Etc. [pp. 326-334]

188t,.]
Ete.
he was also unwilling to go into a house even for food.
That night, however, Dick was found in the stable,
quietly roosting on the edge of a stall, and this evi dence of good judgment was a subject of commenda tion. The next night, Dick was sitting on the back
of" Billy," a favorite saddle-horse, apparently to the
satisfaction of pigeon and horse.
The weather was cold, and Dick's winter arrrange ments seemed fair. Food was abundant; the stable
afforded comfortable quarters; the horse's back insured warm feet at night. These pleasant relations
existed for a time, and matters seemed definitely settled.
One night Dick was missing; Billy was restless,
continuing to look round as if lonesome. We searched
the stable carefully. No trace could be found of
Dick, alive or dead. From the chicken house,
however, situated one hundred yards distant, came
notes of distress: the cLt-cut-cut-ke-dah-cut of the
Brahma cock suggested other troubles. A hurried
visit to the coop and the light afforded by a burning match disclosed the cock standing up, with
Dick clinging to the feathers of his neck, resisting
every effort made to shake off his acquaintance, cooing and sticking to the frightened cock, who finally
became quiet, and rested with Dick nestling close
above his wings.
This was the beginning of an attachment between
the pigeon and cock that lasted for many years. The
cock-a light Brahma —was a very large bird. In the
day time he stalked about accompanied by his diminutive friend, who managed by many quick steps,
aided by short flights at times, to keep close company.
At night, when the cock took his place on the roost.
Dick as regularly sat on his back. The two were
inseparable; Dick would comb the cock's hackle
feathers with his bill whbile sitting on the other's
shoulders, and after the first night the cock assented
to the pigeon's friendly conquest. Visitors to the
ranch were much amused and interested at this remarkable alliance between dissimilar birds, possessing freedom of action, and yet mutually living in companionship.
Dick was supposed to be a cock pigeon at the time
this nanme was given, but proved to be a female, and
made several nests, laying two eggs at each time,
but sitting irregularly on her nest at first, and subsequently merely with a semblance of brooding, invariably resuming her rambles with the Brahma by day,
and when he returned at night to his roost, Dick was
at once perched on his back.
I camrre home late one day, and found Dick in great
trouble: she was hovering over the corral, and watching something inside. She wanted to go to roost,
but her friend, the Brahma, was unable to go with
her. He had walked into the corral through an open
gate on the opposite side, and was now on the side
toward the chicken-house, but unable to get through
the fence or over it; and he was vainly running along
the fence, instead of going back to the gate in a con
333
trary direction. I opened a small side door, wvhich
enabled him to get out, and as he ran with long
strides toward the chicken-house, Dick flew along al most touching his back. When I locked the door of
the coop, a few mroments later, he had managed to
find his roost, and Dick was cooing her delight at the
termination of their common trouble.
The incoming of new settlers, who raised pigeons,
finally caused flocks of them to fly near me, and
sometimes to light in my dooryard. Dick took no
more notice of these strange pigeons than she did of
the Brahma hens, who, by the way, chased other
pigeons, while I)ick and the Brahma cock together
ruled the barnyard.
The most singular part of my story is the conclusion. Perhaps three years after Dick had become
domiciled at the ranch and associated with the Brahma, another solitary pigeon came, remained for some
days alone, and then I noticed the new coiner and
Dick billing and cooing. The two made a nest, Dick
laid the customary two eggs, and then resumed her
daily tramps with the Brahma. The cock-pigeon
only saw Dick at night, when she came to the nest,
and allowed her nearly starxved mate a brief chance
to fly out and hunt food and water. He managed to
survive this peculiar arrangement, as I placed food
and water near him, so that his chance to feed in the
dusk might be improved, as I had considerable curiosity to see the result of his hatching. Dick trusted
absolutely to her mate's fidelity during the day, until
one egg hatched out a young pigeon. The maternal
instinct then was developed. The feeding of this one
squab was jointly shared by both parents, and all subsequent sittings found Dick faithful to home duties.
Dick had n'many peculiarities. Ifa hawk threatened,
and a window was opened in my dwelling-house,
Dick came fluttering through the window; at such
time the hawk would be circling or hovering over the
roof, and was generally shot and killed, when Dick
would at once rejoin the fowls. The pigeon never
came to the house in such hurried way unless the
fowls were frightened.
Dick's shyness was coyness, if I may be allowed to
make the distinction. This was shown by her objection to being handled; but she was fearless toward
cattle, horses, or poultry.
An open wire box-trap, used to catch gophers,
surprised Dick one day by caging her while eating
corn placed in the trap for bait. The scolding and
pecking she gave me when I raised the door and set
her free, uninjured, excepting a few rumpled feathers
and a badly ruffled temper, was indescribably funny.
Like some people, Dick felt that somebody was to
blame for this indignity. Although I was prompt to
give help, and gentle in giving it, I was punished, so
far as bill could peck, wings could strike, or notes
could express her most emphatic disapproval.
Dick must have been a very old pigeon when she
died. Her fearlessness of animals resulted in her being killed by a horse in the stable-probably an ac