Birds of St. Thomas' Island. 119 



would appear, however, that the Senegal Turtle-Dove has 

 now obtained a footing in St. Tiiomas. 



64. *Haplopelia simplex. ' 



Haplopelia simplea' (Hartl.) ; Salvadori, Orn. Golfo d. 

 Guinea, ii. 1903, p. 37; Bocage, Joru. Sci. Lisboa, 1905, p. 8 k 



«-^- c? S ^d. et ? imm. (Nos. 28, 55, & 27). Lake Amelia. 

 22-25. i 09. 



</, e. ? ? imm. (Nos. G4, 65). Near Sao Thome. 



f-p- (5^ (5^ ? ? ad. et imm. (Nos. 83, and 98 to 197 in- 

 clusive). Zalma. 



Legs and feet dark claret-reck 



Alexander procured a very fine working series of examples 

 of this Dove, showing many interesting phases of plumage. 

 Dr. Reichenow (Vogel Afrikas, i. p. 422) includes also 

 Haplopelia pi'incipalis as synonymous with H. simplex. 

 In this I do not agree with him, and prefer to follow 

 Count Salvadori, who maintains that the Prince's Island 

 Pigeon is a perfectly distinct species [vide Bannerman, 

 " Birds of Prince's Island,'' ' Ibis,' 1914, p. 630) . 



A careful examination of the series of H. simplex obtained 

 in St. Thomas shows that in adult examples, if the sexes 

 have been correctly ascertained by Alexander, males and 

 females do not differ, and have the same dark brown back 

 washed with grey and grey underparts. Younger examples 

 of both sexes have the upperparts more umber-brown and 

 the underparts pale brown tinged with rufous or buff. 



Alexander, writing of this species at Lake Amelia, 

 says : — '^ It is not common, frequenting the forest. It 

 is difficult of approach. When disturbed it gets up from 

 the undergrowth and perches not far off, where it remains 

 silent. It is more often seen towards evening." Writing 

 from near Sao Thome, the port on the north coast of 

 the island, he notes : — '' This Pigeon is found frequenting 

 the thick osier- like beds of the streams, also the palm- 

 groves. Its note is a soft croon. It is now breeding— 

 2nd of February." 



In his diary Alexander particularly remarks that specimen 



