ABERRANT TURTLEDOVES. 



277 



selves objectioiKible to their more placid relative, they 

 were in turn attat-keil by my Steel-barred Doves (6'. 

 picui), the female being so badly plucked that she died 

 on January 14th, 1901. The maie, I suppose, died later, 

 or else I gave it away ; at any rate, 1 have no skin of 

 this species. 



According to the late Mr. Cresswell (The Avu-ullural 

 Magazine. First Series, Vol. III., p. 205), young birds 

 of this species are often reared up to the age of 16 to 

 '20 days, when they jimip out of the nest and dmndle 

 away through neglect, or the dampness of the climate. 

 However, he reared one. with some trouble, in 1897. 

 It is not trmpeliti striata only that ignores its young 

 after they leave the nest- ; Doves in captivity, owing to 

 the constant supply of food in an aviary, are very liable 

 to this stupid trick. 



Ru.'s states that " Iji the birdroom they are more 

 peaceful than several of their relatives. They nested 

 in mine together with Passerine and Diamond Doves." 

 This is very remarkable, because Passerine and 

 Diamond Doves are both as a general rule fidgety and 

 i|iiarrelsome birds. 



The Zebra Dove is one of the most abundantly im- 

 ported of all the Cnhimha, and, at times, can be ob- 

 tained at a ridiculously low price. It first reached our 

 Zoological Gardens in 1863, and bred there in 1865. 



M-vroE's Dove [Geopelia nmuijei). 



Back and upper wing-coverts greyish-brown, with 

 l)lack edges to the feathers ; flights brown, the prima- 

 ries cinnamon on inner web, ajid with the outer web 

 very narrowly edged with cinnamon-grey ; four central 

 tail-feathers gi'eyish-brown, lateral feathers black, 

 broadly tipped with white : front of head, cheaks, and , 

 tliroat grey : back of head pale brown ; neck, breast, 

 and sides with numerous narrow black and white bands, 

 the pale bands on the hind neck gi'eyish ; nnder wing- 

 coverts cinnamon ; abdomen and under tail-ooverts 

 white : bill leaden-grey ; feet ashy-blue, marked with 

 violet : irides pale yellow. Female smaller and less 

 .'lender in appearance than the male. Hab.. "Timor. 

 Flores, Sambawa, Wetter, Lettie ; Tenimber Islands, Ke 

 Islands, Koolir, and doubtfully Ternate." (Salvador!.) 



Dr. Ouilleniard savs ('" Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1885, p. 510) that this Dove is "extremely 

 common round the town of Sumbawa. " I have, how- 

 ever, not come across any notes on the wild life. 



In 1867 the London Zoological Society purchased 

 three examples of this species, and in 1868 a specimen 

 was bred in the Gardens ; in 1870 five examples were 

 added by purchase; but Russ says : "It has not yet 

 been offered for sale in our market." 



Diamond Dove {Geopdia cuneata). 

 The cock bird has a delicate grey head, neck and 

 breast, which fades into white on the belly and under 

 tail-coverts ; the back and shoulders are cinnamon- 

 brown; the wing-coverts dark grey; each feather of the 

 wing-coverts and scapularies has a white spot near the 

 tip of each web, narrowly edged with black ; the bastard 

 wing and primaries are brown, the latter, with their 

 inner webs, rufous for two-thirds of their length ; the 

 four central tail-feathers are grey, shading into black 

 at their extremiity. and with black sliafts ; the remain- 

 ing tail-feathers are greyish-black at the base and pure 

 - white for the remainder of their length ; the iris of 

 the eye is either bright red surrounded by naked skin 

 of the same colour, or greenish-yellow on a similarly- 

 coloured ground ; the bill is dark olive-brown ; the legs, 

 reddish flesh-colour or yellowish. The hen differs from 

 ihe cock in its slightly inferior size, the browner tint 

 of the back of the head, neck, and upper surface 



generally, and the larger white spots on the wings ; 

 the orbital ring is also a trifle naiTower. Hab., 

 Australia, with the exception of Cape Yoik and Rock- 

 ingham Bay. (Salvadori.) 



Mr. Gould says of it : "I sometimes mot with it in 

 small flocks, but more often in pairs. It runs over 

 the ground with a short bobbing motion of the tail, 

 and while feeding is so remarkably tame as almost to 

 admit of its being taken by the hand ; and if forced 

 to ta.ke ■\ving it merely flies to the nearest tree, and 

 there remains motionless among the branches. I not 

 infrequently observed it close to the open doors of the 

 huts of the stock-keepers of the interior, who, from 

 its being so constantly before them, regard it with 

 little interest. The nest is a frail but beautiful struc- 

 ture, formed of the stalks of a few flowering grasses, 

 crossed and interwoven after the manner of the other 

 Doves." It lays two white eggs. Mr. Gould describes 

 its song as very plaintive ; but at times he says that 

 it utters a singular note which much resembles the 

 distant crowing of a cock. 



The coo of the cock bird sounds like " Cho-clwruw, 

 cho-choraw," but that of the hen is shorter and softer, 

 consisting of only two syllables. In colouring it is 

 prettier than its peaceful relative, and its much smaller 

 size renders it charming. In the breeding season, how- 

 ever, it is very spiteful towards its own kind. 



I purchased two pairs of this species in 1896, which 

 were constantly at war, or, rather, the two cock birds 

 were, and the death of one of the hens increased the 

 disaffection, so that from morning to night the stronger 

 cock bird chased the weaker up and down the aviary, 

 either in the air or on the ground. It was a pretty 

 sight to watch these most active of the smaller Doves 

 turning and twisting in the air, in the attempt the one 

 to capture, the other to evade. 



From time to time nesting was commenced and eggs 

 were deposited, but I suppose the incessant quarrelling 

 interfered with incubation, for no eggs were ever 

 batched. In 1899 the hen and later the weaker cock 

 bird died, so that I was left with a solitary male. On 

 Sept. 8. 1903, I purchased a third pair, and in 1907 

 turned them out into my larger garden aviary, where 

 they went to nest five times, but only reared four young. 

 The nests were the most ridiculous little apologies that 

 I ever saw, consisting merely of a tiny pad of hay and 

 fine twigs, about 3 or 4 in. in diameter. The marvel 

 to me was that the eggs ever remained on it (they did 

 not always). I had heard such wonderful tales about 

 the absolute hardiness of this Dove that I left both 

 old and young out-of-doors all the winter, and, in 

 consequence, lost the cock bird and all the yoimg. In 

 1908 I turned out the remaining cock ; but that year 

 only two young were reared, and one of these died 

 about a month later. That year I brought the three 

 Doves indoors before the winter. In 1909 I turned out 

 the hen with one cock bird, but the latter was evi- 

 dently her son ; at any rate, she persecuted him con- 

 tinually, tearing out bunches of feathers and hunting 

 him from pillar to post. On July 5th I found him dead. 



Mr. Seth-Smith, who has bred many pairs of this 

 Dove, told me that he thought several pairs together, 

 in a fairly large garden aviary, did better than a single 

 pair. Judging from' his imvaried success. I should think 

 this was the case. It has been freely bred by many 

 aviculturists, mostly, I think, in the open; though the 

 fact that in 1905 I twice bred single birds indoors, 

 though they died when three days out of the nest, 

 seems to indicate that breeding under cover may be 

 possible ; in fact, I suspect that in Germany most birds 

 are bred in heated birdrooms. The London Zoological 



