THE PIGEONS. 175 



ancestor of the domestic kind. But it has a distinctly 

 different coo, and does not so far as I know, ever utter 

 the characteristic laughing note of the other. 



This is one of the commonest birds over most of India 

 and Ceylon, but is rare in Burma ; it has a very wide 

 range outside our limits, to Central Asia, Turkey, and 

 China. In Yarkand it is a regular town bird, and in India 

 is a eommon garden-bird in most places. About Calcutta, 

 however, this is not the case, the species being rare, if 

 found at all. 



THE RED DOVE (CEnopopelia tranquebarica) is a small 

 species, with the tail shorter in proportion, even to its 

 size, than most Turtle-doves ; its length is thus only about 

 nine inches. The hen is drab with a black crescent on 

 the back of the neck and white tips to the side tail- 

 feathers. She thus looks very like a miniature wild Ring- 

 dove, but the difference of size is too great for any real 

 confusion to arise. 



The cock Red Dove is very different from any other 

 species, and even from his own hen, a remarkable case 

 in this family. He is of course of the same size and 

 shape as she is, and he also has the same black collar 

 and white tips to the side tail-feathers, but his body 

 colour is altogether different, being of a pinkish 

 brick-red about the shade that ladies used to call 

 " crushed strawberry " a few years ago. His head and 

 centre tail-feathers are of a delicate ash grey, well 

 setting off the red. 



Young cocks are drab, like the hens, at first. This 

 beautiful Dove has a very gentle innocent appearance, its 



