THE DOVE. 125 



The vegetarian habits of the Doves, and their want of 

 special weapons for fighting and of means of defence, have 

 no doubt given them their reputation for gentleness, 

 which is really hardly deserved, in respect of their 

 relations to each other. Harmless to other birds not 

 of their own species or family they undoubtedly are - y 

 but among themselves, and with other members of the 

 tribe, the Doves generally display a spirit of nagging 

 which leads one to suspect that the author, who spoke of 

 the ' ' mild, humble, patient, peaceful dove ' ' had never 

 made the acquaintance of the bird outside a pigeon-pie m 

 The terms ' ' pigeon ' ' and ' ' dove ' ' seem to have origin- 

 ally been, to a certain extent, interchangeable ; but now 

 the latter term has been confined in use almost exclusively 

 to the smaller members of the family, such as our present 

 subject. Mild, then, the Dove certainly is not, but a most 

 inveterate pugilist in a feeble way ; and he can hardly be 

 called patient, in consideration of the way in which a new- 

 caught bird will knock itself about in captivity ; although 

 the species can be so far reconciled to that condition as to 

 propagate itself therein, as happened some years ago in 

 the London Zoological Gardens. As to humility, that can 

 hardly be assigned as a conspicuous quality of birds so 

 given to bloating and bowing and scraping as are 

 the Doves. They are all, taken as a family, given to this 

 form of ostentation ; but the turtle group have also a 

 very pretty form of showing off which is very charac- 

 teristic of them. This consists in the bird towering up in 

 the air for a short distance, and then sailing downward 

 with outspread tail, so as to show off the light and dark 



