The eggs hatch on consecutive days, 14 days after being laid. The chick pips a hole in the egg and chips a neat line around the eggs so that the large end folds off like a cap. The nestlings are covered with thin down and are helpless except for being able to gape for food. The parents feed the nestlings a mushy white cheesy material (pigeon's milk) that is sloughed off the inside of their crop. Because they manufacture this food for the nestlings, parents do not need to leave the nest frequently to search for food, as do most songbirds. When a person or predator approaches the nestlings, the parent may leave the nest as a distraction and crash flapping and struggling as though injured, to lure predators toward the parents and away from the nest.