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Mr. T. H. Newman.



by the old lien, but there were too many of the birds together,

for though the birds as a rule do very little fighting, it must be

remembered there were now three grown up sons all asserting

themselves, and as one of these was paired with the young' hen,

and this pair were also anxious to set up house - keeping,

naturally there was keen competition for the rather limited

eligible and desirable nesting sites, in every case after the very

first nest, which was made in an elder tree in the open flight ;

all nesting has taken place on the top of faggots under the glass

shelter which looks out towards the open flight, the nest being

placed in a corner so as not to he immediately under the glass.

None of these twelve eggs hatched, most of them were broken in

the disputes, some were certainly fertile, hut the majority were

not, which I think was due to a curious and rather unusual

incident in the economy of the life of a pair of such faithful

birds as pigeons, for I found that one of the eldest sons had

supplanted his father in the affections of his mother, for although

the old cock remained healthy and vigorous, and still is so I

am thankful to say at the time of writing, yet the old hen

refused to have anything to say to him, literally giving him the

cold shoulder whenever he came up to speak to her as he con¬

tinually did, being naturally hurt by his wife’s strange conduct ;

of course the young cock also behaved unkindly to his father.

Can it be wondered that such a misalliance did not prosper, and

that no young' ones were hatched ? At the end of the season

I removed the five young' birds, when the old hen quietly returned

to her original mate, and nesting was resumed during the early

part of 1912 as if nothing had happened to interrupt the even

tenor of their blissful partnership. The first two attempts were

unsuccessful, the first egg being unfertile and the second one

being broken, hut three more nests each have produced a healthy

young one, two being fully reared, the last one, hatched about

January 2nd, 1913, being still in the nest, so the old cock who

was thrown over two years ago is still proving himself as devoted

a parent as ever: the male parent, I have noticed, seems to do

nearly all the brooding by day, it is quite an exception to find

the hen on the nest. The young bird first leaves the nest when



