Practical Bird-Keeping. — III. Pigeons and Doves. 169


The Australian Green-winged Dove

(Cha/cophaps chrysochlora).


This is a very handsome bird and is always admired in an

aviary. The cock is rich maroon with bright “bottle green”

wings and back. The shoulder butts are pure white, the beak

bright red. The hen is browner in tint, and has no white, or

only very little, on the shoulder.


The Indian Green-winged Dove (Chalcophaps indica).


This dove is very similar to the one previously described,

but, to my mind, it is the handsomer of the two, as it has a white

forehead (shading into lead colour on the crown) and a white

eyebrow streak which gives it a very distinctive appearance. In

the hen the forehead is greyer.


The Bronze-wing Pigeon ( Phaps chalcoptera).


A fine large bird, but with rather short legs in proportion

to its size. It is mottled like a pheasant and, as its name implies,

has beautiful metallic reflections in the wings. In my cock these

reflections are emerald and fire-red, in the hen sage-green and

gold, but individual specimens vary. The forehead in the cock

is buff, in the hen white. The Bronze-wing nests readily, but it

is too large a bird for a very small aviary.


The Brush Bronze-wing Pigeon ( Phaps elegans).


A much smaller bird than the former and much more

rounded in shape, but equally beautiful. The colouring is not

mottled but rich maroon brown and grey, with bright metallic

feathers in the wing. The hen is duller in colour, and has not

so buff a forehead as the cock.


The Partridge Bronze-wing Pigeon.


(Geophaps script a).


This is a very pretty little dove. I11 shape it is rather like

the ordinary Bronze-wing, and mottled with brown and white in

something the same way. It has very decided white-face mark¬

ings, and the reflection in the wing is green. The nest is made

in a hollow in the earth, two eggs being laid therein. It is a

bird that seldom flies about, but spends most of its time on the

ground. It is very quiet and never interferes with any other

inmate of the aviary.



