THE DOVE. 127 



spotted, while further east, in China, we get another 

 species (Turtur chinensis) which is not spotted at all, 

 although it bears a black-and-white tippet like the other 

 two. 



Another Dove that may sometimes, but not often, be 

 met with in Calcutta is the Ring-dove (Turtur risorius), a 

 bird very like the tame Dove, but drab instead of fawn in 

 colour. Indeed, as the tame bird appears to be sometimes 

 coloured just like the wild one, one might put it down as 

 the descendant of the latter, were ifc not that the coo of the 

 two birds is different. It may be urged in this connection 

 that there is a difference in the song of the white tame and 

 the grey wild Java sparrows ; but in these ring-necked 

 Turtle-doves the notes of the various wild species are so 

 distinct that the coo becomes a character of importance. 

 The wild Ring-dove never seems to utter the peculiar snig- 

 gering laugh of the tame one, which is quite unlike any 

 note made by any other turtle-dove I know, and I have 

 studied several in life. Whether or not it gave origin to the 

 world-familiar domestic pet, the Ring-dove of India has a 

 wide range on its own account, and may soothe with its 

 cooing the ears of many men of many races from the un- 

 speakable Turk in Europe to the heathen Chinese in the 

 uttermost East. 



