CHAPTER LIX. 



Tambourine 



IN "Birds I have kept in Days gone by" I mentioned 

 having had a pair of Pigeons, or Doves, with choco- 

 late backs and white breasts, to which I gave the name 

 of " White- breasted Pigeons" in consequence of being 

 unable to identify them. I have since learned that 

 their proper designation, in English, is as above, and 

 I have but little to add to what I then said about them. 



Subsequent experience, however, has confirmed my 

 former estimate as to their delicacy, as well as to their 

 general desirableness as inmates of the aviary. 



I am doubtful if they are the same as the birds de- 

 scribed by Russ under the name of Die zweifarbige 

 Fruchttaube, for I cannot perceive any of the char- 

 acteristics of the Fruit Pigeons in these little Doves, 

 while the authorities at the London Zoological Gardens 

 place them among the seed- eaters, of which they 

 constitute the genus Tympanistria. 



