110 VOYAGES OF A NATURALIST 



backs and claret-coloured breasts. These doves, 

 of which we obtained specimens, proved to belong 

 to a hitherto undescribed species,* nearly allied to 

 those inhabiting Aldabra and Glorioso ; they were 

 remarkably tame, and could almost be caught by 

 hand. A few were nesting in the branches of the 

 bushes, and one nest that we found contained a 

 single newly-hatched bird. Its flight is somewhat 

 heavy and laboured, and the bird is remarkably 

 unwilling to take to wing at all, spending most 

 of its time running on the ground under the 

 bushes, often in company with the rails, with 

 which it appears to be on excellent terms. 



We had not proceeded far before we heard the 

 long bubbling note of a lark-heeled cuckoo, | 

 and soon found the bird sitting in a thick bush near 

 its nest a large domed structure built of dried 

 grasses, and containing two perfectly white eggs. 

 This " cuckoo," which is, by the way, not a true 

 cuckoo, builds its own nest and rears its own 

 young. The Assumption species is closely allied 

 to the one I have mentioned as seen in the Foret 

 d'Ambre, but is somewhat larger. Although they 

 were extraordinarily tame, we were unable to catch 

 any of them alive, as they rarely left the thickest 

 parts of the bushes. 



The tameness of several of the birds on Assump- 



* Turtur assumptions, Nicoll, " Bulletin Brit. Orn. Club," Vol. XVI. 

 p. 105. 



f Centropus assumptions, Nicoll, " Bulletin Brit. Orn. Club." VoL 

 XVI., p. 105. 



