CHAPTER LX. 



I HIS, in every sense of the word, is a most delightful 

 bird. It is about the same size as the well-known 

 Barbary Dove, but has the advantage over the latter 

 of possessing a handsome crest, not unlike that of the 

 Cockateel in shape; its general colour is bluish-grey and 

 white, but the wings are decorated with a number of 

 glittering spots and bars of a greenish-purple colour 

 reflecting metallic tints that tend considerably to its 

 adornment. 



The tail is long and tipped with white and the bird 

 has a curious habit when alighting on a perch or bough 

 of tilting it up and at the same time spreading it out 

 broadly, fanwise. 



The male and female bear a close outward resem- 

 blance to each other, but the latter is the smaller of 

 the two and has less of the glittering markings on the 

 wing to which reference has already been made, so 

 that when together the sexes can be distinguished 

 readily enough, but it is more difficult to do so when 

 they are seen apart, which, however, is not often the 



