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there tie up your basket, aud then in all probability a nest will

be built in that particular spot almost at once. When your

birds begin to sit keep them as quiet as }'ou can. On no account

turn an}'- strange birds into the aviar\ r , nor attempt to catch an> r

of the others.


Doves are very nervous birds, and if one is frightened it

will infect all the rest, and there will be a general panic, and

\ T our nest will be probabl> T deserted, and it is very seldom a

Dove will return to a nest it has once left, unless it is very tame.

Two eggs are generally laid, and sitting lasts seventeen to

nineteen da}'s, in some cases possibly a little longer. The eggs

are pure white, aud of course var} r very much in size and shape.

When catching a bird, it is safer to use a trap cage, which can be

made at a small cost; but failing this if a bird is caught in the

hand it should be well grasped over the back, so as to keep

down the wings. If this is not done the}'' will probably be

injured and the bird be unable to ever fly again. Some time ago,

before my trap cage was made, I was moving a hen Crested

Dove to another aviar\ r . She was caught in the hand, and some¬

how in catching her she hurt her wing. The cause must have

been ver\ r slight, for we had no idea she was injured in any way

until she was let loose in the other aviar}\ One wing has been

useless ever since ; it does not droop, but never fits quite closely to

the bod} r . The bird never looked ill, and has always kept

healthy. As she could not fly, I tied her a long bare bough placed

very slanting from the aviar}' floor to the fir branches above, as a

sort of ladder. The hen soon learnt to climb up into the boughs,

and had several }'oung ones in a nest quite high up. This plan

might be adopted, too, for birds that have lost their wing power

through age. All my large Doves have for their staple food a

mixture of wheat, dari, hemp, and a little rice. The smaller

Doves have canar\', millet, etc. Both large and small are very

fond of crushed “ broken biscuit ” which may be had from a

grocer at 2d. or 3d. lb. I grind it into small pieces in one of

Spratt’s biscuit crushers, (“ The Enterprise,”) and I think this

addition to their seed diet keeps the birds in good condition aud

their plumage ver\ r gloss}\ As well as biscuit the birds are, of

course, furnished with grit and ground cuttle fish bone. I had

some small tins made and two of these are hooked on nails in

each aviary a few inches from the ground, one tin being for

biscuit, the other for grit.


In my larger Doves’ aviary the roof is of glass, and

stretched tightly across it (a few inches under the glass) is a



