on the Pigeons of the Gambia.



33



there is more uniformity in the colour of the plumage and no vinous

tinge on the head, etc.


Red-eyed Dove ( Streptopelia semitorquata erythrophrys (Sw.)).


Range : The Ethiopian Region generally (Brit. Mus. Hand List).


The range as given above is that of S. semitorquata. Of this

species Mr. C. H. B. Grant recognises three races (‘ Ibis,’ 1915,

p. 42):


(1) S. semitorquata semitorquata. N.E .and E. to S.E. Africa.


Columba semitorquata , Rupp., 1835 (N. Abyssinia).


(2) S. semitorquata erythrophrys. Sw., 1837 (Senegal). W. Africa


and F. Po. = the Gambian bird I am dealing with.


(3) S. semitorquata shelleyi, Salvad., 1393 (Niger). Niger to Upper


White Nile.


The “ Black Pigeons,” as these birds are generally called

here, are very common in the Gambia, and numerous nearly every¬

where and at all seasons, except for about the first two months

of the dry season — middle of October to middle of December.

During the ground-nut season (Christmas onwards) they are

especially plentiful and feed largely on these nuts, which they

swallow without cracking the shell, their gizzards, I suppose,

dissolving what their comparatively weak beaks cannot break.

At other seasons they feed in the corn and rice fields, and when

nothing else is obtainable, as in the rains, on the different berries

and fruits of the bush. At the beginning of the rains — June or

July—largish flocks appear in Bathurst, all travelling more or less

northward, and following the similar, but larger, flights of Green

Pigeons. From this time till about the end of the rains one sees

but few, and I think that a good many must leave us for this season.

At other times, however, they are strictly resident birds.


In their ordinary daily habits, too, they are among the most

regular of birds. In certain places one is practically certain of

finding them every day at one particular hour, while morning and

evening they go almost to the minute to drink at their favourite

watering-places. On these occasions one notices that they usually

pi-ecede the other smaller Doves, and are much quicker over the



