184 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



Bird Notes. 



Hy J. R. KiNGHORK. 



THE INDIAN SPOTTED DOVE. 



{Turtur suratensis.) 



Early in December, 1921, while i was 

 walking in the bush at the head of 

 Woodford Bay, Lane Cove River, a 

 rustling caused me to look up just in 

 time to see an Indian spotted dove 



The Indian Spotted Dove, Turtus suratensis, 

 a species which has been witih us for over 

 40 years, and one which is very well known. 

 especially in the parks and gardens round 

 Sydney. 

 Fhoto. — J. K. Kinshorn. 



fly from its nest. This species is an in- 

 troduced bird which is well known, es- 

 pecially round Sydney. The nest was 

 built of twigs and leaves; it was rather 

 flat, being about the shape and size of 

 an ordinary tea plate, and was built 

 about 8 feet from the ground in a tea 

 tree bush, one of those long, slim, 

 straight stemmed ones which grow high 

 so as to get well up into the sunlight 

 above the surrounding growth. It was 

 situated immediately behind a Christmas 

 bush in full bloom, and was therefore 

 well within view of any persons picking 

 this much sought after table decoration, 

 the beauty of which completely held 

 the attention of such pei"sons; a lucky 

 thing for the bird when small boys were 

 about. I did not get another chance to 



visit my find until the twenty-seventh of 

 the month, when I noted that there were 

 two romid white eggs in the nest, and 

 I am sori*y to say that I do not know 

 the exact date on which they were laid. 

 I next visited the site on 1st January, 

 1922, during the monsoonal weather we 

 liad been experiencing, and, much to my 

 suri>rise, when the parent flew off the 

 nest I saw two tiny, almost bare chicks, 

 very pathetic looking creatures, with 

 large heads, bulging, frightened eyes, and 

 small bodies, through the skin of which 

 was showing a mass of dark coloured 

 quills. I was very sorry to have fright- 

 ened the mother away from them as the 

 day was very cold and rainy. However, 



Nest and young of the spotted dove. The 

 young are about 10 days old and they are 

 incompletely covered with feathers. Their 

 colour is very mottled, and this, together 

 with the effect produced by the sunlight 

 shining on them through the twigs overhead, 

 made it difficult to distinguish them from 

 their surroundings. 



Photo. — .T. K. Kinghorn. 



my little friends survived, as the photo- 

 graph taken on the 9th -January will 

 show. To obtain this I had to 

 construct a rough tripod of wood strong 

 enough to bear my weight, as the scrub 

 round about was of a very flimsy na- 

 ture. The moment my head appeared 

 on a level with the nest the voung birds 



