236 FEATHERED FRIENDS. 



mate except when the two were together in the spring, 

 when the male developed two little protuberances on the 

 base of his upper mandible, which lasted during the 

 season and gradually decreased in size as the months 

 wore on, disappearing in winter, when only a very 

 trifling difference in size enabled me to tell which was 

 which, and then only when the two birds were sitting 

 or standing side by side, for apart it was impossible 

 to differentiate them. 



Notwithstanding the above evidence that the male, 

 at all events, was not quite insensible to the genial 

 influence of the season, my Wood Pigeons never made 

 the least attempt to build a nest, though I kept them 

 for two or three years, nor did I ever hear them 

 "coo", or make any sound except a slight hissing 

 kind of grunt when they were disturbed. 



They were very peaceable and never interfered with 

 any of their companions, although some of the latter 

 were extremely unkind to them. A rascal of a Bengal 

 Parrakeet, for instance, led them a sad life, darting at 

 them savagely and hanging on by his beak to its long 

 tail whenever one of them made its appearance in the 

 outside aviary to feed, so that at last nothing but the 

 direst pangs of hunger would force them to come out 

 and face the tyrant, and the hen Dove became so 

 weak that she was unable to rise from the ground. 



Fortunately I discovered the hardships to which they 

 were subjected in time to save their lives, and banished 



