50 Forest Birds. 



ground. When the bird has been sitting some few 

 days, the top of the nest assumes a whitish appear- 

 ance, caused by a white powder deposited from the 

 bird's plumage. 



Two or three broods are reared in a season, the first 

 eggs being laid in April, sometimes in March, and a 

 Woodpigeon has even been found sitting on two eggs 

 in September. The young are hatched in seventeen 

 days ; they are at first covered with yellowish down, 

 .and their eyes are covered by a film for the first 

 nine days. They are fed from the beaks of the 

 parent birds with a whitish secretion, often de- 

 scribed as milk, which is supplied from the crops 

 of the old birds. This manner of feeding the young 

 applies to all the pigeon family. 



WOODPIGEOXS AT WESTMINSTER. 



From an instantaneous photograph. 



