164 INCUBATION. 



proceeds to incubation. Having laid her first egg, 

 she rests one day, and, on the next, lays her second 

 egg. They usually stand over the first egg, not 

 sitting close until they have two, whence, both the 

 young are hatched nearly at the same time : there 

 are some exceptions, however, to this rule of nature, 

 and the hen, having sat close at first, one young bird 

 may be hatched a day or two before the other. They 

 often spoil their first eggs from inexperience. 



The PERIOD of INCUBATION is NINETEEN Or 



TWENTY days from laying the first egg, and SEVEN- 

 TEEN or EIGHTEEN from the last. The labour of 

 sitting is equally divided between the cock and hen, 

 excepting that the hen always sits by night. She 

 is relieved in the morning by the cock, which sits 

 during the greater part of the day. The business 

 of feeding the young is also divided between the 

 parents ; and the cock has often brought up the 

 young, on the accidental loss of his mate. Should 

 not the eggs be hatched in due time from weakness, 

 some small assistance may be necessary to extricate 

 the bird from the shell ; or, should they be addled, 

 it is generally held necessary to provide the cock 

 and hen with a borrowed pair of young, or at least 

 one, to feed off their soft meat, which else may stag- 

 nate in their crops, and make them sick ; but, as 

 young ones for this purpose may not always be at 

 hand, the exercise of flying, fresh gravel, and those 

 saline compositions generally given to pigeons, are 

 the proper remedy. Addled, or rotten eggs, should 

 be immediately removed. 



Pigeons are extremely liable to be lost by acci- 



