The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-06-13
THE LovE-GIFTs OF BIRDS.
Acts Of self-Denlal During the Pairing
and Nesting Season.

~ occasions the same behavior in the
! breeding seeson would be no evidences
that it had anything to do with love
But the converse is the case. l have
! never heard Of a wild bird which habit
ually shares it's food with a mate. In
times of scarcity, however, bird has
sometimes been observed to feed com
panion. In the severe winter of lS79-'SO
| there was q good deal of snow in the
| western counties, and the rocks had a
| bad time, finding diet of mangold in
sufficient. Several of them came to a
garden in which the birds We're fed.
Another rock, whose flight betrayed it's
lightness and weakness, perched in al
tree there, and one of the usual two or
three took up a piece of bread directly
to the newcomer and gave 1t up to him
without any show Of resistance or an
ger. l saw this from a distance Of
about twenty-five yards. Quite possibly
the birds were mates; but the incident is
only mentioned for its rarity.
In the nesting season the males of
many species feed their mates on or off
the nest, as is well known. The rock,
for instance, brings food to his mate,
who, when receiving it, futters her
wings Ga frequent habit at this time),
and also utters a hoarse cry similar to
the cries Of the young. The adult rock
utters this note on no other occasion.
In several species of tinches, also, the
male feeds his sitting mate. have seen
this done by the chatfinch, greenfinch,
linnet and lesser redpole The recipients
shook their wings and uttered call
notes. The food thus bestowed could
hardly be termed a 1ove-gift" but
when. before birds have a nest, and APP
parently before they have paired, the
male gives the female morsels Of food, it
is fair to assume that this couretsy is in
tended as an earnest of passon-that it
Is, in fact, love-gift.
| do not know of any book to which
the student can refer for information on
this fascinating theme. He should,
therefore, refer to the book of nature;
and If he will use a small telescope, and
be silent, he should easily obtain infor-
nation from this source.
Among the raptores 1t is probable that
the brooding female obtains food chiefly
by the agency OF her mate. Major c.
Hawkins Fisher (the well-known falco-
ner) informs me that the male pere-
CRIME hunts all day to supply the do
nestle larder, which il in charge Of his
mate
Among domestic birds the common
-
gallantry when the male calls the fe-
males to some choice morsel He obvi-
ously intends the tidbit only for the
hens, and any rival attempting to par
take of it is at once attacked.
In regard to domestic pigeons I have
obtained information from my brother,
e. N. Witchell, who has been for many
years successful flier of homing
pigeons, and has from childhood kept
this and other varieties. One of the in
dications of pairing by pigeons is the in
sertion of the beak Of the male into that
of the female and this is accompanied
by a shutting of the wings exactly as
occurs when the young are fed. 1t does
not appear, however, that any consider
able amount of food Gf any at alD pass
70 AiNt'i VIC ii'''N' AiN'''NA'' ~ ~ IN''
thls performance pelore pairing me
male hohler is passlollateiy lonu OF MS
nome, ms mute ana ms young. ~ is
general RUE Tor the COCK 10 reed only ms
own men, tnough tnere are exceptions 70
TINS RUE lnls very curious lact mas OIL
Ten peefl hotlceu py my protHer II m
dicates that TO the W'le OIL the nest this
courtesy OF the pigeon IS reserved ana
mat the other birds are deemed unWor-
thy or IT, lt should be renembered that
homers I'VE the most naturally OF any
except farmhouse pigeons, ana they may
therefore be supposed to possess the mar
urai instincts OF thelr race III greater
Vlsor imam any otner fancy pieeu'
Returning to wild birds, my opportu-
mites nave been too limited TO enable
me to generalize; iSlt the Following OBJ
serVauons may be not without Value 10
those VINO try TO see III the plru SEN
tient and tender being.
rev days after the arrival OF tne
spotted hycatcher par OF them were
in near tree. The male OFTEN attempt
eel song, and was evidently following |
the female. lie suddenly went lorth on |
longer journey than usual as though |
for larger insect, turned ana went TO
the female, ana IN the gentlest manner |
presented 10 her the captured lhsecu
(Which appeared TO be or the size OF n
Dee). she took 1t sedately Shortly ar
received