26 



MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 



are fortunate enough to have once made a good 

 combination, make a note of it and keep to it, not 

 only for the present season, but future ones. Don't 

 run risks by introducing any birds unknown to the 

 others, and especially during the nesting season. 

 Trouble will be sure to follow. If your first 

 arrangement is satisfactory, keep to it. I have 

 in my first division a pair of Rufous Pigeons and 

 Brush Bronze-wings. They are used to each other 

 and nest without any interference on either side, 

 but I am certain if I put in any other bird there 

 would be trouble at once. Where you are anxious 

 to have a good breeding season you must humour 

 your birds ; you cannot be too careful, for doves are 

 very peculiar. They will even show you where 

 they want to nest before carrying up a twig. It 

 may be only a foot or so from where you have tied 

 up your tempting nest-pan, but it is of no use, you 

 may just as well take it down and refix it. When- 

 ever 1 see one of my nesting birds squatting in a 

 branch I know what it means. The bird is not 

 perching in an ordinary way, but sitting motion- 

 less on the bough, in the same position as if sitting 

 on eggs. Of course, I always take the little hint 

 and alter the position of the nest-pan, putting it 

 where the bird was squatting, and I find invariably 

 the nest will be built there almost at once. 



For nesting material I use dead heather. I find 

 it clean and strong, and very suitable for the pur- 

 pose. Often it can be used once or twice over, if 

 put to soak in a bucket of water and well washed. 

 I buy it from Mr. F. Hiscock, Blashford, Hants. 

 He has supplied me with heather for years every 

 spring, before the birds start nesting, for of course 

 you must get it beforehand. I break it up into 

 pieces about four or five inches long, and put a 

 lining in the nest-pans to start the birds, and I also 

 throw some on the floor. It is as well not to be 

 too lavish with the heather, as sometimes I have 

 known doves carry up such a pile as to have quite 

 a pyramid in the nest, the top, of course, much 

 smaller than the base, and this is fraught with 

 danger to the young birds. 



Only the other day a pair of Dwarf Turtles 

 built a nest like this, and laid the eggs, which 

 duly hatched. I feared to disturb them by inter- 

 fering, but I felt sure something would go wrong. 

 Every morning I used to get the steps and climb 

 up to see if the nestlings were all right, for the 

 nest was all to itself in the shelter, and no other 

 birds came in, while the parents only seemed, after 

 the first few days, to cover the young at night, so 

 there was no fear of disturbing them. When the 

 nestlings were some days old I one morning 

 noticed one on the edge of the nest, and climbing 

 up to see, I found the poor little thing had strayed 

 an inch or two from the other, and (as it was very 



cold) the hen had probably brooded only the one in 

 the centre of the nest, leaving the adventurous 

 young bird all night uncovered. 



Now if the nest had been built not nearlj^ so ■ 

 high, but just to the level of the pan, and concave 

 in shape, this would probably never have happened. 

 The }'Oung birds were both blind, as all young 

 doves are for the first few days of their existence, 

 and so had no sense to get back to the centre of the 

 nest. At first I feared the young one would die, 

 for it was very cold, but after being held for some 

 time in my warm hands it began to recover. 

 Remember, live warmth is the best remedy possible ■ 

 for a bird suffering from collapse from cold ; it 

 brings back the vitality better than anything. 



It is a most curious sensation to feel the life 

 gradually coming back in a nearly dead bird, the 

 heart beginning to beat very fitfully at first and 

 then gradually calmer and more regular. Some- 

 times, in extreme cases and in very cold weather 

 you will need other remedies too, but I will tell 

 you more of these when I treat later on of sick 

 birds. Having revived the bird, I then turned my 

 attention to the nest, and pulled away quite two- 

 thirds of the heather, being careful to do it from 

 the underneath part, not from the top, lest the old 

 birds should desert the nest, for it is a risk to 

 interfere with a nest, however carefully you may 

 do it. 



Having made the heather lining as concave as 

 I could, I put back the young ■ birds, who, of 

 course, had been taken out during the re-arrange- 

 ment, and they settled down at once. The parents 

 have not deserted them, and they have stayed 

 where they should stay — in the middle of the nest- 

 pan. 



I have also known doves make a nest and lay 

 eggs, then perhaps more heather has been put in 

 the aviary for other nesting doves, and the birds 

 have not been able to resist gathering it, and have 

 piled it on the top of the eggs. I remember once 

 in my early days finding about three sets of eggs 

 piled under a huge slack of heather. I had been 

 quite unaware as to what was going on, for my 

 chief object in not going to inspect was the fear 

 of frightening the birds from the nest. 



It is usually the hen who makes the nest. She 

 sits in the nest-pan and arranges all the pieces of 

 heather the cock brings to her, tucking the pieces 

 in with her beak. It is very amusmg to see the 

 cock choosing his material ; he will pick up several 

 pieces and throw each one down again before he is 

 satisfied. 



At this stage be sure and put down plenty of 

 ground dried eggshell for the hen. If you have 

 no cutter, do it with a rolling pin, it will crush it 

 just as well. If you do this regularly your hens 



