262



Mrs. Katharine Currey,



water or milk proved the most suitable food and was taken

readily. When feeding the young I always called to them with

a certain whistle, and as they grew older they would follow me

about the house on hearing the whistle. On one occasion one of

the young birds flew out of the window, but returned the next

morning on hearing me feeding the others.


At the time of writing, the Hoopoes are enclosed in a

large aviary in company with Doves and Plovers, and up to the

present we have had no trouble with “split bills,” which seems

to be a common failing with Hoopoes. The floor of the aviary is

for the most part loose rubble and sand, and the birds can probe

in this to the full extent of their bills without any difficulty.


From the time they were able to feed themselves our

Brehm’s Hoopoes have taken practically nothing but fresh

chopped meat placed in a dish of water, and on this they seem

to thrive well.


A few days ago one of them started singing, if “ Hoop

hoop” can be expressed as a song. They are provided with

nesting-boxes, but up to the present show no signs of using

them.


The characters by which the present form may be distin¬

guished from the typical Upupa epops is as follows :—Brehm’s

Hoopoe is easily recognisable from Upiipa epops epops in having

the bill much larger and stouter, especially at the base, and the

males are less brightly coloured than are the males of typical

Upupa epops. In both forms the males have always larger bills

and are more brightly coloured than the females.



SOME WILD PET DOVES.


By Katharine Currey.


For more than thirty years I have kept Ring Doves— i.e.

the ordinary light brown Barbary or Laughing Dove—loose about

the garden, but now-a-days I find it more difficult to get the

pure-bred brown Dove than formerly, no doubt on account of

the inter-breeding with the white Java Dove. Barbary Doves are

now almost pearl-coloured, and they appear to me to be more

pugnacious. Everyone who keeps White Javas know how fierce

they are.



