OVIPOSITION IN PIGEONS 301 
she showed intense anxiety to mate. She being a very tame bird, 
I had often caught and held her gently, but she did not like to be 
held, so one day in early March I tried tickling her head and pull- 
ing the feathers about her neck somewhat as a courting male would 
do it, and, finding that the poor lonely bird received these atten- 
tions with intense pleasure and became still more tame, I contin- 
ued to preen her neck daily. She now acted toward the hand as 
if it were a mate, went through a nesting performance in her seed 
dish, there being no nest in her cage, and to my astonishment laid 
her eggs in due season. The first egg was laid March 11 and the 
second March 13. There is no doubt in my mind that the caress- 
ing of this bird’s head and neck brought on oviposition. I once 
tried to repeat the experiment with another female dove, but she 
would not accept the touch of the hand as the former dove had 
done. Yet there is other evidence indicating that, with a spe- 
cially tamed bird, this experiment, inducing oviposition by the 
hand, could be successfully repeated. 
This case called to mind that of 1908, and suggested an ex- 
periment to determine definitely whether the male dove can stim- 
ulate the female to lay, without actual copulation. Opportunity 
to try this experiment was not found till 1907 and following years, 
when it was planned as follows. 
Method of the regular trials 
The experiment requires an unmated female dove that is not 
laying eggs, preferably a young dove that has never laid. It is 
best tried early in the season (e.g., in February), especially if an 
old dove be used, for, as said above, if the female is kept too long 
without a mate she may lay without one. Side by side with this 
female, in a separate cage, is placed an unmated male, and the two 
are given several days to become acquainted. When they act to- 
ward one another like mate and mate, the doors separating them 
are opened and they are allowed to come together for a time, under 
constant supervision. When they attempt to copulate, a slender 
rod which can be thrust between the bars of the cage is used to 
keep them apart. Such attempts are made many times in a day, 
