254 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



Turkestan and Afghanistan, to N. India" (Salvador!); 

 "Southern Persia?" (Blanford). 



Jerdon says (" Birds of India," Vol. III., p. 468) : 

 " It flies in pretty large flocks, and affects trees. A 

 correspondent of the Bengal Sporting Review states 

 that he saw them in hundreds at Hansi in March, ' but 

 they soon disappeared. They feed in the fields, morning 

 and evening, and roost in the day (and, I suppose, the 

 night also) in trees, generally in the common Babul 

 trees. To Europeans here (at Hansi) they are known as 

 the Hill-pigeons." 



Lieutenant C. H. T. Whitehead (The Ibis, 1909, p. 

 266) says of this species : " Migrates through Kohat in 

 the latter half of April in small flocks, which feed 

 chiefly on the mulberries that are then ripening. Less 

 wary than other members of the genus. Appears to be 

 scarce in the Kurram Valley, and probably only passes 

 through. I shot an example at 6,500 feet in Ilex-scrub 

 on May 2nd." 



Three examples of this species reached the Gardens 

 ;at Regent's Park on June 24th, 1896. 



TRIANGULAR-SPOTTED PIGEON (Columba guinea). 



The principal colour is ashy-grey, paler on the rump; 

 the neck is vinaceous-reddish, the tips of the feathers 

 "bifid and ashy, glossed with green ; the scapulars, upper 

 wing-coverts and back vinous-chestnut, with numerous 

 triangular white spots ; flights smoky-greyish, darker 

 underneath ; tail grey, with a broad apical black band ; 

 basal half of outer web of outside tail feathers white ; bill 

 blackish ; feet red ; bare skin round eye blood-red ; iris 

 red. The female is rather smaller than the male, and 

 her bill is probably more slender. Hab. , Western 

 Africa, across Central Africa, and on the Eastern side 

 up to Abyssinia, Sennaar, and Kordofan. 



This bird (according to Von Heuglin) in its wild state 

 is most accommodating, frequenting both mountain and 

 plain, houses, ruins, and trees, open places and forests. 

 In Abyssinia it is a common domesticated pigeon, there- 

 fore it is not surprising that it has been frequently bred 

 in our Zoological Gardens. It builds freely on the roofs 

 -of buildings or in the leaf sheaths of Doleib palms. It 

 may be seen either in pairs or small companies, feeding 

 upon the roads or in the stubbles, and in the evening 

 it alights to drink. The note of this bird resembles 

 that of our Rock Pigeon. Breeding is carried on in our 

 winter. 



According to Lord Lovat (The Ibis, 1900, p. 332) : 

 " This widely-distributed pigeon nests in the rocks " in 

 Abyssinia. He thus describes the soft parts : " Iris 

 red, round pupil dark red; bill dark; legs pinkish." 

 Mr. Alfred E. Pease, however (The Ibis, 1901, p. 696), 

 describes them as follows : "Iris orange; bill black; 

 naked skin round eve dark purplish-red; legs pale red." 



Captain B. Alexander says (The Ibis, 1902, p. 369), 

 speaking of the birds of the Gold Coast : "During th6 

 dry season, from November to the beginning of April, 

 these pigeons are seldom seen in the Hinterland, but as 

 soon as the first rain has fallen they appear on the 

 newly-sown fields in large flocks, and may be seen from 

 early morning till evening." 



Mr. A. L. Butler, writing respecting the ornithology 

 of the Egyptian Soudan (The Ibis, 1905, p. 359), says : 

 " The Maroon-backed Rock Pigeon is common in the 

 rocky gorges of the Upper Atbara, from which it 

 ranges into the surrounding district. I have shot it at 

 Gedaref and Gallabat. and have seen it also at Tewfikia, 

 on the White Nile, where I noticed it feeding about 

 the town almost as tamely as a domestic pigeon." 



In a later paper (The* Ibis, 1908, p. 248) the same 

 observer says : "The Guinea Pigeon was, as usual on 



the White Nile, first met with among the "Doleib" 

 palms at Tewfikia, and in the Bahr-el-Ghazal country 

 we found it abundant wherever these palms occurred. 

 I occasionally saw sixty or seventy individuals in a 

 flock." 



Miss Alderson once purchased a female of this species, 

 and subsequently obtained a male from the Zoological 

 Gardens, but she was not successful in breeding from 

 them. She says the coo was more like the bark of a 

 small dog than the note of a bird. 



The London Zoological Society purchased two 

 specimens of this species in 1865, and a pair the follow- 

 ing year ; many others have been acquired subsequently, 

 chiefly by breeding the species year after year at the 

 Gardens. 



NAKED-EYED PIGEON (Columba gymnophthalma). 



Back, scapulars, and wings pale brown ; lower nape 

 with pale and dark-grey narrow bands in front and 

 opaline and blackish bands behind ; lower back and 

 upper tail-coverts dusky-grey, the latter slightly 

 brownish towards the tips ; anterior wing-coverts broadly 

 edged with white; primaries brown, with narrow paler 

 edges ; secondaries with narrow white edges ; tail above 

 sandy or drab-grey ; head, throat, fore-neck, breast and 

 abdomen pale rosy-vinaceous, fading to whitish on vent 

 and under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts dull 

 greyish ; flights below greyish, darker towards the 

 tips ; tail below pale sandy-grey. Female probably 

 smaller and with more slender bill. Hab., Curacao, 

 Aruba, Bonaire, and perhaps the coast of Venezuela. 



Dr. E. Hartert [The Ibis, 1893, pp. 323, 324) ob- 

 serves : "In the living bird the bill is of a whitish 

 flesh-colour ; the iris deep orange-brown. Round the 

 eye is a smooth bare ring of a bluish-grey colour ; this 

 ring is surrounded by a large granulated naked 

 of a dark reddish-brown colour, somewhat like an over- 

 ripe strawberry. Feet raspberry-red. The lower sur- 

 face of the bird is vinaceous-grey, shading into ashy 

 on the flanks and belly. Thighs and under tail-coverts 

 greyish-white. The broad white line along the wing 

 has caused this bird to be named ' Ala bianco,' or 

 ' White- wing,' on these islands." 



" This beautiful pigeon generally flies about in 

 flocks, picking up its food from the ground, as well as 

 from the trees. Its note is a deep cooing, consisting of 

 four sounds. I found a fresh-made nest on July 

 23rd, but no eggs in it. I also shot young birds at 

 this time, so I believe that they breed twice during 

 the year. The nest is a loose structure, like that of 

 Columba palumbus, and placed mostly in the man- 

 groves, but sometimes in other trees. They are rather 

 shy birds, but can be shot in great numbers in very 

 dry weather near the water. The Europeans and 

 natives on the islands much appreciate its flesh as 

 food, and it does well in captivity." 



Russ confounds this species with C. picazuro; and 

 consequently his notes on the species are the less satis- 

 factory, although they probably relate to this species 

 and not to C. picazuro. He says: "This beautiful 

 pigeon, rare in the market, reached the Zoological 

 Gardens of London on several occasions since the year 

 1858, there also soon after its importation it was freely 

 bred, and at various times hybrids between it and 

 the Stripe-Pigeon (Columba maculosa. Temm.} were 

 produced, as, for instance, four broods in the year 

 1875. The Amsterdam Zoological Gardens have also 

 possessed it. M. Delaurier, senior, of Angouleme, 

 wrote in the year 1884 : " A beautiful pigeon, which 

 is long-lived, and with me passed the winter in the 

 open. Male and female resemble each other. I used 



