FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



As it runs along the tail is usually erected, which gives 

 it the aspect of a miniature fowl. 



■' I liave found the craw full of smiiU seeds of arasses ; 

 they also eat the eceds of the latropha, and of the 

 castor-oil plant, and particularly those of the gamboge 

 thistle {Aigemone), so common' in pastures. They are 

 fond of picking about the heds- of shallots and escalion.« 

 for minute seeds exposed in the newly turned earth. 

 They are, therefore, readily taken in ."ipringes made of 

 horse-hair. They are more commonly caught by the 

 neck than by the feet, and not seldom,' as I am assured , 

 is the neck quii? cut off. though I presume the springe 

 in such eases must be of stronger material. 



"The Ground-dove is numeroius all the year I'ouiid. 

 In iMarcli I observed it particualrly abundant on the 

 'banks of the Rio Cobre especially on'a. Hat gravelly bed. 

 partially surrounded by the bending .stream near Spansh 

 Town. "..."" 



Mr. Gosse gives no account of the nidification, but 

 J. G. Cooper, in his " Ornithoolgy of California," p. 517, 

 says of the Florida form: — "I foinid their nests there, 

 bo'th on the ground and in trees, built like those of the 

 Common Dove, and with two white eggs. They are in 

 miniature veiy similar, both in appearance and habits, 

 to the Common Pigeon, and are often kept in cages — 

 mostly to fatten for food." 



I purchased a pair of thi.'; pretty little Dove on July 

 10, 1899, but the female, unhap'ijily, died egg-bound 

 (having paired with a Picui or Steel-barred Dove) on 

 Dec. 28. I purchased a second female about Februaiy, 

 1900, and tm'ued her into a large cage with the male 

 bird, which constantly quivered its wings and showed 

 her great attention, trying his utmost to induce her to 

 nest in a Canary nest-box containing the shed foliage 

 from a pine which he carried into the box ; she did not, 

 however, lay. Finding an egg of a Steel-barred Dove 

 in my bird-room. I placetl it in the nest-box, and the 

 pair incubated it steadily, but without result. Later on 

 I substituted a small saucer-shaped woven nest given to 

 me by Mr. Abrahams, and after a time the birds 

 adopted this, but did not sit steadily. The hen died 

 in December. I secured a third female by exchange 

 early in March, 1902. and on the 27th of the same month 

 it died egg-bound. Subsequently the male tried to pair 

 with a. hen Zebra-finch and made its life so miserable 

 that I took the little torment out and put it into an 

 aviary with my Bronze-winged Pigeons. From that 

 time "to the present it has persecuted the hen with its 

 attentions. 



There is usually not much trouble in inducing this 

 tiny Dove to breed in captivity ; provided that the hen 

 does not become egg-bound, it is probably only a matter 

 of time. 



It is funny to watch these birds on the ground, as 

 they often run with the tail standing quite upright ; 

 their ordinary note is a soft hon. lion : Ijut Russ says 

 they have also a loud call which sounds like Jirlm! 



This Dove first reached the Gardens at Regent's Park 

 in 1860. 



Pigmy Dove {Chavurpclia niinuta). 

 Back greyish-brown ; upper tail-coverts ashy ; upper 

 wing-coverts greyish-vinous ; the inner ones with some 

 steel-blue blotches ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts 

 black ; outer webs and tips of flights dusky black, inner 

 webs cinnamon ; two central tail-feathers greyish- 

 brown ; lateral feathers gi'ey with a subterminal black 

 belt ; outer feathers edged with white at the tips ; 

 crown and nape ashy ; back of head with a brown tinge : 

 forehead slightlv vinous ; throat, breast, and abdomen 



vinaceous ; lower abdomen whitish-grey ; under tail- 

 coverts grey with white edges ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries cinnamon ; bill brown ; feet flesh-coloured ; 

 irides violaceous red. Female above pale greyish- 

 brown tinged with olive ; forehead paler ; greater upper 

 wing-coverts edged with white ; throat and abdomen 

 whitish ; breast and flanks pale greyish-brown ; under 

 tail-coverts pale buff with dusky grey centres ; centra.l 

 tail-feathers rather browner, otherwise the plumage i* 

 as in the male. Hab. , Southern Mexico and Central 

 America to Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru. 



I have found no field-notes relating to this little 

 Dove ; in 1899 it was noted as offered for sale in France, 

 and in 1900 the Rev. Hubert D. Astlcy stated his belief 

 that he had secured a pair. In July, 1906. Mr. E. W. 

 Harper presented a specimen to the' London Zoological 

 Society . 



Cinnamon or Talpacoti Dove 

 [C/iamcepelia talpacoti). 



General colour brownieh-vinaeeous-red, becoming 

 nciirly white on the breast; top of head and nape grey, 

 paler on the forehead ; several steel-blue Jblack blotches 

 on the inner wing-coverts, ecapuiars, and inner secon- 

 daries ; bastard-wmg, primary-coverts, and flights 

 brownish - black ; centriil tail - feathers brownish- 

 vinaceous-red ; lateral feathers brownish-red towards the 

 base, black towards the tips, the outer feathers edged 

 with pale reddish on outer web towards the tips; axil- 

 laries and under wing-covert« black; bill dark brown; 

 feet flesh-coloured ; irides dull yellowish-red. Female 

 paler and duller, the mantle tinged witli brownish ; 

 some specimens very slightlv tinged with vinous, but 

 tinged with brownish-grey, the middle of the abdomen 

 being whitish and the under tail-coverts dull rufous 

 edged with whitish. Ha*b., Venezuela, Guiana, Brazil, 

 Paraguay. Bolivia, and Peru. 



Burmeister says (" Systematische Uebersicht," Vol. II., 

 p. 297) : '■ Everywhere common in the whole of Brazil, 

 even in the villages and towns ; runs on the ground 

 and comes into tlie highway of the suburb of Rio do 

 Janeiro." 



Mr. W. A. Fci-bes {T/i,- Ibis. 1881, p. 357) says:— 

 " The Rola, as this little pigeon is called by the 

 Brazilians, is a very common bird all over the parts I 

 visited. It is found solitarily or in pairs, and is much 

 eisteemed for the pot, and persecuted in consequence." 



Mr. E. W. White (" Proceedings of the Zoolcgica! 

 Society." 1882. p. 626) observes: — "These pretty choco- 

 late-coloured Doves fly in pairs, and at this date were 

 found constructing their nests in the orange groves : 

 they are sometimes seen on the ground busily in quest 

 of seeds, but are very wild and not at all commcm.' 



Four examples of this little Dove wei-e purchased by 

 the London Zoological Society in 1868. and a pair of 

 young ones was bred in tJiC' Gardens the sa^me year ; in 

 1873 three more were purcha-'^ed, and in 1877 two more. 

 a pair being again bred tJiat year and three the year 

 following. Mr. Castle-Sloane reared three broods in his 

 aviary in 1903 and 1904; he says that incubation lasts 

 sixteen days. 



Ashy Dove (Peristera cinerea). 

 General colour blui.sli-grey, paler en under-parts ; fore- 

 head and throat nearly white; lesser and mediaai upper 

 wing-coverts, some of the innermost greater coverts, 

 outer scapulars and inner secondaries with roundish or 

 quadrate blue-black spots on outer webs; bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and flights black, the secondaries with 

 their edges in part narrowly grey; lateral tail-feathers 

 black, but the inner ones above grevi.sh towards base ; 



