276 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



has a most impudeni:, conceited sound, a-hooey, huchoo, 

 the ch sounded ra'.her hard ; indeed, the latter part of 

 the call has 'been mistaken for that of a Cuckoo. 



I tried my old cock bird with a hen Necklaced Dove, 

 but had to remove her to save her life. I then placed 

 hiim in my Weave^r aviaiy foa- a year or two, and 

 eventually "turned out both cocks with a pair of Half- 

 coUared Turtle-Doves in a fowl-run, from which they 

 finally escaped into the garden and were nevei- re- 

 covered. 



With a genuine pair in a good-sized garden aviary I 

 should anticipate no difficulty in breeding this species. 

 It was first purchased by the London Zoolog-ical Siociety 

 in 1868, and was In-ed three times the same year, five 

 yoimg ones resnlting from the three nests; two more 

 were bred in the year fdlowing. 



Peaceful Dove (Geopclia tranquilla). 



Upper surface ashy-brown, each feather barred with 



black at the extremity ; the bastard wing and primaries' 



dai'k brown ; shoulders below chestnut ; the face and 



throat are gi'ey ; the breast, sides, and back of neck 



Peaceful Dove. 



gi'oy, nan'owly barred with black ; abdomen and flanks 

 vinous ; the four central tail feathers ashy-brown ; the 

 remainder black, broadly tipped with white ; the bill 

 and orbits bright greyish-blue, the iris of the eye bright 

 ash-gi'ey ; the legs greenish-gi'ey in front, reddish flesh- 

 coloured behind. The length of this bird is 8| inches. 

 The female is smaller, less slender, and less alert than 

 ihe male. Hab., Airstralia. 



Mr. Gould says that this T>ird is "chiefly observed on 

 the gi-oimd, feeding on the .^eeds of various plants under 

 the shelter of thinly-timbered forests bordering plains." 

 A local variety of the above — which only differs from 

 it in size, being nearly a third smaller — is Geopclia 

 placida, a small Dove abundantly and evenly distri- 

 buted over the Cobang Peninsula and the neighbouring 

 island.*. Its favourite haamts, Jlr. Gould says, are 

 " moist meadows or the grassy bank.s of small streams " ; 

 it feeds principally on the seeds of grasses, and is seen 

 "in flocks of from twenty to fifty, which, when dis- 

 turbed, generally fly to the nearest tree. On alighting 

 they jerk the tail very erect, and utter a .slowly-repeated 

 and monotonous double note ; at other times they coo 

 very faintly." 



I think i purchased my fir.st pair of this pretty little 

 Dove in 1891, and I found them singularly dull in their 



behaviour ; far from spending the greater part of their 

 time on the groiuid, they never left a branch excepting 

 to feed, and were by no means l;u-ge eaters. In spite of 

 their usually seeking for their food on the ground, the 

 species of Gcopella, when kept in aviaries, spend more 

 time in the branches cooing, bowing, and preening one 

 another's feathers; at any rate, that is my experience 

 of them. 



A pair of Zebra Doves which I purchased in 1895 

 made things so uncomfortable for my tu'st pair of Peace- 

 ful Doves that the oock died, and I had to remove tho- 

 hen, which died in April, 1896; a second pair bought 

 that year 1 put in the next aviary, where the cock lived 

 until August, 1901, but the hen died earlier. I bought 

 a third pair in 1896, and lost the hen in January, 1898. 

 The hens of all these Doves seem more delicate than, 

 the cocks. 



Being kept from first to last in indoor aviaries, none 

 of theee birds mad© any attempt to breed ; but, in an. 

 outdoor aviary, I believe there is no difficulty in multi- 

 plying them. 



This species actually is the most peaceful of its genus ;. 

 as tlie name " Peacefid " has heen applied to it, one 

 naturally expected it to be one of the most vicious of 

 all Doves, the names applied to Ibirds being rarely _ 

 descriptive either at their true characters or colours. If 

 a bird is called "All-green," it is sure to have about 

 half-a-dozen colours in its plumage ; if it is spoken of 

 as " Indigo," it is a combination of cobalt, ultramarine,, 

 and gi-een ; if it is said to be " Ultramarine," it is indigo, 

 sometimes with a greenish tinge ; if " Scarlet," it is sure- 

 to be vivid carmine, and so on ; then, as I have pointed 

 out more than once, the so-called Ground-birds are fre- 

 ((uently far more arboreal than terrestrial ; the reputed 

 .songsters (like the Melodious Finch) have the barest 

 apologj' for a song — ^indeed, I don't consider that our- 

 Song-Thrush is a singer ; it is rather a talker, and 

 (though cheerful and bright) wearies one at times with 

 its four-times repeated utterances. 



The London Zoolo2ical Society acquired this Dove- 

 first in 1864, and recorded it in the " List " as Geopelia.- 

 plarkla, distinguishing it from G. tranquilla, supposed 

 to be first received four years later. It is a very freely 

 imported bird, and used to be readily purchasable at 

 about 5s. the pair. 



Zebra Dove (Geopelia xiriata). 



The general resemblance of this bird to tlie preceding, 

 is so gi-eat that it will, perhaps, be most useful to point 

 out the chief distinctive features. The back of the 

 crown is somewhat redder ; the black and white bands 

 crossing the neck only extend over the sides of the 

 breast ; the feet are vinous or purplish-red ; the bill 

 slaty -black, the iris bro-wn. The female is smaller than 

 the "male, and shows less reddish tinting on the crown. 

 Hab., Southern Tenasserim, the ilalav Peninsula, and 

 Indo-ilalayan Archi])elago ; from the Philippines south- 

 «ard to Lombock, the Celebes, and Amboyna. It has 

 Vieen introduced into the iSeychelles, Madagascar, Mauri- 

 tius. Round Lsland, Reunion, and St. Helena. 



Writing resiiectine the nests and eggs of Philippine 

 birds (The Ibin. 1898. p. 246), Air. OgUvie Grant thus 

 describes the egg of G. siria/a : — " Shape |>erfect oval. 

 Pure glos.sy white. Measm-ements 27 mm. x 21 mn-i."' 

 ilr. J. Whitehead also describes the nidification as fol- 

 lows : — " i'his species nests in the lower gi-owths of old 

 forests, the frail nest of twigs being often placed among- 

 the hanging creepers. Generally two eggs are laid." 



In T}if Ibix for 1899. p. 492, Mr. Whitehead says 

 that this Dove " is often kept as a cage-bird throughout 

 the Malay Is]a.nds." This s)>ecies, unlike its near rela- 

 tive, G. tranquilla. is quarrelsome and .spiteful. I pur- 

 chased a pair in 1895, and after they had made them- 



