246 20YAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
24th day.-—Can notice a distinct advance in growth and feathering 
since yesterday. 
26th day.—Does not peck, ete., to-day. 
27th day.—Pecking again. 
29th day.—It is to-day standing on a brick that is beside the nest and 
still pecks. | 
34th day.—It has begun its independent existence to-day and is flying 
in the loft, picking up grain, drinking water, etc. 
Its iris has begun to take on the final characteristic “ pearl” colour. 
REMARKS ON THE DIARIES OF THE PIGEONS. 
I have intentionally made records on different varieties of pigeons in 
order that it may appear to what extent they resemble and differ in their 
psychic and physical development. 
The resemblances are more readily apparent from the perusal of 
records than the differences, as many of the latter are of a kind readily 
enough recognized by an experienced observer, but not easily repre- 
sented by verbal descriptions. 
Special pains were taken to ascertain whether the sense of support, as 
I have called the quality, is present in birds as in mammals, 
From the records it wiil be seen that it is well marked. 
The young bird placed on a perch feels about, as it were, with its 
beak for some solid object, and not finding it, remains where it is, but if it 
touches anything resisting, it begins to move towards it. 
The lower an animal in the scale the more difficult it seems to be 
to establish the presence or absence of taste and smell at an early period, 
if I may judge from those of our domestic animals examined by me. 
Iam unable to speak with certainty as to whether pigeons within 
the first two or three days possess these senses or not ; but that later they 
do, I have abundant evidence. 
Tactile sensibility and the ability to feel pain are present just after 
hatching, as my records show that even a breath of air gently blown on 
the young pigeon causes it to move. 
Additional evidence is furnished by the fact that a gentle stroking 
tends to quiet the bird. 
They are highly sensitive to warmth and cold. One can quiet the 
most disturbed and pugnacious young one by gently holding the warm 
hand, a warm cloth, etc., over it. 
A single cold day is liable to kill young pigeons if their parents 
do not sit over them constantly and sometimes even when they do. The 
essential vital processes of the body seem to be deranged by cold. 
The eyes, though shut for the first day or a greater part of it, can be 
opened forcibly. Nevertheless, the slit between the lids is at first very 
small. There is no doubt, in my mind, that pigeons are blind at birth, 
