CATO'S DOVE'8 BREEDING CACK. 



DOVES. 



CHARACTERISTICS. The beak is slender, straight, rather 

 bent at the point, swelled, and covered with a fleshy membrane 

 at the base ; the shanks are short ; the toes are divided to their 

 origin. Doves feed uniformly on grain, though some wild species 

 also eat myrtle berries. 



These birds are faithful to their mates, and produce only two 

 young ones at each brood, which they feed on grain already 

 softened in their own crops *. They are generally ranged 

 amongst the passerine birds, or among poultry, but I think it 

 best to make them a distinct order, since they have many dis- 

 tinguishing characteristics. The species I shall mention are 

 indigenous, and easily tamed at any age. 



* This it a mistake : the food given to the young is a sort of thick milky secretion 

 from the stomach of the parent birds, both male and female TRANSLATOR. 



