244



The Marquess of Tavistock—Neglect of Duty



of maternal warmth is more than I can say, but that he does know

all his actions seem to declare in a way which renders any alternative

explanation of his conduct very difficult. I think the strongest and

most significant example I ever knew was that of a cock Many-

coloured Parrakeet at Keston who, when his wife, for some

unaccountable reason, struck work when the babies were still quite

tiny, went in and brooded them himself all night. A cock Many-

colour is no more naturally given to brooding young than is a

domestic cock, and this particular bird, as far as I am aware, has

never repeated the action, the necessity for it not having again

arisen.


Doves, as aviculturists are well aware, are often sadly deficient

in those virtues wherewith popular sentiment has endowed them,

and a pair of Diamond Doves in a friend’s aviary recently provided

a most distressing example of parental conflict over a matter of

child upbringing. These Doves were young birds without previous

experience of the successful rearing of a family. They had tw T o

nests earlier in the year, one producing a chick dead in the shell,

the other a young one that only lived a few days. Whether the

death of the latter was due to the hen neglecting to brood it

sufficiently I cannot say, but from his subsequent behaviour it

rather looked as though the cock was of that opinion. The third

venture was more successful, the nesting continuing to flourish for

about ten days. The hen brooded it as usual during the night of the

tenth day, and her mate relieved her when she came off for breakfast

in the early morning, but when the time came for her to take

another spell, to his horror and disgust she flatly refused, saying,

no doubt, that it was a very hot day, and that anyhow the baby

was quite old enough to do without brooding. The cock, on the

contrary, was certain that it was still far too young to be left, and

his rage and annoyance knew no bounds. He chased his neglectful

spouse about the aviary, not merely pecking her as a male Dove will

do when driving his hen to nest, but striking her with his wings-

and sitting on her, not merely metaphorically, but also literally !

Not only was he angry with her, but he was out of humour with the

whole world, and savagely hunted the Canaries sharing the same



