DOVES. 383 



latitude, it is met with in Abyssinia among bushes, and thick underwood, and 

 in the jungles along the banks of water-courses. It is figured on p. 378. 



Bronze-Winged The six bronze - winged doves {Chalcoptera), distinguished by 



Doves. having the upper wing-coverts metallic golden-green, are mostly in- 

 habitants of the Indo-Malayan and Australian regions ; the Indian species (C. 

 indica), ranging from India to Western New Guinea, having the top of the head 

 and hind-neck dark grey, the white forehead and eyebrow-stripes of the male less 

 distinct in the female, and the middle of the back and shoulder-feathers golden- 

 green like the wing-coverts. This dove is not uncommon in the well-wooded 

 portions of Tenasserim, where it is found singly or in pairs in thick forest or 

 very shady gardens. Omitting mention of several genera, we come to two 

 Australian species, in which the beak is feeble, and the tail has sixteen feathers. , 

 AustraUan The common bronze-winged dove (Phaps chalco])tera) is generally 



Groimd-Doves. distributed all over Australia, and differs from its ally, P. elegans, in 

 having the throat white instead of chestnut, and the breast vinous ; while in the 

 latter this part is grey. It is a plump, heavy bird, weighing fully a pound when 

 in good condition. Its amazing powers of flight enable it to cross a great expanse of 

 country in an incredibly short space of time, and just before sunset it may be seen 

 singly, or in pairs, coming swiftly over the plains, or down the gullies to its drink- 

 ing-places. It feeds almost entirely on the ground, picking up various leguminous 

 seeds ; and numbers of old and young are killed in the stubble-fields after the breed- 

 ing-season, which lasts from August to December. 



Another genus (Histriophaps), characterised by the feeble bill 

 " and the tail of fourteen feathers, is represented by one peculiarly 

 coloured species, the harlequin-dove {H. histrionica), of North- Western Australia. 

 The forehead, a stripe round the ear-coverts, and the gorget are snow-white ; the 

 remainder of the head, throat, and ear-coverts being jet black, while the upper- 

 parts of the body and middle tail-feathers are cinnamon-brown, with a patch of 

 metallic purple on the innermost secondaries ; the under-parts being bluish grey, and 

 the outer tail-feathers blackish, shading into grey at the base, and tipped with 

 white. This species breeds in February, depositing two eggs under any low bush 

 in the middle of the open plains. Towards the beginning of April it collects in 

 large flocks, and lives on the seeds of the rice-grass, which the natives collect for 

 food. During the short period harvest lasts the flavour of this dove is delicious, 

 but at other times it is indiflferent. It flies to water at sunset, when, like the 

 bronze-wing, it only wets the bill ; and it seems astonishing that so small a quantity 

 of water should suffice to quench its thirst in the burning deserts it inhabits. 



If we omit the white-quilled rock-dove, (Petrophassa albipen- 

 Fencilled Dove. ' \ j. j. 



nis), having the general plumage almost uniform dark brown,. 



and the bases of the primaries white, and inhabiting the sterile districts of North- 

 western Australia, we come to two species forming the genus Geophaj^s, which, in 

 addition to the characters already mentioned, has the bill rather stout. The 

 pencilled bronze-winged dove (G. scripta) has the top of the head, upper-parts, and 

 chest light brown ; the tips of the upper wing-coverts being paler, and the inner 

 ones ornamented with patches of metallic greenish purple, the cheeks, ear-coverts, 

 and throat white bordered by a black band in front of the eye, a second black band 



