NESTING. 27 
should never be eggbound. I think I can only 
remember one hen in the many (of the larger 
varieties) I have kept that died of this, and in this 
single case the bird had a bad fall also, which no 
doubt made matters worse. 
I can never be certain of my own doves how 
long they sit, for most of the nests are above my 
head, and it frightens the birds if one brings in 
steps or “stools from which to observe at close 
quarters, so it is not worth while to run any risks. 
If you cannot tell the time you will at least know 
when the eggs are hatched, for the shell—broken 
in half—will be thrown out of the nest. A hatched 
shell that has held a living bird will have a reddish 
tinge (as of dried blood) inside. If you have two 
eggs, and both hatch, the second shell will be 
thrown out next day, often being found quite a 
distance from the nest. 
If you could see the newly-hatched young ones 
you would think what ugly, helpless little things, 
for they are blind, and covered with cream ‘hairy 
down, and the flesh and feet and legs look very 
dark-coloured. It is difficult to think, as one looks 
at the parent birds, that they, too, were once like 
their children; but perhaps more difficult still to 
understand how such a tiny thing as this empty 
egg-shell held this living bird, and how in such a 
cramped position it could live, and, further, have 
the power to burst its prison. If bird-keeping does 
nothing else for us, it at least teaches us how 
wonderful is our Creator, and how humble we feel 
before the Power that can give Life. We can take 
life away, but all the people in the world with their 
united strength could not give it, even to so help- 
less a thing as a baby dove. 
As soon as ever you find the eggshells you must 
begin to try and protect the nestlings from acci- 
dents. There is always the chance they may fall 
from the nest, and if they fell on the hard floor it 
would mean death; so it is as well to put down a 
good bed of hay below the nest, and remember at 
this stage to go round your aviary oftener than 
usual to see all is well. 
Both parents feed the young ones from the crop, 
‘he soft food forming whilst the birds are sitting. 
It is a pretty sight to see the greedy young ones 
being fed, when they get rather older and vigorous 
and eager for food. I have seen one of my old 
Barbary doves with a young one on each side of 
him, their beaks inside his, and he pumping up 
the food from his crop as fast as he can to satisfy 
the little tyrants. So attentive are the parents in 
some cases that I have known their beaks get 
quite sore with the continuous feeding of their 
young ones. 
It will be a proud day for you when your first 
young dove leaves the nest. You will not 
probably see the descent, but will find a pretty, 
round-eyed little bird comfortably squatted on your 
hay bed. If you had not put down the hay you 
might have found a dead body, or a nestling with 
a broken leg or wing. Now that the hay has 
served its purpose it is better, after the second 
young one has come down, to take nearly all away. 
Leave just a handful, no more, in a corner of the 
shelter for the young birds to sit on, for they need 
a firm surface to walk on; a soft one only means 
weak legs. Like the strong, firm pads of a dog 
used to road exercise, so a young dove needs a 
hard floor if its legs are to be kept straight. 
You are now at a very critical time in your 
young birds’ life. If the parents will go on feed- 
ing them all will be well, but if they begin to nest 
again the chance of rearing the young ones is 
much lessened. I have sometimes thought it 
might not be a bad plan, after the young have 
left the nest, to cut down every nest-pan, even the 
old nursery, and take out every bit of building 
material, and so discourage the parents, if pos- 
sible, from starting nesting again till the young 
ones were about a month old. It would perhaps 
mean less young ones being bred in a season, but 
they would be stronger birds. If one only kept 
one pair of nesting birds in each aviary this plan 
might be carried out, but where there are two 
pairs it would be very difficult, and would probably 
mean‘that your second pair of birds, if sitting at 
the time, would be disturbed. 
Doves vary so very much in character. Some 
may be trusted to look after their young and a 
second clutch of eggs; with others, when you hear 
the old cock restarting to coo, you realise the 
young have a very poor chance of being reared, 
for neglect follows, and speedily death, the parents 
appearing to have lost all affection for the young 
ones, and caring only for the new eggs. Perhaps 
the better plan is to take either the cock or hen 
away (whichever seems the worst feeder of the 
young) on the very first suspicion, before the fresh 
eggs are laid. But here again you run the risk 
of disturbing any other sitting bird in the aviary if 
you start to do any catching. 
When the young ones first come out of the nest 
I usually keep them in the shelter for a day or 
two, with a barrier (made of one of the door 
shutters) fastened across the doorway. They have 
a tiny bed of hay in one corner, and are quite 
happy, the old birds being not in the least disturbed 
by the blocked doorway, for they can easily fly 
over it, in and out. Then, if the weather is fairly 
warm, I let the young ones out into the glass- 
covered flight, taking.the shutter from the door- 
way, but putting a further barrier (made of two 
shutters) across where the glass-covered part joins 
