30 BEHAVIOR OF PIGEONS. 



cuff that frightened him and put a stop to his returning to the nest. He then went to an 

 empty box on the other side of the cage and settled down as if he were over the eggs. 

 After an hour or so the female came off the nest, and I then had to go and drive him 

 out of his empty box. He flew over to the nest, but remembered his cuff and seemed 

 to anticipate another. I stepped back so as to relieve him from any anxiety, and was sur- 

 prised to see him deliberately forsake his nest and eggs and walk back to the empty box, 

 into which he at once jumped and then settled down as if performing his duty. I drove 

 him out several tunes with the same result. I then put the female back and she at once 

 went on the nest. The male, again dislodged from his box, went to the nest and fairly 

 induced the female to leave. He remained only a few moments after she left and then 

 walked back to sit in his empty box. Again I placed the female back and left her there 

 and the male in his box. During most of the afternoon I was away and could not observe 

 what occurred. On returning at 6 p. m. I found the female on the nest and the male 

 sitting on the edge of the box immediately over her. This seemed again unaccountable, 

 for in the parental pair the male never sat near the nest. To sit right over the mate, 

 without regard to consequences, was a departure from usual neatness and good breeding 

 that surprised me. I carefully removed him to a perch, where he at length remained. 



Why did this male behave thus in regard to sitting? Evidently he felt the impulse to 

 sit in the morning at the usual time. But it happened that the second egg was about to 

 be laid and the female would not leave. He followed his impulse, and when I taught him 

 by rough usage that he could not sit on the nest just then, he sought to satisfy his wish 

 by sitting in an empty box. Having sat an hour or so there, he became accustomed to 

 the place, and persisted in leaving the eggs before his eyes and going back to sit on nothing 

 but the dry dung with which the box was partly filled. For a male dove that had never 

 before seen an egg, or had any experience in nesting, this strong desire to sit and to sit 

 on nothing rather than not at all is very remarkable. It would seem that the whole 

 organization is ready to sit. The male and female advance from one stage to another 

 together; they mate, and the actions of the male stimulate the female to the production 

 of eggs, and her actions carry him along, so that at the proper time both take part in 

 finding a nesting-place and in building the nest. They cooperate in building the nest, 

 and when the eggs are laid the. male is all prepared to perform his new duties and to 

 renounce, for a time, his sexual pleasures. 



At the end of the period of incubation (two weeks), and a week or more in care of the 

 young, the pair renew the cycle of events. The young are fed by both parents until the 

 female is about ready to lay again, then the male continues the work alone and the young 

 begin to help themselves. As soon as the time of hatching arrives, the previous young 

 begin to learn that they are no longer wanted, and if they do not leave the male takes 

 them in hand and drives them without mercy. All this is to the end that the new comers 

 may be safe in their nest from attacks by their elder brother and sister when the parents 

 are away. The bird has no idea of what its actions mean, for its actions are according to 

 feelings, which follow each other in regular serial order, making the same round each time. 



On Jan. 28, the second day of sitting, the male began his duties by again returning 

 to the empty box; this was done a few moments after the female came off the eggs. I then 

 covered the box so that the male could not get into it, and left him to see what he would 

 do. He went to the box and tried every way to get into it; failing, he went to the nest 

 and sat a moment, but was not satisfied, and soon returned to his box, flying over it and 

 around it in vain endeavors to get into it. He seemed desperate in his efforts. Again he 

 returned to the nest, but did not stop to sit down, but got up on the edge of the box and 

 dressed his feathers a few moments, quite free from any fear; he then again tried to enter 

 his empty box. Seeing that it was hopeless to try to get him to cover the eggs in the nest, 

 I filled a pasteboard box just large enough to fit in the empty box with hay, put the 



