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On Doves Eating Insects and Worms.



and put one up (length 22 feet, width 9 feet 6 inches, height at

ridge 14 feet) enclosing two trees reaching to the centre of the

roof, one or two young trees, a lot of ferns and other plants, to

which I added some creepers : trees, bushes, and creepers

surround the aviary on three sides.


When the aviary was completed, the Tambourines had

just started sitting the third time: I therefore turned out a pair

of the Australian Green-winged Dove (Chalcophaps chrysochlora ),

but unfortunately discovered that the hen had lost the use of her

wings during her moult, so that she found it difficult even to

reach the lower branches of a fir-tree in the aviary, and spent

nearly the whole of her time on the ground. One day, as I was

watching her, I saw her seize a worm which had crawled on to

the path, shake it to pieces, and swallow each fragment as it was

disconnected, until the whole had been devoured.


Since then I have introduced the Tambourine Doves to

the same aviary : they agree perfectly with the Green-wings;

but they are too pleased to be able to fly freely in the open air,

to trouble about breeding.


Miss Alderson, who has had more experience in dove¬

breeding than most of our members, majr perhaps be able to tell

us whether it is the hens alone of the Columbce which feed upon

insects and worms; and whether they have this peculiarity only

in the season when they are either breeding, or ready to

breed.*


Although I have not noticed the habit in other species, I

should think it hardly likely that it was limited to the Bronze-

wings and their allies : perhaps however it may be a peculiarity

of those doves which pass a good deal of their time on the

earth, unlike the so-called Ground-doves, which as a rule only

come down to feed. Such birds as Phlogoenas and Guira ought

strictly to be called Ground-pigeons, not Zcnaida and Leptoptila

which spend nearly all their time among branches.



* We have seen a male Bronze-winged Pigeon (P/taps chalcopterci) swallow large

earthworms ; and the Bleeding-heart Dove (Phlogcenas luzonica ) readily devours meal¬

worms.—E d.



