on diamond doves.



345



that I thought were perfectly safe, were startled while sitting, by a

little girl in a large white hat, and the birds never again sat well all

the time I had them. There is one pleasing feature in the diamonds

and that is their care for their young. I have found it almost an

unknown thing for a young bird to die of neglect. The parents feed

and brood them most carefully. When the young ones are too large

to be brooded—-and they grow very fast—they very wisely still stay

in the nest. They stay so long that a day or so after leaving it they

can generally fly quite well. I always put down a bed of hay under

the nest when the young ones are a few days old. If they should

happen to be frightened and fall out it makes it so much easier for

them than if they fell on the hard cement floor. Once safely out of

the nest I rear up a slanting board as a little shelter, and put the

hay bed under it. The young ones can be guided under this pro¬

tection at night, as they do not as a rule return to the nest, but

stay on the ground or on some low ledge. These sunny days the

shelter is much appreciated and the young ones make full use of it,

nestling in the hay. An old box, turned on its side, w T ould do nearly

as well as a board. I also should add that I give no bath for the

first few days for fear of accidents, and that I put a barrier of boards

across the aviary, so that the young ones are under the glass roofed

part and not out in the open flight, in case of a heavy shower. For

even if they were only wet through it is the worst thing possible for

a young bird to squat on damp earth, it is a sure cause of inflam¬

mation, and young doves will spend all their time squatting, nothing

will stop them.


The young diamond doves are particularly pretty, and are

easy to observe as they have a way of sitting' almost rigidly when in

the nest, and when they first come out, drawing their feathers close

up to their little bodies, not moving till you almost touch them.


In this they are a great contrast to others of the dove family,

especially young green-winged doves. I have lost numbers of these

—fine young birds—through their extreme restlessness in the nest.

I have tried all sorts of nest baskets, shallow and deep, but only

succeeded in rearing three young birds, though many more were

hatched.


In colour, the little diamonds are at first a study in drab. I



