Inca and Scaled Doves 431 



differ in a longer tail and the absence of a metallic luster from any part of the 

 body. They are all small birds, hardly exceeding eight and a half inches in 

 length. The typical genus (Geopelia) is found in the Old World and is char- 

 acterized by a tail of fourteen feathers and the first primary with a narrowed 

 tip. Of the five known species three are found in Australia, perhaps the best- 

 known being the so-called Ground Dove, the Peaceful or Placid Dove of Gould 

 (G. tranquilla). In color it is gray on forehead, cheeks, and throat, ashy brown 

 on back and wings, each feather with a band of velvety black at the tip, and pale 

 vinous on breast and sides, passing into white on the abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts, while the neck is marked with numerous narrow black and white bands. 

 It is a common bird, frequenting especially moist meadows and grassy stream 

 banks, often in flocks of twenty to fifty, and feeding on seeds and berries. The 

 nest is a very slight structure, only two or three inches in diameter, composed of 

 twigs and rootlets and usually placed on a horizontal limb, often overhanging 

 water. Its small size renders it difficult to discover among the branches, and 

 they are not very frequently taken; the eggs are two in number. The other 

 Australian species are the Banded-shouldered Dove (G. humeralis) and the Little 

 or Turtle Dove (G. cuneata), the latter being but seven and a half inches long, 

 and the smallest representative of the group in Australia. They are very tame, 

 gentle little birds, chiefly of the interior, frequenting the vicinity of habitations 

 and often kept as cage birds. The nest is much like that just described, but is 

 even more frail. The other species of the genus are widely distributed over 

 Oriental regions. 



Inca and Scaled Doves. Of the New World representatives the genus 

 Scardafella includes three forms which are grayish brown above, each feather 

 with a border or crescentic bar of dusky, and pale grayish vinaceous below, 

 passing into white or buff posteriorly, and a tail of only twelve feathers. Of these 

 the Inca Dove (S. inca) is found from the southwestern border of the United 

 States through Mexico to Guatemala, being for example tolerably common during 

 the warmer portions of the year at several points in Texas and Arizona. Scott 

 says, "The birds are very tame and seem to affect particularly the streets, 

 corrals, and gardens in the heart of the town." The nest, a fairly well made 

 structure, is placed in a fruit tree, mesquite shrub, or other low bush. Its near 

 relative, the Scaled Dove (S. squamosa), is found from Brazil to Venezuela and 

 Colombia, and may be known by the white patch on the wing-coverts and sec- 

 ondaries, a white abdomen, and very heavy cross-bars of black. The remaining 

 form (S. ridgwayi) is found only on Margarita Island, Venezuela. The final 

 representative of the group (Gymnopelia erythrothorax) is confined to the moun- 

 tains of Peru, Bolivia, and northern Chile. 



Exclusively American, the members of the fourth group (Peristerincs) are 

 comprised in six genera and some twenty forms, all being birds of small size with 

 metallic spots on the wings and plain-colored plumage. They have short wings, 

 the primaries being but little longer than the secondaries, and twelve feathers 

 in the tail. As they are quite uniform in habits and appearance, it is only neces- 

 sary to mention a few, among them, of course, the Picui Dove (Columbula picui), 



