278 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



Society acquired five examples of this species in 1868 

 and added two more in 1870, when they bred one 

 young one, adding a second in the year following; in 

 1874 three more were purchased, and that year two 

 pairs were bred and a third pair acquired by exchange. 

 This seems to bear out Mr. Seth-Smith's view that 

 breeding is more successful when several pairs are 

 turned out together. 



SCALY DOVE (Scardafe.Ua squamosa). 



Above greyish-brown with black edges to the 

 feathers ; upper wing-coverts pale brown, becoming 

 white towards the tips and edged with black ; bastard- 

 wing and primary-coverts black ; flights brown ; pri- 

 maries with the inner webs cinnamon tipped with 

 brown ; inner secondaries greyish-brown, with a narrow 

 white edge to the outer web ; two central tail feathers 

 greyish-brown, the next two pairs brown at the base, 

 but with black towards the tip, the three outer pairs 

 black, with increasingly broad white tips ; below \vhite, 

 with a pinkish tinge on the lower neck, sides and breast, 

 each feather edged behind with black, excepting the 

 under tail-coverts : under wing-coverts dark brown, 

 edged with black; bill brownish-black; feet flesh- 

 coloured ; hides carmine-red. Female rather duller in 

 colouring ; and, I think, with the black edgings to the 

 feathers less strongly defined. Hab., Brazil, Venezuela, 

 and Colombia. 



Burmeister observes (" Systematische Uebersicht," 

 Vol. II., p. 299) : " I only once found this graceful 

 Dove, in a little flock near the Fazenda of Caraucas in 

 Minas Geraes ; the individuals were always together in 

 pairs, but so shy that we could only get a shot at them 

 by exercising the greatest caution." 



Mr. W. A. Forbes says (Tin: Ibi*, 1881, p. 356) : "I 

 first met with this pretty Dove in some of the gardens 

 in the outskirts of Parahyba. Afterwards, when riding 

 between Macuca and Garanhuns, I several times flushed 

 little coveys of it, which rose up from the road and 

 took refuge in the nearest tree. Usually these parties 

 consisted of about four. When rising they make, ap- 

 parently with their wings, a curious rattling noise, 

 whence they are called by the Brazilians ' Rola Cascavel," 

 < 'iiJrnn I meaning a rattle, and being also the name 

 applied by the natives to the Brazilian rattlesnake 

 (Crotalus norridus), which is by no means rare in the 

 district." 



I have found no account of the nidification of this 

 species in a wild .state, but in 1903 Mr. Seth-Smith 

 procured a pair of the species from a consignment 

 received by Mr. Thorpe, of Hull, and in 1904 he success- 

 fully bred a specimen. A full account of Mr. Seth- 

 Smith's experience is published in The A rintlturul 

 Magazine, Second Series, Vol. II., pp. 278, 279. 



Russ says that he was the first to breed this species, 

 and on several occasions; "at the nesting season, in 

 April the male calls the female morning and evening 

 rukukuh ; the female then settles on any kind of shrub 

 or on the upper surface of a Hartz nesting-cage, 

 spreads out her tail like a fan, bends her head low 

 down, and coos softly. The male carries up all kinds of 

 twigs, fibres, threads and strips of paper, and the 

 female constructs therefrom a careless nest. With 

 Mr. Langheinz. the dentist, they went to nest several 

 times, but invariably without result, because the nest 

 and eggs were every time torn down by clinging to the 

 bird as it flew." 



This Dove was first acquired by the London Zoo- 

 logical Society in 1867. 



METALSPOTTED DOVES. 

 (Sub=family Peristerinse.) 



These small Doves, which I have characterised as 

 " metal-spotted," have twelve tail-feathers, and, as a 

 general rule, their primaries are not much longer than 

 the secondaries. Although the structural distinctions 

 between them and the Geopeliince do not seem very 

 striking, they appear to be a natural group ; they are 

 about the most quarrelsome of all the Doves, and being 

 very courageous are apt to make themselves very ob- 

 jectionable to Pigeons of nearly twice their length and 

 ten or twelve times their bulk.* 



STEEL-BARRED DOVE (Columbula picui). 



Adult male above brownish ash, the forehead nearly 

 white, the crown grey ; beneath, pale vinaceous- 

 brownish ; the chin, throat, and centre of abdomen, 

 white ; from the upper mandible to the eye is a straight 

 dusky line, almost black ; outer upper wing-coverts and 



STEEL-BARRED DOVE (Columliula pii-nl]. 



inner < with white borders to the outrr wcli- : 



outer lesser wing-coverts barred near their extremities 

 with steel-blue, forming a straight bar across the v. 

 quills, primary coverts, bastard wing, and under v 

 coverts, black ; two central tail-feathers like the back, 

 the succeeding ones more slaty and longitudinally 

 streaked, and bordered towards the tips with brownish 

 and white ; then two white feathers on each side 

 washed, excepting towards the tips, with grey on the 

 inner webs, and with a tapering, slaty grey border to 

 the outer webs ; outer feathers, white ; feet, lake-red ; 

 bill, ashy at base of culmen, otherwise pale bluish at 

 base and slaty-black on the apical half ; iris, claret- 

 coloured. 



The female is a little duller and distinctly browner 

 above, the breast also is browner. *Hab., S. Brazil, 

 Paraguay, Argentina, Chili, and Bolivia. 



In its wild state this bird is usually seen in pairs, 

 although occasionally from a dozen to a score may be 

 seen in one flock. According to Hudson, its notes are 

 rather loud and somewhat monotonous. In captivity 

 they either consist of a prolonged rattling coo, or are 

 just audible and more like a subdued moan than a coo. 

 The nest is quite normal, and the eggs, two in number, 

 are small, white, and rather short and hardly oval. 

 In their native haunts these tiny Doves breed two or 

 three times in the season, the last brood being sometimes- 



* Like other Wiry Doves, the Peristerince do well ur-on whiter 

 millet and oana-rvs-eed onlv. 



