164 BIRDS OF THE WATER 



Of the two nests got with eggs, the first 

 was found on November 11th, and the young 

 bird was able on January 12th to fly a 

 yard or two, and would no doubt then 

 have left the nest. Sixty-one days, there- 

 fore, elapsed between my discoverv of the 

 egg and the evacuation of the nest by the 

 yoimg bird. 



The second nest contained an egg on 

 December 23rd, and the nestling hatched 

 from it was fit to fly a yard or two on 

 February 15th, or fifty-four days later. 



The egg, moreover, in the first nest was 

 certainly not fresh when discovered, and in 

 the second nest was very much incubated, 

 the darkness of the young bird's body 

 showing very markedly through the shell. 



Some seventy days, therefore, must elapse 

 from the laying of the egg to the abandon- 

 ment of the nest by the young bird. 



Such a long period of defencelessness 

 must be compensated for by long life and 

 a very small percentage of loss to nest and 

 nestlings, the more so as it is possible that 

 with breeding operations so unusually pro- 

 tracted, the pigeon may lay but a single 



