Crak;, Lxprrssions of Emotion in Pigrons. 57 



aiiee. In tlio adult, the attitiulo of fear is not assiinircl nnk^ss some 

 special circumstances prevent flight, as when the bird is sick, or 

 brooding. 



The voice in these large nestlings is still weak and seldom heard, 

 and generally undifferentiated (excejit that the alarm-note may be 

 given a day before the tirst trij) from tlio nest). Begging for food is 

 jnst beginning (o bo accompanied by a slight shaking of the wings, 

 although the bird's po\v(M' of coordination is still so undeveloped 

 that it cannot direct its hill with any detinileness toward the mouth 

 of the parent. 



Tlie fledgling. — The time of leaving the nest is very variable. 

 The first trip on the floor of the cage may take place at any, age from 

 nine to fourteen days. When the young birds first leave the nest, 

 they always return to it to spend the night, ami in many cases they 

 return to it long before night comes. After a few days, however, 

 they fly up on a perch and settle there for the night, huddling as close 

 as possible to each other, or, if there be oidy one young, huddling 

 thus close to the fatlier. This iirst night o\it of the nest comes or- 

 dinarily at the age of fifteen to sevcniteen days; it is more definitely 

 fixed, I should say, than the first trip from the nest, probably because 

 it is detenuiiud bv the crowth of the win<>; feathers and the resulting 

 ability to fly. 



As soon as the young birds leave the nest they begin to pick up 

 bits of gravel or other small objects from the floor. Tt nuikes gener- 

 ally more tlian one day for them to learn to eat out of the seed cup, 

 and when they do first accomplish this they eat very slowly, as if they 

 had to think about each seed taken. When the young one is well 

 abl(^ to f e( (1 itself, the parents feed it gradually less and less; the 

 amount (vf their tVcMling (h^pends largely, it would seem, on the (damor- 

 ousness of the young, whi(di, in turn, \-ari(^s inversely to the young 

 bird's ability to obtain food by its ewu efl'orts ; in this way the amount 

 of food given by the feeders is adjusted to the necessities of the fed. 

 As may be sui'niis( d. the time of weaning is verv indefinite. T had 

 one youijo' one which learned to eat very quickly and received only 

 a small part of its nourishment from the parents after the fifteenth 

 or sixteenth day (although the father continued to feed it occasion- 



