ORDER GALLINiE. 283 



thing to attract his attention. Under such circumstances they 

 show themselves most susceptible of education, of contracting 

 particular habits, of giving symptoms of intelligence, and of 

 seeking to be caressed. 



These birds, as we have said in our observations on the 

 genus, are remarkable for their amorous propensities. They 

 are not, however, the models of constancy and affection, at 

 least in the domestic state, that some writers have represented 

 them to be ; on the contrary, though naturally monogamous 

 birds, their infidelities are frequent enough, especially in the 

 males. This goes so far that the male will sometimes intro- 

 duce a strange female into the nest, and oblige his former 

 companion either to desert it, or endure the company of the 

 intruder. The females will sometimes act similarly with the 

 old males. 



Jealousy also prevails among them to an excessive degree, 

 and is the cause of continual altercations, and sometimes of 

 bloody combats. 



There is one propensity peculiar to many pigeons, which, it 

 must be confessed, is not veiy laudable. Many of them, and 

 more particularly males, will seize the moment when a couple 

 have left their nest to enter it and break the eggs, or tear and 

 destroy the young ones. What is worse than this is, that the 

 young are sometimes abandoned by their own parents ; but 

 this does not frequently occur : when it does, they are either 

 exposed to die of hunger, or, if they descend into the aviary, 

 to be destroyed by the other pigeons. It will sometimes, 

 however, happen, that one of the latter will take them under 

 its protection, and bring them up as if they were its own. 



When a pigeon, having fallen sick, grows excessively weak, 

 and especially if he have the misfortune to be in the middle 

 of the aviary, the others will set upon him, and despatch him 

 without loss of time ; even his female companion is found to 



