56 BEHAVIOR OF PIGEONS. 



No; for he calls for his mate and he is as loving as ever. I can think of no reason or feel- 

 ing that should move him to sleep apart from his mate. But certain it is that from the 

 moment he sees his mate on the nest, he keeps away from her at night and also in the day, 

 except when he wants to sit. It is curious and mysterious. How could such an instinct 

 arise? Suppose birds have been accustomed to sleep in a certain place; that is enough 

 to establish a strong preference for the place. If the female has laid her egg in a nest 

 in some other place, the male will have two desires one to roost in the old place 

 and one to go to the female. If the two motives were equally strong, the male might 

 do either. But natural selection would favor those that remained away from the nest. 

 (B 2c, R 17, R 33.) 



Deviation from normal conduct is characteristic of the male's attempt to break 

 up the incubation cycle. Such behavior was frequently noted in the daily record 

 of several incomplete incubations. The male sits on the perch close to the nest- 

 box, sits on the edge of the nest-box, or may attempt to crowd the female off the 

 nest. This tendency was associated with many other deviations from normal 

 masculine behavior such as refusal to participate in incubation during the day, 

 attempts at copulation, etc. For further details the reader is referred to the 

 excerpts from the incubation records given in Chapter VII. 



The first egg of the season was laid by a passenger X blond-ring pair at 4 p. m. The 

 female remained over the egg that night. The next night, at 8 o'clock, I found the male 

 on the nest and the female on the perch. I can not say how it happened. Possibly the 

 light in the room led the male bird to think it was morning and so he went on to relieve 

 the female. It may be that he is again beginning his irregular sitting of last year. When 

 I drove the male passenger off and put the female on the nest he did not try to return. 

 This male passenger-pigeon sat on the eggs regularly of nights, the female meanwhile 

 sitting on the edge of the nest-box. (R 17.) 



ALTERNATION. 



Fulton, on page 36 of his work previously cited, made the following statements, 

 which apply to fancy or domestic pigeons: 



"And now the merits of her mate grow apparent. He does not leave his lady to bear a solitary 

 burden of matrimonial care, while he has indulged in the pleasures only of their union. He takes a 

 share, though a minor one, of the task of incubating; and he more than performs his half share of the 

 labour of rearing the young. At about noon, sometimes earlier, the hens leave their nests for air 

 and exercise as well as food, and the cocks take their place upon the eggs. If you enter a pigeon loft 

 at about 2 o'clock in the afternoon you will find all of the cock-birds sitting a family arrangement 

 that affords an easy method of discovering which birds are paired with which. The ladies are to be 

 seen taking their respective turns in the same locations early in the morning, in the evening, and all 

 the night. The older a cock-pigeon grows, the more fatherly does he become. So great is his fond- 

 ness for having a rising family that an experienced unmated cock-bird, if he can but induce some 

 flighty young hen to lay him a couple of eggs as a great favor, will almost entirely take the charge 

 of hatching and rearing them by himself." 



A female passenger-pigeon left her egg at 9 a. m. to feed for a few moments. The male 

 saw her, but did not offer to sit. She soon returned and sat until about 10 o'clock, when 

 he came and relieved her. She remained off until 4 p. m., then flew to the nest, but soon 

 walked off to a perch near by when the male did not resign. At 4 h 18 m the male, after 

 bowing a few times in recognition of his mate or to invite her to take the nest,. walked off 

 and flew to the farther end of the cot; she at once took her place on the nest. It was 

 interesting to see the males of several varieties two fantails, an owl-pigeon, and a com- 

 mon dove all resigning their nest at about the same time, i.e., about 4 p. m. 



