OVIPOSITION INDUCED BY THE MALE IN PIGEONS 
WALLACE CRAIG 
Department of Philosophy, University of Maine 
The influence of the male upon the time of oviposition is a mat- 
ter in regard to which pigeons differ from some other birds, notably 
the domestic fowl. With regard to the fowl I have consulted a 
number of poultry keepers and experts, chiefly Dr. Raymond 
Pearl and Dr. Frank M. Surface, of the Maine Agricultural Ex- 
periment Station, where the most extensive studies of the egg- 
laying of fowls have been, and are being carried on. Dr. Pearl 
and Dr. Surface tell me that the domestic hen, and also the hen 
of the wild Gallus bankiva so far as can be ascertained, commence 
their spring laying at an approximately fixed date which can nei- 
ther be deferred by withholding the cock nor advanced by giving 
the cock before the usual time. 
Pigeons differ widely from poultry in this respect. If, from the 
winter season onward, an old female piegon be kept unmated and 
isolated, she refrains from egg-laying, in evident distress for want 
of a mate, until the breeding season is far advanced; at length 
she does begin to lay, but her laying without a mate manifestly 
partakes of the abnormal. And a virgin pigeon, if kept isolated 
from other pigeons, may postpone her laying for a still longer pe- 
riod. On the other hand, a female pigeon, young or old, will lay 
very early in the season if she be early mated. Moreover, there 
is a pretty definite interval between the first copulation and the 
laying of the first egg, namely six or seven days; if the egg be de- 
layed much beyond this time, the fact indicates some indisposi- 
tion on the part of the female. And as the pair rear brood after 
brood throughout the season, this time-relation between copula- 
tion and egg-laying is regularly repeated. 
299 
