SYSTEMATIC POSITION OF CERTAIN RING-DOVES. 195 



no account of these differences which are found only in the more or less bright colors of the 

 plumage, and which are liable to vary in different individuals, it will still be easy to recog- 

 nize the species here considered. 



"The White Dove is smaller than the Blond Dove; it is an inch loss in total length, 

 and its tail is shorter. Its wings, longer in proportion, reach back three-fourths of the 

 length of the tail, while the wings of the Blond Dove end at about the middle of the tail, 

 which in this species is lengthened and more tapered. Finally, the White Dove has a milk- 

 white plumage throughout, the feet are rose-red, the iris is red, and the bill is dusky red. 



"Sonnini has represented in his plate 67, fig. 1, our Blond Dove, and in fig. 2 the White 

 Dove. The characteristics in respect to form, which serve to distinguish these two pigeons, 

 are there perfectly portrayed. The White Dove appears to be a native to China. It is 

 often found represented on papers and tapestries made in that country. 



"Dufresne, of the Museum of Natural History, has shown us two very exact pictures 

 of these birds in two different collections of original designs painted by the Chinese. In 

 our climate the species is reduced to domesticity; these birds are seen only in cages. They 

 are very sensitive to cold, which they seem to endure less easily than the Blond Doves. " 



Boiiard and Corbie. — ^In a classical monograph of the pigeons, entitled "Les 

 Pigeons de Voliere et de Columbier" (1824), these authors-*^ give brief accounts of 

 both blond and white ring-doves, adopting the name tourferelle a collier for the one and 

 for the other inventing the new name "dove of Venus" {Columha veneris). These 

 authors regard the white dove as a variety of the blond dove, and herein disagree 

 with Temminck. They give several points of interest in the natural history of 

 these doves and to some extent supplement Temminck's account. Their words are: 



" Tourterelle d. Collier; Columba risoria, Lath. La Tourterelle a Collier, Buffon, PL Enhnn. 

 No. 244. La Tourterelle grise des marchands, et la Tourterelle blonde. 



"It is a little larger than the preceding (European Turtle) ; pale reddish in the upjxr jiarts, with 

 a slight vinous tint on the breast and front side of the neck;whitish below. IVathiis el ihc wiiif; 

 brownish-grey, bordered with a paler color; those of the tail ashy and tipped with while, with cxccij- 

 tion of the two middle feathers; with a narrow black collar on the back of the neck. Bill grayish, 

 darker towards the point. Iris and feet red. The collar appears in the young only after the first 

 moult. 



"This species and the following variety are those so commonly reared in cages and 

 aviaries, where, excepting the time of moult, they breed regularly every month, if care is 

 taken to keep them in a warm place. The cooing of these birds is so wearisome and annoy- 

 ing that, despite the great facility with which they become tame, despite the grace of their 

 form and the gentleness of their manners, one easily tires of them, if they are not kept con- 

 fined in a place set apart. 



"In Egypt they are very common, and it seems that through special care, the inhabitants 

 have succeeded in attaching them to their aviaries, which they never abandon, although 

 left free to go out and fly about the fields. 



"The Collared Turtle is found in a state of nature in the Indies, Barbary, Senegal, and 

 perhaps all Africa. As we have said, one easily .succeeds in crossing it with the Wood 

 Turtle {Turtur turtur), but the hybrids thus produced are infertile and cannot therefore 

 reproduce their variety, or form a race, as supposed by Buffon." 



" Pages 236, 237. 



" Buffon (Hist. Nat. Ois., I, p. 551, 1771) says: " Je ne doute pas que ces m6tis ne soient fi^oonds, ot qu': 

 remontant a. la race de la mere (collared turtle) dans la suite des generations. 



