274 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



coverts with only a blackish central streak; sides of 

 lower back and rump tinged with leaden-grey; edge 

 of wing and anterior wing-coverts grey ; flights brown, 

 the secondaries tinged with grey on outer web ; central 

 tail-feathers brown ; next pair greyish-brown, third and 

 fourth pairs grey with a blackish central belt and 

 whitish tips, four outer pairs black with the terminal 

 half white, tinged with grey on the fifth pair; head 

 vinaceous, greyish on the forehead ; feathers of nape 

 and sides of neck bifurcated, black, each with two 

 white spots ; under-surface vinous, whitish on the 

 throat, and fading into white on the vent and under 

 tail-coverts ; bill dull leaden-black ; feet deep purplish- 

 red ; irides dark hazel (perhaps with reddish orbital 

 ring). Female slightly smaller. Hab., " Yarkand, 

 Afghanistan, Cashmere, through the Himalayas to 

 Assam and Munipur, the whole of India, and Ceylon." 

 (Salvadori.) 



Col. Legge says (" Birds of Ceylon," Vol. II., pp. 

 706. 707) : " Wherever there are trees surrounding, or 

 encircled by, open places, this familiar little Dove is 

 sure to be found. It delights in the bushy trees which 

 here and there have been left standing in the cinnamon- 

 gardens, and after it has satisfied its appetite on the 

 grass-seeds which it finds in abundance in this locality, 

 flies about from tree to tree, or takes up its perch on 

 an outspreading branch and coos to its mate. When 

 perched it is very wary, and scarcely ever lets one 

 approach it within gun-shot ; but when feeding in a 

 newly-cut paddy-field, or about the native threshing- 

 places (which it constantly frequents, even months after 

 the grain has been gathered in), or on a road where 

 it scrutinises the dried-up droppings of cattle or horses, 

 or while elegantly tripping over some newly-burnt 

 jungle-clearing (another favourite resort), it will not 

 rise till approached within a moderate distance, when, 

 taking a few hurried paces, it wiU fly off with a Pigeon- 

 like clapping of its wings and settle down in the nearest 

 inviting tree. In the interior every paddy-field, every 

 clearing in the forest, and every cheena under cultiva- 

 tion has its attendant flock of Doves, which find 

 abundant sustenance in the grain or grass-seeds of such 

 resorts. Its coo is a plaintive not-e, not nearly so deep 

 as thatof the last species " (the Indian Collared Turtle). 

 " It is, as Blyth remarks, difficult to express in writing, 

 and he likens it to the syllables oot-raow-oo-oot-raow-oo. 

 "Its flight is swift and graceful; and during the 

 breeding-season it indulges in sundry careerings on the 

 wing, rising in the air and then circling down with 

 outspread wings to its perch, these performances being 

 apparently for the mutual gi-atification of the happy 

 pair during the joyous time of their existence." 



"They feed in the mornings until about 9 a.m., and 

 then again in the afternoon, commencing about 

 3 o'clock, when they may generally be seen on the 

 gi-ound at the edges of woods, copses, and groves, or 

 on native compounds often not far from the cottages. 



" In the Western Province this Dove breeds from 

 March until June, after which it no doubt lays again, 

 for the eggs may be taken almost at any time of the 

 year. I have found the nests in bushy umbrageous 

 trees at about 10 or 15 ft. from the ground, generally 

 situated near the end of the branch, also on low date- 

 palms (a favourite situation), placed near the trunk at 

 the origin of the frond. They are ma<le of fine twigs 

 neatly laid over one another, some of them interlaced 

 so as at times to form a firmly-constructed fabric, in 

 the centre of which there is a just perceptible hollow. 

 The eggs are two in number, exact ovals, glossy, and 

 pure white, measuring from 1.0 to 1.12 in. in length 

 by from 0.8 to 0.15 in. in breadth." 



Mr. P. W. Munn, writing on the birds of Calcutta 

 (The Ibis, 1894, p. 55), says : "They probably breed 

 all the year round, for I have taken eggs in January, 

 February, March, April, June, August, October, and 

 November, but by far the greater number in April ; 

 they will often lay again in the same nest from which 

 the first clutch of eggs has been taken; and sometimes 

 the old bird, on being disturbed from the nest, will 

 sham lameness in order to draw the intruder away 

 from it." 



There is no doubt that dealers often sell this species 

 as T. tigrimis. and therefore it is quite likely that the 

 examples which I purchased as Necklaced Doves in 

 1900 may have belonged to this species (I had no living 

 authenticated specimens of T. tigriiuis to compare with 

 them), and about 1905 or 1907 I sent them to Regent's 

 Park. The London Zoological Societv received a pair 

 in 1874, and bred from them in 1877 and 1878. 



Senegal Turtle-Dove (Turtur senegalensis). 



The adult male has the head, neck, and breast 

 vinous, with the centre of throat and chin paler ; the 

 abdomen, vent, and under tail-coverts white ; flanks 

 grey ; a broad collar of rust-tipped notched black 

 feathers encircling the front and sides of neck ; back 

 and scapulars lilacine chestnut ; lower back, rump, 

 upper wing-coverts, and secondaries leaden-grey ; upper 

 tail-coverts grey-brown ; some of the inner wing-coverts 

 and tertials with a chestnut tinge ; bastard-wing and 

 primary-coverts and primaries black, the latter with 

 narrow pale margins ; under wing-coverts and axillaries 

 grey ; central tail-feathers brownish- grey, the next two 

 pairs leaden-grey, the remainder slate-black at base, 

 getting gradually grey and then white at the extremity, 

 the white being broadest on the outermost 

 feathers and e.xtending along the margin of the outer 

 webs; tail below black at base, white on the terminal 

 half ; feet crimson ; bill dull black, slightly tinged with 

 vinous ; iris orange-red. The female is slightly smaller 

 and duller in colour than the male, but otherwise 

 similar. Hab.. all over Africa, the island of Sototra, 

 the Canary group, and somewhat modified in Palestine. 

 The North African birds are said to be somewhat 

 larger, and have been named T. egijptiaciis. Those 

 from Egypt and Palestine are said to be intergrades 

 from the Senegal to the true Cambayan Turtle (T. 

 rambayensis). 



This Dove is abundant in all cultivated districts, 

 building and breeding not only in the trees and hedges 

 which are planted in lanes and plantations, but in 

 holes and on rafters, in ruins, walls, churches, and 

 other suitable places in the midst of towns and villages. 

 As a rule, the species is seen in pairs or family 

 parties, not in large flocks ; it seems to breed almost 

 throughout the year, both when wild and in captivity, 

 the nest being formed of twigs and roots; the eggs are 

 two in number, and white. 



The coo of this Dove is not unlike that of the Half- 

 collared Turtle or the rarer trisyllabic note of the 

 Necklaced Dove — Roo-hoo-hoo, Like most Doves when 

 nesting, this species becomes aggressive towards other 

 members of the family, easily driving away more power- 

 ful birds by the vehemence of its attacks ; it has 

 frequently been bred at our London Zoological Gardens, 

 and specimens liberated there bred in the Park in 

 freedom. 



This species is freelj- imported, but I never myself 

 possessed it until the 6th August, 1902, when my 



