Pigeon-'Preservation
If all the pigeon-eggs laid in the cotirse of one summer hatched, and the young came 6" maturity, there would be hardly an acre of wheat or oats left to harvest, hardly a bit of greenstuff in any field. Fortunately, nature takes care of thine; and many a nest is robbed, many a young bird taken by predators long before it gets to the field. Nevertheless, a balance -is maintained on the other side. The birds of prey do not find every nest. The carnivorous animals fail to reach every nest they discover. These facts alone do not entirely account for the pigeon's preservation. The young are born helpless, in con- trast to the young of ground-birds. A partridge chick can escape into the grass; a moorhen's young can swim and dive; but the newly- hatched pigeon can do nothing but wait for the-return of its parents. If they are killed, it starves to death, but it remains on that fragile platform of sticks. If the young pigeon could move about, it would topple to the ground and be killed or gobbled up by the first hungry creature it encountered. It is only as it grows feathers and gathers its wits that it becomes aware of danger.
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