76 yoiirnal of Comparative Neurology ajul Psychology. 



fact that if, on the day of hatching, there are fledglings still in the 

 cage from a former lirood, the motlier now ceases to tolerate the 

 presence of those fledglings ; her eye begins to glare and her feathers 

 to bristle, and soon she attacks her fledged offspring with snch fnry 

 that the owner is obliged, for humanity's sake, to take them out of 

 her cage. 



Within a few days after the hatching of the eggs, the birds begin 

 to become irregular in their brooding hours. The young are still 

 kept covered, to be sure, but the occasional desire of the parents to 

 sit both at the same time, and the frequent necessity of their coming 

 to feed their young, gradually breaks up the regularity of the sitting 

 exchanges. Brooding ceases entirely, at least if the birds are kept 

 indoors, in a period of 10 to 12 days. 



But while brooding has thus been gradually given over, the business 

 of feeding has become rapidly more and more arduous, as a result 

 of the rapid increase in size of the young and the enoTmous develop- 

 ment of tlieir begging powers. There may even be added a new note 

 to the parents' vocabulary at this time, a call to the young to feed. 

 But as soon as the young have reached their maximum importunity 

 they begin to pick some food from the ground, and the parents, tired 

 and sore-mouthed from the feeding of youngsters almost as large 

 as themselves, are ready to quit feeding; thus the young are gradually 

 weaned, at an age ranging from about 15 to 2.5 days. The mother 

 quits feeding before the father, foT she is always more devoted to 

 the next pair of eggs and young, while the father feeds the fledglings 

 in the day-time and roosts beside them at night. 



A succeeding pair of eggs and young has already been mentioned. 

 Preparation for such begins very early, in that the parents, while 

 feeding young, commence another round of cooing and love-making 

 and mating; the cycle of one brood is not finished before the cycle 

 of the next is begim. Just how early the new cycle Avill be begun, 

 depends upon the season and upon all the circumstances. As to 

 season : In the spring and early summer the succession of broods is 

 more rapid than at any other time of year. As to other circum- 

 stances : For example, the destruction of eggs or young at any 

 stage sets the parents at once to cooing and love-making. Professor 



