THE CROWNED PIGEON. 



429 



The Turtle-Dove seems to divide its attention pretty equally between 

 Africa and England, pausing for some little time in Southern Italy as a 

 kind of half-way house. It arrives here about the beginning of May, or 

 perhaps a little earlier in case the weather be warm, and after resting for 

 a little while sets about making its very simple nest and laying its white 

 eggs. The nest of this bird is built lower than is generally the case 

 with the wood-pigeon, and is usually placed on a forked branch of some 

 convenient tree, about ten feet or so from the ground. The eggs are 

 laid rather late in the season, so that there is seldom more than a sin- 

 gle brood of two young in the course of the year. 



The Turtle-Dove may readily be known by the four rows of black 

 feathers tipped with white which are found on the sides of the neck. 



The splendid Crowned Pigeon is indisputably the most conspic- 

 uous of all its tribe, its great size and splendid crest rendering it a 

 most striking object, even at a considerable distance. 



So large and un-pigeonlike is this bird that few, on first seeing it, 

 would be likely to determine its real relations to the rest of the feath- 

 ered race, and would be more likely 

 to class it among the poultry than 

 the pigeons. If, however, the reader 

 will lay a card upon the crest, so as 

 to expose only the head, he will see 

 that the general outline of the head 

 and beak is clearly that of a pigeon. 

 It is a native of Java, New Guinea, 

 and the Moluccas. 



The cry of this bird is loud and 

 sonorous, a. kind of mixture between 

 a trombone and a drum, and every 

 time the bird utters this note it bows 

 its head so low that the crest sweeps 

 the ground. 



The nest of the Crowned Pigeon 

 is said to be made in trees, the eggs 

 being two in number, as is generally the case with this group of birds. 



The general color of this bird is a deep and nearly uniform slate-blue ; 

 that of the quill feathers of the wings and tail being a very blackish ash 

 and a patch of pure white and w^arm maroon being found on the wings. 



The position held by the celebrated Dodo among birds was long 

 doubtful, and was only settled in comparatively late years by careful 

 examination of the few relics which are our sole and scanty records 

 of this very remarkable bird. 



So plentiful were the Dodos at one time, and so easily were they 

 killed, that the sailors were in the habit of slaying the birds merely 



The Crowned Pigeon {Gaura 

 corovata). 



