Autumn there was little of great interest in the cages; in one, a

pair of the Turtur picturatus of Madagascar, which I do not

remember to have seen before ; in another, a pair labelled

Zendida aurita, colombe a oreillon bleu, the French call them,

though I could not discover a trace of blue about their heads :

nor can I in the beautiful illustrations of the bird in Temminck’s

great folio volume, a copy of which I possess. In the next cage

were a few poor little Diamond Doves, already looking chilled

and wretched, which they should not have done, for I have

wintered them out of doors, though in an aviary open to every

ray of the sun. Then came some Blood - breasted Pigeons

fPhlogcenas cruentata) which I have always thought a most

fascinating variet}^ with their general plumage of subdued

shades of greyish-blue and purple, and their breast pure white

splashed with a large blood-coloured spot, like a dagger-wound.

Their French name Colombe poignardee, is very apposite. Fast, a

single little Australian Crested Dove ( Geophapsplumifero )—these

are charming little creatures, much smaller than the well-known

Australian Crested Marsh Doves ( Ocyphaps lophotes) and very

different in their habits. Their plumage is of various shades of

yellowish-brown ; there is an excellent picture of one in Sturt’s

volume of travels about 50 years ago, into the interior of

Australia. They are veritably ground Doves, run like Quails,

and always remind me of Plovers in their action. Unfortunately

they rarely come into the hands of English dealers, but I have

seen them at Antwerp and in other foreign collections; and only

last summer I saw one incubating on the ground in the Western

Aviaries of the Regent’s Park.


The under apartments of this house have little runs

covered over with netting to the height of two or three feet ;

their usual tenants are Quails and Tinnamous—I once found

several Sun-bitterns in one, of all birds imaginable for such a

prison ! It was sad to see these lovely creatures peuued to the

ground, the bright rainbow hues of whose wings are only visible

in flight. I would advise any aviculturist who has not seen

one on the wing, to get the courteous keeper of the aforesaid

Western aviaries of the Zoo to show off the Sun - bitterns.

Where so man)^ arrangements are good it is sad to see tender

and elegant races so ill-housed, and I hope that the next

improvement may be commodious abodes for the Doves, in

which they may nest, as so many of them are ready to do in

captivity.


From here two or three winding paths bring one to the

ponds, alive with an infinite variety of Ducks and Geese. In



