122 



at least, the dung from a Dove-cot should not be forgotten on their side. I have been 

 told they do much damage in a pea-field, but I am at a loss to discover what, seeing 

 they do not shell the peas, and though they may fill their crops, it is from those that 

 fall out by the splitting and curling up of some pods before the majority are ripe enough 

 to harvest ; thus the only harm they do appears to be robbing the pigs and poultry that 

 might be turned into the gratton. 



304. The Dove-House Pigeon, and indeed all the mongrels or small runts, are very 

 prolific. All Pigeons are monogamous ; each cock selects his mate, and generally re- 

 mains constant to her for their joint lives, unless age or sickness cool their afiection. 

 The Pigeon, when paired, seek out a nest place, where they coo to each other ; the cock 

 then proceeds to fetch the materials for the nest, which the hen arranges to her fancy ; 

 fine twigs are mostly preferred, but they will also use straw, or even hay, if the others 

 are not handy. About a fortnight after pairing, the hen usually lays her first egg, 

 about four o'clock in the afternoon, over which they usually keep guard ; missing a day, 

 she lays her second egg about noon, and then commences the proper incubation. 



305. The cock relieves his mate about ten o'clock in the morning, and sits till fo\ir, 

 p.m., when the hen resumes her place, and remains on tUl the next morning ; sixteen 

 days after the second egg is laid they hatch. The young are ugly little things, covered 

 only by a few tufts of yellow down ; the old ones feed them with soft meat, a pap pre- 

 pared by the old birds from the food they eat. The old ones, taking the young bird's 

 beak to their mouths, inject the soft food into its mouth, which the young then swallows ; 

 as the young advance, the food is less prepared, until it is given almost in the same state 

 as the old ones find it. In about five weeks the young are ready to leave the nest ; but 

 ere this, the old usually have made another nest, and frequently sit again, and some- 

 times the second pair are hatched before the first could feed alone. 



306. The prolificacy of Pigeons has often been commented on, and as all the early 

 hatched young birds would breed the same year, they would necessarily multiply very 

 fast ; but then Pigeons have a great many enemies. 



307. Much, too, has been said of the quantity of food they consume ; but thiis sub- 

 ject I consider is overrated. I will content myself by giving one instance of an experi- 

 ment I tried. When at school, I was permitted to keep one pair of Pigeons; these 

 were common ones, I kept them in a rabbit hutch, the breeding-place divided by a shelf 

 to make two nests, and they reared a pair of yoimg ones every five or six weeks. While 

 I had them they were fed on tares which I purchased retail ; they also had food and 

 Water by them, and cost me, one week with the other, three halfpence per week ; they 

 were very fat, and the young grew well. I cannot say if Pigeons at liberty would be 

 equally moderate in their demands, but I fancy exercise sharpens their appetites. Dove- 

 cots are common in many parts of the country ; they are built of various sizes, shapes, 

 and materials ; brick or stone are the best materials, not being so liable to harbour 

 vermin and insects as wood ; it must be inaccessible to cats, rats, &c., and kept clean ; 

 and as I have shown Pigeons occupy two nests at the time with young and eggs, the 

 Pigeons should never exceed the number of nests, or much quarrelling and consequent 

 loss ensue ; far better to have double the number of nests than Pigeons. 



308. Every winter the Pigeons should be all caught by the closing of the Dove-house 

 at night, and the requisite number of pairs let* out, being careful to allow a few hens 

 rather than cocks in excess, for an odd cock is always a nuisance ; better to have half-a- 

 dozen odd hens than one odd cock, and cocks are generally in excess, because the hens 

 are weaker and more liable to get killed ; and though a hen may find no mate in the 

 Dove-cot it is very probable she may pick up and bring home some (fisconsolate batchelor. 

 The cocks and hens may be distinguished, pretty certainly, by a practised eye ; the 

 cocks have a bolder look, and are fuller about the cheeks ; the hens look more feminine, 

 and narrower across the base of the beak, and more depressed before the eye. Young 

 birds too, are preferable to the old, old cocks often being quarrelsome ; but this fre- 

 quently arises from want of hens. 



309. Almost all the common Pigeons are prolific ; it is generally in the high-bred and 

 high-fed fancy Pigeons, where, perhaps, for many generations no fresh blood has been 

 introduced, that they fail to rear their young ; their colour has no effect on their breeding 

 capabilities ; those that are not related, and whose parents were not related, will be the 



