38 BEHAVIOK OF PIGEONS. 



A fuller account of the history and mating proclivities of this same male, which was 

 probably partly raised "by hand," is found in the following: A male mourning-dove 

 (Zen. 3) was obtained when a few months old. He was mated 2^ months later (Dec. 20, 

 1896) with a white ring-dove (Wl). The male regarded me as his mate and drove other 

 doves away from his nest-box. I had to cease going to his call in order to turn his attention 

 away from me to Wl, who was eager to mate and tried all possible ways to ingratiate 

 herself in his favor. On Jan. 5, 1897, this male is still as fond as ever of me, and often 

 tries to call me to thenest-box; if I go to him he looks happy and delighted and frequently 

 drives his mate out of the nest if she answers to his calls. On Jan. 20 he flew to the nest- 

 box and began calling me. Whenever I go near him he struts around and appears to wel- 

 come me as a mate, for he usually goes to the nest-box and drives his white mate off if she 

 intrudes. On Jan. 27 this male still flies to the nest-box when he sees me come into the 

 room, and he often calls me long and persistently. I now keep away from him. On Feb. 

 10, he still flies to the nest-box every time I enter the room; he then sits on the nest- 

 box calling me. On Mar. 7, he still drives his would-be mate if she approaches him when 

 I am near; he drives her and calls to me. This mourning-dove, on Apr. 7, still continues 

 to call me, although I no longer answer him. He was finally mated with another bird. 

 (R 33, C 7/7, SS 10.) 



A SPECIAL CASE NOT ABERRANT MENTALITY. 



This story, which is taken from the Mental Evolution of Animals (p. 173) by Mr. 

 Romanes, has been thought worthy of translation into German by Karl Gross in his Spiele 

 der Thiere. The case was reported to Mr. Romanes by a lady, and is given in her own 

 words: 



"A white fantail pigeon lived with his family in a pigeon-house in our stable-yard. He and his 

 wife had been brought originally from Sussex, and had lived, respected and admired, to see their 

 children of the third generation, when he suddenly became the victim of the infatuation I am about 

 to describe. 



"No eccentricity whatever was remarked in his conduct until one day I chanced to pick up some- 

 where in the garden a ginger-beer bottle of the ordinary brownstone description. I flung it into 

 the yard, where it fell immediately below the pigeon-house. That instant down flew pater familias 

 and to my no small astonishment commenced a series of genuflections, evidently doing homage 

 to the bottle. He strutted round and round it, bowing and scraping and cooing, and performing 

 the most ludicrous antics I ever beheld on the part of an enamoured pigeon. Nor did he cease these 

 performances until we removed the bottle; and, which proved that this singular aberration of instinct 

 had become a fixed delusion, whenever the bottle was thrown or placed in the yard no matter 

 whether it lay horizontally or was placed upright the same ridiculous scene was enacted ; at that 

 moment the pigeon came flying down with quite as great alacrity as when his peas were thrown out 

 for his dinner, to continue his antics as long as the bottle remained there. Sometimes this would go 

 on for hours, the other members of his family treating his movements with the most contempt- 

 uous indifference and taking no notice whatever of the bottle. At last it became the regular amuse- 

 ment with which we entertained our visitors to see this erratic pigeon making love to the interesting 

 object of his affections, and it was an entertainment which never failed, throughout that summer 

 at least. Before next summer came around, he was no more." 



Mr. Romanes remarks: 



"It is thus evident that the pigeon was affected with some strong and persistent monomania 

 with regard to this particular object. Although it is well known that insanity is not an uncommon 

 thing among animals, this is the only case I have met with of a conspicuous derangement of the 

 instinctive as distinguished from the rational faculties unless we so regard the exhibitions of 

 erotomania, infanticide, mania, etc., which occur in animals perhaps more frequently than they 

 do in man." 



This pigeon, whose behavior has given it so wide fame as a case of deranged instinct, 

 was undoubtedly a perfectly normal bird; and had Mr. Romanes been familiar with the 

 antics of male pigeons, he would have found nothing in the performances to indicate 



