.


Indeed, the Pigeons regained their health so much that I

found their aviary in a state of confusion one morning; one of the

male birds was hunting and knocking his companions about, who,

frightened, were crouching in the corners. This seemed to me

curious, considering that up till then the three males appeared to be

the best of friends and apparently attached to each other. I removed

the aggressor, but the two remaining Pigeons fought, so that I had

to place each one in a separate flight.


I then made an attempt to put the female with each of the

males in turn, but without success, for she would have been quickly

killed had I left her to the fury of their attack on her.


Each of the four birds was consequently put by itself at the

time that the war broke out.


For a year I saw them no more !


When I had my first leave home, in July, 1915, I found that

one of the Pigeons had died, whilst the others appeared to he in very

had health, their plumage and their bills soiled. I at once put them

in an open-air aviary communicating with a heated compartment,

and had the satisfaction of seeing them benefiting by the change

after a few days.


Since then the three Pigeons (two males and one female) have

l’emained in that aviary in perfect health ; from November to April

they lived in the heated compartment, the door of which was left

open, and I feel certain that fresh air and space is absolutely necessary

in order to keep them in good condition.


Unfortunately it has been impossible to leave the female

with one of the males, and consequently one has no hope of their

breeding.


These Pigeons are sluggish and remain sitting on the branches

of trees, which they leave only to feed or to hunt their companions

in the aviary.



