TURTLE-DOVES. 



265 



the outer webs of the inner lateral feathers partly 

 brown ; head dull vinous, darker at back ; cheeks and 

 throat rufescent; chin whitish; two steel-blue spots, 

 one above and the other below the ear-coverts ; breast, 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts deep vinous; sides, 

 .axillaries, under wing-coverts, and sides of rump grey ; 

 bill black, carmine-red near the gape ; feet carmine- 

 led ; irides dark brown. Female not differentiated, 

 but probably smaller and less brightly coloured. Hab., 

 "Florida Keys, Bahamas, Cuba, Isle of Pines, 

 Jamaica, Little and Grand Cayman (?), Haiti and San 

 Domingo, Mona, Porto Rico, Tortola, St. Thomas, 

 Virgin Gorda, St. Croix, St. Eustatius, Barbuda and 

 Antigua." (Salvadori.) 



Gosse says (" Birds of Jamaica," pp. 307-309) : "The 

 open pastures, or the grassy glades of pimento pens, are 

 the favourite haunts of this pretty Dove, where it walks 

 on the ground singly or in pairs. In s'lich open situa- 

 tions it can discover and mark the motions of an 

 intruder, and long before he is within gun-range it is 

 upon the wing. Few birds are more difficult of 

 .approach, unless the intervention of a wall or a thick 

 tush permit a concealed access. Its flight is rapid and 

 forcible, and performed with a peculiar whistling of the 

 wings, ' by which it is at once recognised, though 

 unseen. 



" The Pea-dove is frequently seen in the middle of 

 dusty high roads, but whether they resort thither 

 for the purpose of dusting, or to procure gravel, I 

 cannot say, as they usually fly as soon as seen. When 

 the rains have ceased, the increasing drought renders 

 these, as it does many other birds, more familiar ; and 

 they may be seen lingering on the bonders: of streams 

 and ponds. Indeed, they seem, of all our Doves, to 

 haunt most the vicinity of water ; particularly those 

 dreary swamps or morasses which are environed by tall 

 woods of mangrove. In the winter months, when the 

 pastures are burnt up with drought, we may hear all 

 day long their plaintive cooing, proceeding from these 

 scmbre groves, though it is not much heard in any 

 other situation. The coo consists of five deliberate 

 notes, loud but mournful, ' Sary-coot-true-blue,' all in 

 the same tone, save the second, which is short and 

 elevated. It resembles the note of the Carolina Dove. 



" The Pea-dove subsists on various fruits and seeds ; 

 pimento berries, orange pips, sop seeds, caster-oil nuts, 

 physic-nuts, maize, and the smaller seeds of pasture- 

 weeds are some of its resources. His flesh is white 

 and juicy, and when in good condition is in general 

 estimation." 



Mr. Gos'se kept several of the.se birds in a cage, and 

 he says : " They were jealous of other birds, and, not- 

 withstanding their gentle physiognomy, irritable and 

 pugnacious." This is true of all the species of Zenaida, 

 .and, in fact, of most of the Cahimbce. 



Mr. J. L. Bonhote met with this species in the 

 Bahamas " in pairs on the pine-barrens." (The Ibis, 

 1899. p. 517.) 



The London Zoological Society acquired the first 

 example exhibited at Regent's Park in 1861 ; subse- 

 quently many others were added. Russ, however, states 

 that it is- rare in the trade, though he himself possessed 

 a pair in 1889, and several were exhibited in later years 

 at the exhibitions of the " Ornis " Society. 



BRONZE-NECKED DOVE (Zcnaida auriculata). 



The head is vinous with grey crown and two black 

 spots on the side, one behind the eye, the other below 

 the ear-coverts : the neck and breast ar.i vinous, but 

 the sides of the neck and nape are metallic violet, 

 changing to glittering brass in certain lights ; remainder 



of upper surface brownish-olive ; vent and under tail- 

 coverts huffish-white, slightly washed with vinous ; ex- 

 tremity of tail below white. In other respects the 

 plumage nearly resembles that of L. aurita. 



The female is smaller and rather browner than the 

 male ; the metallic neck patch smaller. In the young 

 the upper parts and breast have the feathers streaked 

 and edged with white, the primaries and their coverts 

 edged with rufous; no metallic neck-patches. Hab., 

 South America, on the west from Pearl Island to 

 Ecuador, Peru and Chili ; and on the east from Fer- 

 nando Noronha to Brazil, Argentina, Patagonia, and 

 p_erhaps the Magellan Straits. In its wild state this 

 Dove is seen abundantly in fields of lucerne, probably 

 attracted by the tender green shoots in which many 

 doves delight; the seeds of the giant thistle are also 

 said to be much relished. 



The nest consists of a slender platform of sticks, 

 through which the two white eggs can easily be seen, 

 situated in the fork of a tree, and by preference not far 

 from the habitations of man; the destruction of their 

 eggs and young by birds of prey having, it is supposed, 

 driven them to seek the protection of the human species. 

 The five sobbing notes of this Dove are soft and pleas- 

 ing. 



Speaking of it as observed in Chili (Ths, Ibis, 1897, 

 p. 298), Mr. Ambrose A. Lane says: "This dove is 

 very plentiful throughout Central Chili. I caw only a 

 few near Concepcion on going south in June (1890), 

 when it was mid-winter there, and further south I found 

 it only occurred as a summer visitant. 



' ' It arrived at Maquegua (as a summer visitant) about 

 the end of August. On going to Valdivia in September, 

 I did not find it there, nor in any other locality I 

 visited until I got to Rio Bueno, where it was plentiful 

 on the banks of the rivers, on the margins and T>ebbly 

 beaches of which it constantly appeared to be feeding. 



" In Central Chili it breeds from November to Decem- 

 ber, and at Rio Bueno from Christmas till March. 



" The nests are like that of the European Turtle- 

 dove ; those I found at Rio Bueno being iisually placed 

 in a thick bush or the fork of a tree overhanging or 

 standing in water. 



" I got a young bird to rear in January, 1891, at Rio 

 Bueno ; we took it from a nest in a ' quila ' whilst going 

 along the Rio Conta in a boat ; but scon after we were 

 shipwrecked on a rapid, and all my specimens, and 

 most of my clothes, were swept away. I subsequently 

 got a pair from another nest, but they were too young, 

 and I could not get them to thrive ; they died in conse- 

 quence after I had had them a week." 



Speaking of it as observed by him on Fernando 

 Noronha, Mr. M. J. Nicoll says (The Ibis, 1904, p. 

 39) : " This small Dove is the most abundant bird on 

 the island. It is very difficult to find it when shot, 

 owing to the dense undergrowth. I saw several large 

 flocks sitting on the branches of a species of fig-tree 

 which grows all over the island. Its note is a loud, 

 rattling ' coo.' " 



The late Mr. Cresswell described the nesting of this 

 species in captivity in The A vicultural Magazine, 

 First Series, Vol. III., p. 205. 



I purchased a pair of Zenaida, auriculata on June 

 10th, 1897, and turned them into my garden aviary, 

 where they assisted a pair of Necklaced Doves to incu- 

 bate their eggs ; so that I hoped I was about to breed 

 some remarkable hybrids. In this, of course, I was dis- 

 appointed. In 1898 I brought the birds indoors, putting 

 them into one of my birdrooin aviaries, where they re- 

 mained till they died some years later ; they are pretty 

 birds, hut very quarrelsome. The London Zoological 



