Practical Bird Keeping. — III. Pigeons and Doves. 167


chiefly grey and brown with bars of black across the wings, and

a fine deep hind collar of cinnamon and black. The breast is a

delicate pinkish shade, the head grey and the eye yellow, while

the bare skin round is blue-grey. The two hens I have had

were both smaller and duller and not so striking-looking as the

cock bird.


The Peaceful Dove (Geopelia tranquil Id).


This is another barred dove, but much smaller in size than

the Bar-shouldered; its length being only about nine inches.

The general colour is grey crossed with narrow black lines, the

iris is bright ash-grey.


The Zebra Dove (Geopelia striata).


There is little difference between this dove and the Peace¬

ful Dove, but in the latter the black bars entirely cross the breast,

which is not so in the Zebra, also the last-named lias a brown

iris. It is much the more amiable bird of the two.


The Diamond Dove (Geopelia cuneata).


This tiny little dove is deservedly a favourite. It is very

small, slender in shape and with a long graceful tail. It varies

in colour, some specimens being drab, and others a clear ash-

grey. The wings are dotted over with tiny white spots as if the

bird had been out in a snowstorm. The colour of the eye and

surrounding skin also differs ; in some birds being bright ruby

red, in others, greenish-yellow.


The Scaly Dove (Scardafella squamosa).


This is another small slender dove ; in colour pale brownish

with darker barring of brown. It is not often imported and

specimens vary very much, some seeming almost black and

others quite light brown, the bars in the latter case showing,

of course, most conspicuously.


We now come to what Dr. Butler terms the Metal-

SPOTTED Doves (sub-family Peristerince). The first is :—


The Picui or Steel-barred Dove (Columbula picui).


This is a very tiny little dove. I have kept many speci¬

mens and found it vary very much in colour, from grey to almost

black. The hens are much browner than the cocks; the most

usual colour for the latter being a soft grey. High up in the



