EGYPTIAN TURTLE-DOVE 



OR 



PALM DOVE 



Turtur senegalensis 



General plumage a dull pinky light brown, brighter on 

 head and breast, which gradually shades off into white under 

 the tail ; wings, warm tones of dull umber brown, which 

 colour also is on the tail coverts and two central tail feathers ; 

 the rest of the tail is blue-grey with broad white tips, a part 

 of the wing coverts a bright blue-grey ; it has a not very pro- 

 nounced collar of black and bright golden brown feathers on 

 the sides and front of neck, eyes crimson, legs and feet pink. 

 Total length, 11 inches. 



The Doves have all had a sort of saintly character 

 thrust on them, which they hardly deserve, as they 

 are about the most pugnacious of birds, which is 

 hardly a saintly qualification ! It is true a pair of 

 Doves by themselves, kept in semi-domestication, 

 do show a sort of maudlin affection, but many of the 

 smaller birds — Wrens, Tits, Warblers, and Swallows, 

 and many others — all show equal, if not greater true 

 affection to each other and absolute self-abnejjation 

 in their untiring devotion to their offspring. Whv, 

 therefore, the Dove has been peculiarly ticketed as 



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