Sex Ratios in Pigeons. 
470 
Flourens (1864), in eleven broods found in each case a male and 
a female; Bailly-Maitre, cited by Giard (1897), while admitting that 
each clutch generally gives a male and a female, reports a pair oi . 
common Mondains which three times in succession gave two males in 
each brood; neither did De Brisay, also cited by Giard (1897), admit 
this as a general rule, for he had a pair of “Pigeons satin” which in 
six years produced some half-hundred young, of which only two 
were females, and a pair of “Colombes diamant,” which of 13 young 
produced a large majority of females. Similarly, Thauzies, a breeder 
of homing pigeons, cited by H. De Varigny (1898), considers it rather 
rare that the two young are of different sexes, and reports that in 7 
nestings two males were obtained 5 times, two females once, and a 
male and a female only once; one pair of birds produced nothing but 
males during three consecutive years. Remy Saint-Loup (1898), 
raised two Ring-doves* captured in the same nest and both proved 
to be males. 
Cuenot’s own observations at that time were not extensive; he 
reports having examined 9 broods,f after assuring himself with great 
care that the two eggs came from the same mother, and of these he 
found that 2 gave both males, 2 gave both females, and in 5 cases there 
was a male and a female. Cuenot concludes that while it is certain that 
the young from the two eggs laid at a time by a pigeon are frequently 
a male and a female, it is no less certain that they are often of the 
same sex; in view of the conflicting data he suggests that the pro¬ 
portion of bisexual and unisexual broods may vary in the different 
races and sub-races of pigeons. 
As to the order of the sexes in the bisexual broods, Cuenot states 
that Flourens (1864), reported the first-laid a male in each of the 
eleven cases examined by him. Cuenot himself presents the results 
of three observations, in each of which also he found the squab from 
the first egg was a male, while that from the second was a female; 
he wss unable, however, to note any constant relation of sex to the 
weight or shape of the egg. 
♦Presumably Columba palumbus; not Turtur ( Streptopelia) risorius. 
fCu6not says he examined “ 8 pontes” but they sum up to 9, as indicated above. 
