64 BEHAVIOR OF PIGEONS. 



outside in viable conditions. The old birds kept on feeding the young until about Dec. 7, 

 or between 7 and 8 weeks. 1 



I notice that a pair of young mourning-doves, 1 and 2 days old, are sleeping quite 

 uncovered in front of the male. The young birds are in the nest, and the parent bird 

 seems to have drawn back a little to one side of the nest so that the young can sit uncovered. 

 The heat is oppressive for the first time this season, and the birds are left uncovered 

 because they are more comfortable so. In cold weather this would not happen. 



When a nest-box with young is placed on the floor of the pen, the young will usually 

 begin to get up on the edge of the box a few days before they are 2 weeks old. At 2 weeks 

 they will often venture to jump from the box to the floor of the pen, a height of 3 to 4 

 inches. A pair of blond ring-doves got out of the box 2 days .before they were 2 weeks 

 old. The young are unable to fly at 2 weeks and these young were plainly prematurely 

 out of the nest. Similarly a young hybrid from a white fantail and a ring-dove, at just 

 2 weeks old a full week before it would venture to fly from its nest stepped out of the 

 nest-box, which was kept on the floor, on to the floor of the pen, and walked around with 

 the foster-parents, which were eating their breakfast. The young bird then, without 

 experience, appreciates the conditions which make it safe or unsafe to leave the nest. 

 If the nest were several feet above the floor it would not have ventured out for at least 

 a week. 



At two weeks of age, and the first or second day after they get out of the nest, the young 

 quite generally learn to pick up seed and bread crumbs, if these are placed near them; 

 but they are almost invariably, if not always, led to do this by seeing the parents eat. 

 The parental example is the guiding stimulus. 



A female passenger-pigeon left her young early in the morning at the age of about 

 8 days, and neither parent covered the young during the day, although the mother con- 

 tinued to cover the bird for two nights more. Two days later the parent birds began a 

 new cycle. The young of this second cycle were left uncovered when 9 days old. When 

 their young were only a week old, a pair of fantails ceased to sit continuously and started 

 a new cycle. Sitting continued intermittently until 3 days later, when the female took 

 the perch at night, leaving the young uncovered. Both birds of a pair of mourning-doves 

 came off the nest during the daytime, leaving the young alone at the ages of 6 and 8 days. 

 Five days later the female left the young at night also and sat on the perch with the male. 

 They were thus left uncovered before they were quite 2 weeks old. 



A pair of white-face pigeons (Leucosarcia picata) gave, in contrast with the above 

 cases, remarkable and unceasing care to a young bird hatched by them. One or the other 

 of the parents remained every minute with the young until it was 19 days old; this young- 

 ster, moreover, was kept "covered" during the whole time, except for a short time towards 

 the last, when it sometimes sat beside the parent rather than under it. I have never 

 known any other pigeons to keep close to the nest after the young got to be 10 or 12 days 

 old; frequently the old birds begin to leave the nest a little at the end of 6 or 7 days. A 

 new egg was laid 2 days later, but it did not develop. Evidently the close care of the young 

 did not give the male a fair chance to fertilize this egg. One such young of this species, 

 when 6 days old, was put in a cage with the parents and taken on a railway journey of 

 nearly 1,000 miles. The old birds took care of it on the way, covering it as usual. On 

 arrival, I left the young and old in the cage over-night. On the next day I moved them to 

 a new pen, placing the nest-box with the young in it on a shelf. In this new position the 

 old birds did not seem to feed it and refused to cover it. 



1 This pair did not renew the cycle immediately, and this may partly account for the long period of feeding. A 

 new cycle was started on Dec. 10. EDITOR. 



