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Propagating neural activity in the developing mammalian retina is required for the normal patterning of retinothalamic connections. This activity exhibits a complex spatiotemporal pattern of initiation, propagation, and termination. Here, we discuss the behavior of a model of the developing retina using a combination of simulation and analytic calculation. Our model produces spatially and temporally restricted waves without requiring inhibition, consistent with the early depolarizing action of neurotransmitters in the retina. We find that highly correlated, temporally regular, and spatially restricted activity occurs over a range of network parameters; this ensures that such spatiotemporal patterns can be produced robustly by immature neural networks in which synaptic transmission by individual neurons may be unreliable. Wider variation of these parameters, however, results in several different regimes of wave behavior …