■260 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



of Ohili, no effort seems to be made to import it. One 

 specimen, presented by the late Lord LUford to the 

 London Zoological Society, appears to be all hitherto 

 recorded. 



C-\NARi.4N PiGKON (Columba laurivora). 



Prevailing colour, grey ; the head and nape glossed 

 with gi'een ; the front of mantle and under parts with 

 metallic magenta margins to the feathers ; back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts leaden-grey ; wings brown, the 

 outer webs of the primaries; with pale edges ; outer tail 

 feathers witli a paler terminal belt ; under tail-coverts 

 dull grey, the basal ones tinged with vinous; tail below- 

 grey at "base gradually getting paler to the extremity; 

 bin" white, the nostrils pink, pale roee at tip ; leet lake 

 red ; iris orange, with outer red rin^. Female much 

 smaller, and with more prismatic rosy-lUac on the back. 

 Hab., Canary Islands — " Gomera and Falma " 

 (iSalvadori). 



Mr. E G. B. Meade-Waldo, writing about a visit to 

 Gomera (T/ie Ibk, 1889, pp. 7, 8), says: "On the 

 Cordillera, which was very steep indeed, and covered 

 with thick heath and laurel-scrub, and with many preci- 

 pices, the whole descending into the valley by a series 

 of terraces, I found C. laurivora fairly abundant, flying 

 along the face of the mountain in pairs and singly. 

 Their light-tipped tails were very conspicuous, and 

 looked white when flying, giving them somewhat the 

 appearance of gigantic Turtle-Doves. Their flight was 

 peculiar, quite imlike that of any Pigeon I had ever 

 Fcen. a soft flopping flight, fairly" fast. 1 found it ex- 

 ceedingly difficult to get good specimens, as, if shot 

 when flying along the mountain-side, the birds were 

 mostly dashed to pieces by a fall of over 100 feet into 

 the scrub ; but I eventually found a place in a barranco 

 where they used to settle 'in some tjdl trees, and there 

 I managed to get some very good birds. They varied 

 very much in size, my finest cock being 17^ inches, while 

 some were only 15 inches in length. I had on this and 

 subsequent days many opportunities of watching them. 

 They are verj' active on the gi-ound, on which a great 

 deal of their" time appears to be spent, as one might 

 gather from their strong, muscular thighs and legs. I 

 only heard one bird 'coo,' and none of thoee I shot 

 proved to be nesting." 



" Three months later. May 6th, I went again to 

 Gomera, my oVvject this time being to get, if jMssible, 

 some young f. laurivora alive. Canon Tristram accom- 

 panied me on this occasion. We found the Pigeons had 

 only just begun to breed ; some had laid, and others 

 were going to do so. I had, however, one dead young 

 one brought to me. One egg only is laid. In the 

 crops of some shot were the blossoms of flax and a 

 little barley ; the Pigeons came down into the barley 

 regidarly to feed." 



Describing a visit to Palma (t.c. pp. 509, 510), the 

 same writer observes : " C. laurivora has much the 

 same habits as in Gomera, but is scarcer and more 

 distributed ; it keeps to the almost perpendicular slopes 

 covered with scrub, and it is especially fond of the 

 ledges in the steep sides of the barrancos, where ferns 

 grow. On these ledges it nests ; it was, however, only 

 just thinking of breeding in the end of April. The 

 native sportsmen say that when the cherries are ripe 

 the ' Rabiles ' come down to them, and that then they 

 shoot numbers. This Pigeon has a very peculiar walk, 

 marching along with a long, swinging gait, raising its 

 tail and bowing its head at every step ; it can, however, 

 run quickly, like a Partridge. A fine old male in my 

 aviary has given me many opportunities of studying its 

 actions, and I have had many wild birds walking about 

 quite close to me. My bird was secured with a shot in 



his head and another in his intestines, from both of 

 which he quickly recovered, but remained almost sense- 

 less, and had to be crammed for three weeks ; he is 

 now ill jjcrfect health, and fairly tame, but won't touch 

 his natural food, and prefers wheat and hempseed to 

 anything ; he eats large quantities of green rape. Th& 

 principal food of these Pigeons in La Palma is the 

 fruit of the til-tree and the viiiatigo." 



Mr. St. Quintin published an account of the breeding 

 of this species in his aviaries in The Avicultural Maga- 

 zine. First Series, Vol. V., p. 74. I believe Mr. Meade- 

 Waldo turned loose some specimens in the Kentish, 

 woods, and that they bid fair to establish themselves. 

 It is to be hoped that they have done so, for our fauna 

 will bear a good deal of improvement, and so long as 

 the introductions are recorded I can see no possible 

 objection to the addition of many beautiful creatures to 

 the British collection. 



An example of this species was deposited at the- 

 Regent's Park Gardens in 1892. 



Bolle's Pigeon {Columba bollii). 



Slate-blue, back and sides of neck glossed with green 

 and purple ; a patch at side of neck glossed with 

 coppery-reddish ; mantle glossed with purple in front 

 and with dull green behind ; flights and primary-coverts 

 dead black ; tail slaty-black, crossed by a broad sub- 

 terminal dark grey belt ; breast and abdomen rich 

 vinous ; vent, flanks and under tail-coverts slate-blue ;. 

 bill red, with darker tip; feet coral-red; irides straw- 

 yellow edged outside with coral-red. Female smaller, 

 and considerably duller ; the prismatic colours at back 

 of neck less pronounced ; the hinder abdomen more 

 ashy. Hab., "Canary Islands — Teneriffe, Gomera,. 

 Palma" (Salvador!), "Gran Canaria " (Tristram). 



Writing about a visit to Gomera (The Ibis, 1889,. 

 p. 6), Jlr. Meade-Waldo says : "C. bollii was common 

 enough, and I shot two or three for specimens, finding 

 some of its nests, each containing one egg, and catching, 

 alive a nearly full-grown young one, a fine male, which 

 I have at the present time." 



Of his visit to Palma (t.c, p. 510), he says : " I heard 

 and saw plenty of Columba bollii; they frequented the- 

 higher mountains, as in Gomera, and the larger tracts 

 of forest. I shot two fine males, just to identify them 

 for certain, as a man told us they had a ring round 

 their necks ; he meant the copper-coloured feathers on 

 each side of the neck." The same writer (The Ibis,. 

 1893. p. 200) says : " This laurel-loving Pigeon inhabits 

 all the suitable grounds in the islands of Teneriffe, 

 Gomera, La Palma, and Gran Canaria, in which island,, 

 however, Canon Tristram reports it to be very scarce, 

 owing to the almost complete destruction of" the old 

 laurel forests. In Teneriffe, ever since we went there, 

 in 1887, it has become very rare in the neighbourhood 

 of Orotava and Santa Ursula. In La Palma and 

 Gomera it appeared to be fairly abundant. It lays 

 but one egg, and breeds all the year round, but prin- 

 cipally in winter and early spring." Five examples 

 of this Pigeon were deposited at the Gardens at Regent's 

 Park in 1888, and the same year one young one was 

 reared ; a second was reared" in 1889, shortly after 

 which two more examples were deposited at the same 

 Gardens. 



Madeiran Pigkon [Columba trocaz). 

 Slate-blue, rather paler on the head, fore neck, lower 

 back, rump, and under-surface ; upper mantle glossed 

 with green and purple ; primary-coverts and flights 

 slaty-black, the primaries with narrow pale grey edges ; 

 tail dark leaden grey, crossed beyond the middle by a 



