THE



87



Bvtcultural flfeagastne,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. III. — No. 3 .—All rights reserved. JANUARY, 1905.



THE WHITE-FRONTED GROUND-DOVE.


Leptoptila jamaicensis.


As it is a long time since a coloured illustration of any

species of dove appeared in our Magazine, it is to be hoped that

the plate which is issued with the present number will be

appreciated by our members, as it represents one of the most

beautiful and desirable of those species which can appropriately be

termed ground-doves. Miss Alderson has already given us a

very full and most interesting account of the nesting of this

species in her aviaries in 1903, and Mr. Castle Sloane also bred

it the same year.


The White-fronted Ground-Dove inhabits Jamaica, where

it is known to the inhabitants by the inelegant name of “ White-

belly.” It is a fairly common species, though it has probably

suffered considerably from the ravages of the Mongoose, which

lias proved so very destructive to all but the purely arboreal

birds.


Gosse gives a good account of this Dove in its wild state

as it existed in the forties, which I cannot do better than quote

at some length ; he writes * : “ This lovely Pigeon is chiefly

confined to the upland districts, where its loud and plaintive

cooing makes the woods resound. The negroes delight to ascribe

imaginary words to the voices of birds, and indeed for the

cooings of many of the pigeons, this requires a great stretch of

imagination. The beautiful Whitebelly complains all day, in

the sunshine as well as the storm, ‘ Rain-come-wet-me-through ! ’



* The Birds of 'Jajnaica (1847), p. 313.



