Mary Ann DiCecca, age 10, of Somerville, Massachusetts, for her question:

 Does only the female Pigeon give milk?

We call it pigeon's milk but, of course, it is not the kind of milk we get from a cow. Only the mammals can produce real milk for their babies. Pigeons are birds and birds are not mammals. What the baby pigeons get is partly digested food. They reach downto scoop this so called pigeon's milk from the crop of either the mother or the father bird. Pigeons are very devoted parents and both the male and the female create supplies of the pigeon baby food.

The parent birds go off to forage and stuff themselves with food. They can carry more groceries in their crops than they could in their bills. On the way home, the food starts tc digest and change into soupy liquid. This is just the right formula for the babies. When a parent bird arrives back home, it opens its mouth wide and the youngsters know just what to do. One or both of them dip their beaks down mama's or papa's throat to scoop up the formula.