110 NATURAL SELECTION v 



experiment to illustrate the question at issue has become 

 available. Mr. B. T. Lowne, F.E.C.S., had three of the small 

 ring-doves (Turtur risoria) which had been hatched in the 

 breeding box of an ordinary dove's cage. They were kept at 

 first in a similar cage, with some hay, on which the two 

 hen birds laid eggs and hatched some young. In the follow- 

 ing April these birds were put into an aviary in the open air, 

 in which was a large branch of a tree with numerous twigs 

 and buds, and there was also a breeding box with hay and 

 straw. Noticing that the older birds perched on the branch 

 with small pieces of stick in their bills, Mr. Lowne supplied 

 them with a quantity of twigs and small sticks, and the 

 very curious and interesting result was that they built a nest 

 on the branch and laid their eggs in it. But this was not 

 effected without much difficulty, and only after they had 

 received assistance. They first seemed to try to fix the twigs 

 against the wall of the aviary or its roof, and waved them 

 about above their heads till they dropped them. Mr. Lowne 

 then fixed some perches for them lower down, and wove some 

 small branches together to afford an additional resting-place. 

 They took possession of this and again carried up twigs and 

 dropped them, and Mr. Lowne then observed that while the 

 straight smooth twigs fell to the ground those that were forked 

 often lodged in the branches. He therefore supplied them with 

 plenty of forked or branched twigs, and by carrying these up 

 and dropping them (and I presume standing on them, or other- 

 wise rendering them compact, though this is not mentioned) 

 they at length (in three days) formed a nest " exactly like 

 that of a wood-pigeon." This " they lined neatly with straw," 

 and each dove laid two eggs in it. 1 



This experiment, though very interesting, is by no means 

 satisfactory or conclusive. In the first place, pigeons are the 

 very rudest of nest-builders, and will sometimes lay their eggs 

 on a dense flat bough without any nest at all. Then it is clear 

 that these birds had no notion how to begin to build ; they 

 required to be assisted, and, as Mr. Lowne says, " as soon as 

 a few branches had lodged below them, they finished the nest 

 which accident had commenced for them." Then they lined it with 

 straw, which is not their habit in a state of nature, but appears 

 1 Popular Science Revieic, New Series, vol. iii. p. 274. 



