BROXZE-WINGED PKiEONS. 



285 



cupreous criinsda ; flights smoky-brown, their inner webs 

 cinnamon townrds the base ; three outer tail-feathei-s 

 Jiiore or less grey at the base and with a subterminaL 

 black ■l>elt,, the tii)i> coSfee-brown like the rest of tlie 

 upi^er parts; feet dull lake-red; bill dull elate-colour, 

 (lull lake-red at base ; iris brown. Female rather 

 smaller, but stouter; the chin sordid white, the throat 

 slii;litly tinged willi cinniuiiiooi and opaline, not blue ; 

 and the remainder of the under parts distinctJy paler 

 than in the male. The young bud has (black bais on 

 some of the scapulars, wing-coverts, and secondaries, 

 llab., West .\frica, from the Gold Coast to the Gaboon. 



Count Salvadori divides this into two species, regard- 

 ing the bird with th« coppery-lake spots and red base 

 to bill as distinct from C. pueUa, but Captain Shelley 

 says that they are not specifically distinct. The birds 

 usually imported certainly belong to the latter form, and 

 shoulci, .«triclly si>eaking, be ciilled IJrehmer's Dove 

 {(.'altipelia hnluneri). Count Salvadori describes the 

 si>ots as golden coppery ; hut there is nothinjr golden 

 about them, the colour being metallic lake-red, with a 

 slight glint of copper in certain lights. It is evident 

 that Dr. Sharpe agrees with Count Salvadori in regard- 

 ing I', hn/iiii'-ri as distinct, for he recurds it as one of 

 the intere.-ting species obtained by Mr. G. L. Bates on 

 the Rio Jicnito. French Congo (cf. T/ie !bi^, 1900, 

 p. 534). In 1904, however, in an article on " Birds 

 from Efulen in Cameroon," Dr. Sharpe says: — "It is 

 interesting to find C. purlla and C. brc/nneri inhabiting 

 the same country, and I inclino to the idea that the 

 latt<>r may be the young of the former." This is cer- 

 tainly not the case, however. 



Russ asserts that in West Africa this Dove lives in 

 the bush, and that is the only note relating to its wild 

 life which I have discovered. Its song is louder than 

 tliat of the Emerald Do'Ve. but otherwise very similar. 

 When .showing off to the hen neitlier this, nor any of 

 the allied African Bronze-wing Doves, raises the wings 

 over the back like the Asiatic and Australian Bronze- 

 winws. Why Salvadori i»eparated the .-Vfrican forms, 

 putting the genus ChalrojJia/js\ with its booming coo, 

 between Chalcopelia and Calopelia, I am unable to 

 guess. 



The Londcn Zoological Society first received an 

 example of this Dove (but whether of the variety with 

 green or lake-red spots is not clear) in 1870; in 1877 

 fom- more were purchased, all males. In 1884 the 

 s|)ecies reached the --Vniisterdam Gardens, and Cross, of 

 Liverpool, received specimens, two of which he sent to 

 Dr. Russ. In 1888 Miss Hagenbeck, of Himburg, ex- 

 hibited two specimens at the exhibition of the " Ornis" 

 Society. .\ pair purchased by the London Zoological 

 Society in 1834 probably came from Cross' consign- 

 ment ; others were presented in later years. In 1905 

 Hamlyn imported nearly a dozen ex;unples. from which 

 I purchased the first selected pair, Mr. Housden pur- 

 ohased a second pair, and I believe Jlr. Seth-Smith 

 .secured the others. Most of theie Doves died soon after 

 their importation. 



I ])urcJias<:d my pair on September 6. The female was 

 taken ill early in November, but got better by the 

 25rd, then she had a relapse and died on the last day 

 of the year. The male seemed rather pleased than 

 otherwise when his wife died, and, for the first time. 

 Jcooed and quivered his wings vigorou.sly. I fancy that 

 this qi ivering of the wings is intended to di.*play the 

 scintillating metallic spots to advantage. For some time 

 this handsome bird paid court to the much smaller 

 female Emerald Dove, an.l possibly her death in June. 

 1908, may have affected his health more than that of 



his natural mate, since he died on November 28 of the 

 same year in nothintr like such good plumage as ho 

 had previously exhibited. On the other hand, it is fai- 

 more probable that this is the most delicate, as it is tire 

 most beautiful, of the African Bronze-wings, and that 

 the chilliness of our climate at the begimiing of winter 

 has a disastrous effect unless the individual happens at 

 the time to be in perfect health. 



-Mr. Seth-Smith, who eventually succeeded in estab- 

 lishing a healthy pair for a summer in his outdoor 

 aviaries, perhaps had as good a chance of ibreeding this 

 Dove as anybody ; but, so far, I believe that no one 

 has succeeded eitlier here or on the Continent. 



The JIaiden Dove is in all resj>ects charming in its 

 colouring, its peaceable disposition, and its musical, 

 though somewhat monotonous, notes. In an aviary it 

 spends most of its time on a branch, like the othea- 

 African Bronze- wings, chiefly. descending to the ground 

 for food or drink. 



.A.usTn.\Li.\N Green-winged Dove (Chalcophaps 

 chrysochloru). 



HE pi'evailing colour of the 

 adult male is rich vinous, with 

 a chocolate sub-tint, the nape 

 .■■lightly more purplish, the' 

 liai k and wings emerald green, 

 with the bend of the wing 

 snow-white; lower back dark, 

 with two grey bars ; outer tail 

 feathers grey ; feet dull crim- 

 son; bill bright red, with 

 .yellower cere ; iris brown. 



The female is slightly duller 

 than the male, more chocolate 

 AusTR.iLiAN GREEN-wi.-icED in tint ; the patch at bend of 

 ^"^^- wing greyish or almost absent;, 



tail above chestnut brown, the' 

 lateral feathers with a black subterminal belt ; the outer 

 feathers as in the male. In the young the outer webs- 

 of the flights are washed with chestnut. Hab., the' 

 Timor group, Moluccas, Papua, New Hebrides, New 

 Caledonia, Australia, and Lord Howe's Island. 



Gould savs of this species ("Handbook." Vol. II.,. 

 pp. 118, 119) : — " The brushy districts are the localities- 

 peculiarly adapted to it, and these, I believe, it never- 

 leaves tor the more open parts of the country ; hence' 

 it is but little known to, and seldom seen by, the colo- 

 nists, a circumstance the more to be regretted, as the' 

 beauty and brilliancy of its plumage and the neatness of 

 its form render it one of the prettiest of the Australian 

 birds. When flushed, it flies very quickly throoigh 

 the scrub, but to no great distance, and readily eludes; 

 pursuit by pitching suddenly to the gi'ound, and re- 

 maining so quiet that it can rarely be discovered." 



Mr. .\. .J. Campbell says (" Nests and Eggs of Aus- 

 tralian Bird.-;." p. 679) : — "I first made its acquaintance 

 in Northern Queensland (1885), where it is fairly nume- 

 rous, and -nnliere we bagged several beautiful pairs, 

 -•^.gain I met it in the 'Big Scrub,' New South Wales. 

 Here it was frequently noticed flying quickly and low 

 through the under-scrub. Being of terrestrial habits, it 

 lives on fallen seeds and fruits." "Its call isamelancholy 

 bellowing .«oimd, two or three times repeated." He thus 

 describes the nidificatiom : — " Ne.tt. — A frail, flat .struc- 

 ture of t-n-igs. placed in a low tree. Eggs. — Clutch, two; 

 elliptical in shape ; te.xtnre of sheU fine, e.xcept on the 

 smaller end, which is slightly granular ; surface glossy ; 

 colour, light creamy 'mliite, but darker in tone than 

 that of Ptilopus supci'bus. Dimensions in inches of 



