396 On Nesting of the White-fronted or Violet Dove.


broken egg with a strong and healthy young one dead inside

just due to hatch. The shell looked gnawed in the same w r ay as

the first egg, and a part of it was missing.


Again the Violets nested, this time in a Parrots’ wooden

nesting box. One egg got broken, and the other shared the same

fate when just due to hatch. I thought the Doves might be the

culprits themselves, but one day the real offender was caught in

the very act. On April 24th the hen Violet laid an egg on a

shelf that runs along the front of the aviary, and a tiny

Combasou was discovered pecking the egg and driving away a

second bird that tried to do the same. On examining this egg I

found it had been gnawed in just the same way as the other

eggs had been.


I decided at once to take the Violet Doves away and put

them into another aviary; they are very steady birds and did

not much mind being caught, and settled down well in their new

home.


In this aviary were a pair each of Half-collared Turtles

and Necklace Doves, several Picui Doves, a Shamah, and a

Half-moon Parrakeet. Two days after the Violets were moved

they took to a fresh nest. I put up an especially large wicker

one, so that both birds could sit in it at once without fear of the

eggs being rolled out.


Again tu ? o eggs were laid, and again I had to record a

failure. One egg was found broken on the floor containing a

fine young bird, and on May 14th, four days later, a second

beautiful young one was found dead (if I remember rightly) in

the nest. I could only conclude the old birds had smothered it

through sitting on the nest together, and for this there seemed

no remedy, though we tried putting the odd bird in the next

aviary, w’here the pair could see her.


The Violets were verj^ undaunted, for in less than a week

they were nesting again. This time the birds were at last

successful. I11 the second week in June the young Violet Doves

were hatched, and though the parents guarded them very

closely, yet I could tell the young w r ere alive as I saw them,

through the wicker work of the nest, moving inside it. As a

general rule, if there are two young Doves in a nest they are



