3iO TRAVELS IN UPPER 



of a delicate lint gray ; the stomach and the belly 

 are of a dirty white. The first plumes of the 

 wings are brown shaded with red, and the others 

 ash coloured, and bordered, without and within, of 

 a light ash gray. The feathers of the tail are, in 

 gradation, of a light ash colour, and terminated 

 with white, excepting the one most exterior on 

 each side, which is entirely white. All the plumes, 

 those oi the wings, as those of the tail, are, under- 

 neath, of a deep ash colour for nearly a third part 

 of their length ; the remainder is white, but their 

 colour is much lighter in the females. The iris of 

 the eye is orange-coloured ; the beak, ashen ; the 

 tarsus and the toes are of a rose colour. 



I preserved, during two years, several pairs of 

 these beautiful birds, and I never could perceive 

 any alteration in the colours of their plumage; 

 from whence it follows, that the other turtles, 

 which might be compared with them, are of dif- 

 ferent species, or, at least, of constant varieties in 

 the same species; such are, for example, the tur- 

 tle-doves, with a ring round their necks, of Bar- 

 bary, which would perfectly resemble these, if the 

 ground of their plumage were not of a beautiful 

 white ; it further follows from this, that the know- 

 ledge of the species of turtledoves, foreign to our 

 climate, is not yet acquired, and that in being too 

 hasty in classing together several kinds, in reality 



separate, 



