572 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
melancholy coo-coo, uttered slowly at first, then gradually more and 
more quickly, until it ends in a prolonged rattle. They feed on the 
seeds of trees that drop on the ground (such as those of the castor 
oil plant, which is indigenous here), and they may be seen actively 
running about in search of such food. ‘Their flight is exceedingly 
rapid ; they are found singly or in pairs, but never in companies.” 
Although widely spread over nearly the whole of Africa, it has 
not been recorded from any part of Benguel&, Damara, or Great 
Namaqua Lands, or from the western districts of the Cape Colony. 
General colour above, on the vent and tail-feathers fuscous-brown, 
with a few dark-green, iridescent spots about the centre of tho 
wing ; forehead, stripe over the eye, and the under parts pure white; 
inner webs of the wing-feathers and flanks, clear rufous. Length, 
84"; wing, 44”; tail. 2’ 9’’. Captain Shelley gives the soft parts as 
follows: “ Beak deep lilac tipped with horn colour ; irides very dark 
brown; eyelids deep lilac; bare space round the eye dark slate- 
colour ; legs lilac red.”? According to the same author the female 
differs slightly in the cheeks, lower throat, and crop being tinted 
with dusky grey. 
Fig. Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afr. vi. pl. 272. 
555. (ina capensis, DL. 
These lovely little Pigeons extend over the whole of the colony, 
and appear in all the collections made in the Interior. They are, 
Long-tailed African Dove. 
however, rather rare in the eastern province. In the Karroo they 
abound, breeding in the mimosa bushes. Their nests are rarely 
placed above a man’s reach, and are simply a loose platform of sticks, 
covered with fibrous roots, and on this are deposited their two delicate 
cream-coloured eggs: axis 10’"; diameter, 8’”; similar at each end. 
The young during the first year are mottled. They generally fly 
in pairs, but several are often seen incompany. The males are very 
salacious, cooing to any female they chance to fall inwith. We kept 
one in confinement for many months: it became very tame, and would 
salute our first coming into the room in the morning with a deep, 
plaintive “ coo-coo-o0.” It was killed at last by some little Jove- 
birds (Huphemia elegans), who tore it to pieces. These Doves feed 
entirely on grass seeds and grain, and walk with such rapidity when 
feeding, that we have often mistaken them for rats when about 
the farmsteads where they congregate. It is probably migratory. 
Se el ER Oe 
