Stray Azotes of flic Scaso>i. 143 



present i)ro(luoed a single youngster successfully reared; still, 

 with all the disappointments attendant upon aviculture, it has 

 been the solace and interest of many an hour during the many 

 depressing periods of recent times. 



My birds are not as numerous as they were; accidents, 

 etc., have robbed me of many rarities and pals, and I have made 

 but few additions, so that to-day there are more odd birds in 

 the aviary than mated pairs. Many of the odd ones are patri- 

 archs with a history and old friends too, so they remain, till in 

 the fulness of time they travel West, to the happy hunting 

 grounds of the feathered tribe. Who knows? Perchance at 

 some future time we may meet again upon a happier shore ! 



My newest acquisitions among the C olumbidac were a 

 pair of Cape Turtle Doves (Turtur capicolo) kindly presented to 

 me by Mr. Guy Falkner, being part of a consignment personally 

 brought over by him about a year and a half ago. In general 

 appearance they much resemble the common Barbary Turtle- 

 Dove, but their plumage is a much greyer and darker tone, 

 iliey are handsome birds, and a species I had not previously 

 kept. They came to hand in late summer last year, soon settled 

 down and made themselves quite at home in my largest aviary, 

 where there are five other species of doves. They passed the 

 winter without apparent discomfort, and this spring found them 

 in perfect health and plumage, and were soon sparring with 

 other doves for the more suitable nesting sites ; this continued 

 for so long a period that I was contemplating removing several 

 of the doves to another aviary, when one morning in June my 

 attention was directed to the top of a mass of foliage (Poly- 

 gonum climbing up one of the roof standards), by one of the 

 Cape Turtle-Doves flying therefrom. An examination revealed 

 the usually sparse, fragile nest and in it a fully fledged young bird 

 which left the next day, and is now (July 26) disporting itself 

 m the aviary almost indistinguishable from its parents, who are 

 nesting again. The young bird resembles its parents in 

 plumage pattern but was of a slightly warmer and darker hue, 

 and was in possession of a partial neck ring when 1 saw it in 

 the nest. It only received the attention of what I took to be 

 t.-e male parent for seven days, and was then entirely on its own 



