160 Birds I Have Kept. 



sexes; the female, however, is if anything a trifle smaller 

 than her mate. 



The cooing of these birds has some resemblance to laughter, 

 and when the cock bird is addressing his spouse, he does not 

 turn round like the true Pigeons, but hops forward, stops, 

 bows his head, and swells out his crop, giving rise at the 

 same time to his peculiar, but not unmusical notes. 



The Laughing Dove has about three broods of young during 

 the year; but occasionally may produce as many as four, or 

 even five : the eggs are white, smaller than those of a Pigeon, 

 and sat upon for fourteen or fifteen days: one of the eggs 

 is usually barren, but sometimes both will prove to be fertile 

 and hatch. 



CHAPTER LIV. 



THE WHITE-BREASTED PIGEON, 



SOME years ago I bought of a London dealer a pair of 

 extremely pretty birds, which he called White-breasted 

 Pigeons, but which I am unable to identify with any species 

 of the Columhidce described by the authors to whose works I 

 have had access. They were rather stouter in build than the 

 Laughing Dove, had shorter tails, and were altogether plumper 

 in proportion to their size. 



The male was a beautiful rich chesnut on the upper part 

 of the body, and his breast and belly were the purest white 

 imaginable, the under feathers of his wings were bright red, 

 and his feet and legs were rose coloured. 



The female was duller in her upper parts, and greyer on 

 the lower, nor had she the red underwing of the male. 



I placed them in a corner wired off the conservatory, where, 

 during the summer months, they seemed to get on very well, 



