174 GLIMPSES OF INDIAN BIRDS 



seats will be occupied by new drivers, who will give 

 the good steed Natural Selection a well-earned rest, 

 and replace him by a fresh animal called Mutation. 

 Then once again the coach will resume its journey. 



The red turtle dove is a little bird, and the hen 

 looks like an exceptionally small specimen of the ring 

 dove. So great is the resemblance that a hen red 

 turtle dove was shown at the United Provinces Ex- 

 hibition at Allahabad as a ring dove. The cock red 

 turtle dove has a pretty grey head, a black half-collar 

 running round the back of his neck, which, as Jerdon 

 remarks, is " well set off by whitish above," while 

 the remainder of his upper plumage is dull brick red. 

 The hen is clothed in greyish brown, in the hue known 

 as dove colour, and her one ornament is a black half- 

 collar similar to that of the cock. 



The best friends of turtle doves can scarcely main- 

 tain that they have melodious voices. Phil Robinson, 

 writing of the species which visits England, contrasts 

 its note with the " mellow voluptuous cooing of the 

 ring-dove." " The call of the turtle dove," he says, 

 ** is unamiable, usually grumbling, and often ab- 

 solutely disagreeable. To the imagination it is a 

 sulky and discontented bird, perpetually finding fault 

 with its Enghsh surroundings of fohage, weather, 

 and food. ' Do, for goodness' sake get those eggs 

 hatched, my dear, and let us get back to Italy.' That 

 is the burden of his grumble, morning, noon, and 

 night." 



Phil Robinson's opinion of the call of the red turtle 

 dove is not on record : this is unfortunate, for, as- 



