134 BEHAVIOR OF PIGEONS. 



dom during all of the summer at Woods Hole and had never lost their home. In the present 

 case it was evident that the female lost her bearings and did not know how to find her nest. 

 This seems strange, as the other doves were cooing loud. She was in haste to get back to 

 her nest when she flew out of sight. This shows that one must proceed very carefully in 

 liberating these birds in a city, where all the houses are so much alike that the bird can not 

 distinguish. Once out of sight of the nest the bird is lost. If she is let out when she is 

 young she will be more cautious, and if the male is with her he will help her to find her way 

 back. Had I taken care to teach this bird to find her nest once or twice, she would then 

 have got on all right. 



It is an interesting fact that these ring-doves, though they may become extremely 

 tame, yet do not seem to have any decided "home instinct." If a blond ring is let out of 

 its ca.iic it is very likely to fly off at random, taking no note of the place it has left, and it 

 is unable to find its way back, though it tries to do so. As partly indicated above, however, 

 the situation can be so arranged that it will return. If its cage is opened near the ground, 

 and there are not many buildings which would mislead it, it will walk around and come back, 

 especially if it has young or eggs. At Woods Hole I have mated these with dove-cote 

 pigeons, have allowed them to go entirely free, and have not lost one of them. 



I have found, however, that though many adult ring-doves, let loose for the first time, 

 fly away and are unable to return, yet this is not true of all of them. The young birds cer- 

 tainly can be managed better. I have allowed 3 young rings to go free during a whole 

 summer, and they stayed around the house and at night even went into the shed where 

 their parents were kept in cages. Perhaps they would not have thus gone inside if their 

 parents had been outside. The young of the domestic pigeon sticks close to his home when 

 allowed its freedom. In its first flights it keeps its home in sight, and returns to, or near to, 

 the spot it left. (R 6, A 1/1, R 17.) 



LACK OF INTELLIGENCE. 



It is astonishing how easily the common pigeon may fail to find its home (cot) even 

 under favorable circumstances, and when the field of search is limited to a space not over 

 20 by 30 feet. I placed a pair of pigeons in a cot about 10 feet from the ground, behind 

 the house, keeping them there for several days until they had built a nest and the female 

 was about ready to lay. Yesterday, at about 4 p. m., I allowed the male to come out while 

 the female sat on the nest. He flew out upon the pens, which were about 15 feet distant 

 and on a level with his cot. He was very restless, as he at once discovered that his mate 

 was not with him ; he eagerly searched for her and did not seem to have the slightest idea 

 of her precise location. He walked back and forth hurriedly over the pens, looking now and 

 then anxiously down toward the inclosed pigeons to see if his mate was among them. Not 

 finding her in the yard, and becoming greatly agitated at her absence, he at length started 

 to fly out of the yard. At that moment another dove, from a cot higher up, started to fly 

 with him. He was alarmed and flew as if a hawk was behind him, but circled round, flying 

 across the yard and over into the back stairway of a house about 50 feet away; here I caught 

 him and then returned him to his cot. The next day I allowed both doves to come out in 

 the middle of the day. It soon began to shower. The two birds remained in the yard on 

 the top of the pens until about 3 p. m., when they began a search for shelter. The female 

 was the first to begin this search. She limited her efforts to different parts of the yard (20 

 by 30 feet), and herein showed that she knew that her home ivas near by. There her cot was 

 in open plain sight just below, on the outside of the porch. She had no idea where to 

 look for it. She ran about looking everywhere except in the right direction. Once only 

 did she even fly over to it, alighting, not on the stand, but on the roof of the cot. She soon 

 flew back to the top of the pens. After about an hour's search she flew to the stand and 

 immediately went in to her nest. The male saw her go in and motioned as if to follow, but 

 hesitated to fly and soon settled down as if forgetting her. Soon after (4 o'clock) he began 



