2S!> 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



As it runs along the tail is usually erected, which gives 

 it the aspect of a miniature fowl. 



" I have found the craw full of snvill seeds of grasses ; 

 they also eat the seeds of the latropha, and of the 

 castor-oil plant, and particularly those of the gamboge 

 thistle (Arc/cmona], so common an pastures. They are 

 fond o picking about the beds of shallots and escalions 

 for minute seeds exposed in the newly turned earth. 

 They are, therefore, readily taken in .springes made of 

 horse-hair. They are more commonly caught 'by the 

 neck than by the feet, and not seldom, ae I am assured, 

 is the neck quhs cut off. though I presume the spring,' 

 in such cases must be of stronger material. 



" The Ground-dove is numerous all the year round. 

 In March I observed it particualrly abundant on the 

 hanks of the Rio Cobre especially on a flat gravelly bed, 

 partially surrounded by the bending stream near Spanish 

 Town. . . ." 



Mr. Gosse gives no account of the nidification, but 

 J. G. Cooper, in his " Ornithoolgy of California," p. 517, 

 says of the Florida form: "I found their nests there, 

 both on the ground and in trees, built like those of the 

 Common Dove, and with two white eggs. They are in 

 miniature very similar, both in appearance and habits, 

 to the Common Pigeon, and are often kept in cages 

 mostly to fatten for food." 



I purchased a pair of this pretty little Dove on July 

 10, 1899, but the female, unhappily, died egg-bound 

 (having paired with a Picui or Steel-barred Dove) on 

 Dec. 28. I purchased a second female about February, 

 1900, and turned her into a large cage with the maie 

 bird, which constantly quivered its wings and showed 

 her great attention, trying his utmost to induce her to 

 nest in a Canary nest -box containing the shed foliage 

 from a pine which he carried into the box ; she did not, 

 however, lay. Finding an egg of a Steel-barred Dove 

 in my bird-room. I placed it in the nest-box, and the 

 pair incubated it steadily, but without result. Later on 

 I substituted a small saucer-shaped woven nest given to 

 me by Mr. Abrahams, and after a time the birds 

 adopted this, but did not sit steadily. The hen died 

 in December. I secured a third female by exchange 

 early in March, 1902. and on the 27th of the same month 

 it died egg-bound. Subsequently the male tried to pair 

 with a, hen Zebra-finch and made its life so miserable 

 that I took the little torment out and put it into an 

 aviary with my Bronze-winged Pigeons. From that 

 time to the present it has persecuted the hen with its 

 attentions. 



There is usually not much trouble in inducing this 

 tiny Dove to breed in captivity; provided that the hen 

 does not become egg-bound, it is probably only" a matter 

 of time. 



It is funny to watch these birds on the ground, as 

 they often run with the tail standing quite upright ; 

 their ordinary note is a soft Jioo, fioo : but Rtiss says 

 they have also a loud call which sounds like ln'lm! 



This Dove first reached the Gardens at Regent's Park 

 in 1860. 



PIGMY DOVE (Chanuepelia minuta). 



Back greyish-brown : upper tail-coverts ashy : upper 

 wing-coverts greyish-vinous ; the inner ones with some 

 steel-blue blotches ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts 

 black ; outer webs and tips of flights dusky black, inner 

 webs cinnamon ; two central tail-feathers greyish- 

 brown ; lateral feathers grey with a subterminal black 

 belt ; outer feathers edged with white at the tips ; 

 crown and nape ashy : back of head with a brown tinge ; 

 forehead slightly vinous ; throat, breast, and abdomen 



vinaceous ; lower abdomen whitish-grey ; under tail- 

 coverts grey with white edges ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries cinnamon ; bill brown ; feet flesh-coloured ; 

 irides violaceous red. Female above pale greyish- 

 brown tinged with olive ; forehead paler ; greater upper 

 wing-coverts edged with white ; throat and abdomen 

 whitish ; breast and flanks pale greyish-brown ; under 

 tail-coverts pale buff with dusky grey centres ; centra.1 

 tail-feathers rather browner, otherwise the plumage is 

 as in the male. Hab., Southern Mexico and Central 

 America to Guiana, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru. 



I have found no field-notes relating to this little 

 Dove ; in 1899 it was noted as offered for sale in France, 

 and in 1900 the Rev. Hubert D. Astley stated his belief 

 that he had secured a pair. In July,' 1906, Mr. E. W. 

 Harper presented a specimen to the" London Zoological 

 Society. 



CINNAMON OR TALPACOTI DOVE 



(C ' harnctptlia talpacoti). 



General colour brownish-vinaceous-red, becoming 

 nearly white on the breast; top of head and nape grey, 

 paler on the forehead ; several steel-blue-black blotches 

 on the inner wing-coverts, scapulars, and inner secon- 

 daries; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and flights 

 brownish - black ; central tail - feathers brownieh- 

 vinaceous-red ; lateral feathers brownish-red towards the 

 base, black towards the tips, the outer feathers edged 

 with pale reddish on outer web towards the tips; axil- 

 laries and under wing-coverte black ; bill dark brown ; 

 feet flesh-coloured ; irides dull yellowish-red. Female 

 paler and duller, the mantle tinged with brownish ; 

 some specimens very slightly tinged with vinous, but 

 tinged with brownish-grey, the middle of the abdomen 

 being whitish and the under tail-coverts dull rufous 

 edged with whitish. Ha'b., Venezuela, Guiana, Brazil, 

 Paraguay. Bolivia, and Peru. 



Burnieister says (" Systematisehe Uebersicht," Vol. II., 

 p. 297) : " Everywhere common in the whole of Brazil, 

 even in the villages and towns ; runs on the ground 

 and comes into the highway of the suburb of Rio de 

 Janeiro." 



Mr. W. A. F<, rl.es (The Ibis. 1881, p. 357) says : 

 " The Rola. as this little pigeon is called bv the 

 Brazilians, is a very common bird all over the parts I 

 visited. It is found solitarily or in pairs, and is much 

 esteemed for the pot, and persecuted in consequence." 



Mi'. E. W. White (" Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1882, p. 626) observes : " These pretty choco- 

 late-coloured Doves fly in pairs, aiKl at this date were 

 found constructing their nests in the orange groves ; 

 they are sometimes seen on the ground busily in quest 

 of seeds, but are very wild and not at all common.' 



Four examples of this little Dove were purchased by 

 the London Zoological Society in 1868, and a pair of 

 young ones was bred in the Gardens the same year ; in 

 1873 three more were purchased, and in t !877 two more, 

 a pair being again bred that year and three the year 

 following. Mr. Castle-Sloane reared three broods in his 

 aviary in 1903 and 1904 ; he says that incubation lasts 

 sixteen days. 



ASHY DOVE (Periztera cinerca). 



General colour bluish-grey, paler on under-parts ; fore- 

 head and throat nearly white ; lesser and median upper 

 wing-coverts, some of the innermost greater coverts, 

 outer scapulars and inner secondaries with roundish or 

 quadrate blue-black spots on outer webs; bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and flights black, the secondaries with 

 their edges in part narrowly grey; lateral tail-feathers 

 black, but the inner ones above greyish towards base ; 



