_DOVES AND PIGEONS._
[Illustration: The Bath.]
1. Everybody likes the dove; it is such a pretty bird, and is always
so clean. It flies all about the yard, the garden, and the street.
Even the rudest boys do not often disturb it.
2. It is about the size of a half-grown chicken, and looks more like a
chicken than any of the other birds we have studied.
3. The doves about our houses are usually white, or a bluish gray.
They live in pairs, each pair having its own nest, or home; but where
doves are kept, many pairs live in the same house or dove-cote.
4. They have a short, pointed bill, like a chicken, and strong legs
and toes, so that they can walk and scratch easily.
[Illustration]
5. The mother dove lays but two eggs before sitting, and then her mate
sits on the nest half of the time until the eggs are hatched. The
young doves, called squabs, are covered with down like chickens, but,
unlike chickens, the old ones must feed them a week or two before they
are able to go about by themselves.
6. Both the father and mother dove feed the young ones with a kind of
milky curd which comes from their own crops.
7. When the chicken drinks, it sips its bill full, and then raises
its head and swallows; but the dove does not raise its head until it
has drank enough.
8. The pigeon--which is another name for the dove--has very strong
wings, and can fly far and fast without tiring. When taken from their
home a great distance, pigeons will fly straight back.
9. Before we had railroads and telegraphs, people would take pigeons
away from home, and send them back with a letter tied under their
wings. These were called carrier-pigeons.
10. The doves in each home are very fond of each other. We can hear
the father dove softly cooing to his mate at almost any time when they
are about.
11. One day a farmer shot a male dove, and tied the body to a stake to
scare away other birds. The poor widow was in great distress. She
first tried to call him away, and then she brought him food. When she
saw he did not eat, her cries were pitiable.
12. She would not leave the body, but day after day she continued to
walk about the stake, until she had worn a beaten track around it. The
farmer's wife took pity on her, and took away the dead bird, and then
she went back to the dove-cote.
_THREE LITTLE DOVES._
Three little doves put on their gloves,
And then sat down to dine;
These little doves, they soiled their gloves,
And soon were heard to whine--
"Oh, mother dear, come here, come here,
For we have soiled our gloves!"
"Soiled your gloves, you naughty doves,
You shan't sit up till nine."
"Coo, coo, coo!"
These little doves, they washed their gloves,
And hung them on the line;
These little doves, they dried their gloves,
And thought it very fine.
"Oh, mother dear, come here, come here,
For we have washed our gloves!"
"Washed your gloves, you loves of doves,
Then you shall stay till nine!"
"Coo, coo, coo!"
[Illustration: The Wren and her Nest.]