Pigeons exhibit other phenomena with a similar likeness to the
ways of humankind. In pairing the same male and the same female keep
together; and the union is only broken by the death of one of the
two parties. At the time of parturition in the female the
sympathetic attentions of the male are extraordinary; if the female is
afraid on account of the impending parturition to enter the nest,
the male will beat her and force her to come in. When the young are
born, he will take and masticate pieces of suitable food, will open
the beaks of the fledglings, and inject these pieces, thus preparing
them betimes to take food. (When the male bird is about to expel the
the young ones from the nest he cohabits with them all.) As a
general rule these birds show this conjugal fidelity, but occasionally
a female will cohabit with other than her mate. These birds are
combative, and quarrel with one another, and enter each other's nests,
though this occurs but seldom; at a distance from their nests this
quarrelsomeness is less marked, but in the close neighbourhood of
their nests they will fight desperately. A peculiarity common to the
tame pigeon, the ring-dove and the turtle-dove is that they do not
lean the head back when they are in the act of drinking, but only when
they have fully quenched their thirst.
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