NESTING. 25 
fix your branches, and have all ready for the little 
housekeepers to start their summer homes by the 
beginning of March, for doves begin nesting very 
early. Having fixed your branches, your next 
work is to tie up vour nesting pans. Doves are 
noted for their frail and careless nests; sometimes 
the eggs can even be seen from below, so lightly 
have the twigs been arranged, so if your young 
birds are to be secure from falling out it is best to 
put some receptacle for the birds to build in. 
I have read a pretty old legend of how, long 
ago, the Sphinx called all the birds together to 
come and have a lesson on how to build a nest. 
The audience duly assembled, but the dove flew 
away almost at the beginning of the lecture, quite 
satisfied that she had learnt all there was to learn, 
and, one by one, at later intervals, the other birds 
followed her bad example, till only one bird was 
left, the little swallow, who stayed till the very last 
word. Now you see why the dove builds such a 
very poor nest, and the swallow (because it learnt 
the lesson properly) the most perfect nest of all, 
for it learnt what none of the others did—to make 
a roof over its little home and to make it weather- 
proof. 
At one time I used to make my nest baskets 
myself of wicker; they are very easy to make, but 
I have discarded them now for pans made of zine. 
I get these made at our local ironmonger’s, and 
the price is 6d. to gd. according to the size. They 
are round, the bottom just a little concave. The 
rim is some 13 inches deep, and slants rather out- 
wards. Round it at intervals are holes punched 
(to pass string through when tying the nests to 
the branches) in pairs, about an inch between. 
About five pairs of holes are in each pan. The 
edge of the brim is rolled over wire so that it is 
not sharp or cutting. If any reader cares to get 
these nest pans, they can be obtained from Messrs. 
Shaw, ironmongers, Bridge Street, Worksop, but 
it would be as well to mention they are to be like 
those Messrs. Shaw make for myself, and also to 
state the size required. A useful size is 73 inches 
across from rim to rim; for very large pigeons 
they would be better 9 inches. 
To each pair of birds allow two nests. The 
reason for this is that the parents will probably 
begin to want to nest again before the first young 
ones are ready to leave the nest, and, if they have 
nowhere else to go to, they may compel the young 
ones to leave their nursery before they are really 
old enough, whereas if a second nest-pan is pro- 
vided the eggs will probably be Jaid in it, and the 
non-sitting parent (the cock sits in the day-time, 
the hen at night) will look after the nestlings. For 
if your first motto in keeping doves is “Do not 
over-crowd,’’ your second should be: Keep your 
young ones in the nest as long as you can. They 
will be all the stronger for it; indeed, I do not 
know but that it would not pay in the end to take 
away the second clutch of cyys (if the old birds 
started again when the young were only about 10 
days old) and put them under Barbary Doves as 
foster-parents, if possible, so as to allow all their 
attention to be given to the existing young birds. 
An important point is how many nesting pairs 
to allow to each aviary? To really do well I do 
not think more than two pairs should be allowed 
in an aviary 16 ft. x 6 ft., for if one pair starts 
before the other it sometimes happens that you 
cannot remove your young birds when you would, 
because your second pair of birds are sitting, and 
you dare not risk disturbing them by doing any 
catching, so you must just watch your chance— 
it may be not for weeks—when you can remove 
your young ones safely. So that, though your 
aviary may look empty with only two pairs in at 
the beginning of the season, it is better than being 
too full, and you can leave your young ones in 
longer in consecuence. 
Possibly you have no spare place for your young 
birds, and you must keep them till they are nearly 
adult, and till quite the end of the season. If this 
is so, be sure and put rings on the legs of your 
old birds before the nesting begins, or you will be 
parting with an old bird in mistake for a young 
one, and this is a most vexing thing to do. In 
“The Feathered World’ you will find plenty of 
rings advertised in the pigeon appliance column, 
The kind I get are made of some soft metal that 
can be pulled open, the two ends fitting V-shaped 
into each other when closed again on the bird’s 
leg. These rings can be had stamped with the 
date of the year, and in different sizes. If I 
remember rightly, my own came from a Mr. 
Hughes, who probably still advertises them. It is 
easy to ring a dove yourself. Open the ring first 
and lay it by you, then catch your bird and hold it 
in your left hand firmly, with its back against your 
chest, then gently pull out the leg to be ringed 
with your right hand (keeping it extended between 
the first and second finger of your left hand), slip 
the ring round the ankle and close it with your free 
right hand. After a little practice you will find 
you can do it without any fuss or bother, but be 
sure and close your ring neatly so that the points 
do not overlap. It is well to have a fixed rule 
which leg you put the ring on where the sexes are 
much alike. I put it on the left leg of my hens, 
the right of the cocks. 
Before you arrange your aviaries for the nesting 
season, think out carefully which birds to put 
together, as if you are to have any success your 
two pairs must be friendly to each other If vou 
