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Miss R. Alderson,



THE NESTING OF THE SOLITARY GROUND DOVE.


Leptoptila chloroauchenia.


By Miss R. Alderson.


The story of the nesting of these rare doves, which have

bred with me for the first time this last summer, is much inter¬

woven with the history of my Rufous Doves ( L . reichenbachi)

about which I wrote in the Magazine for July 1904.


As some members majr not have seen this account, I fear

I must retrace my steps a little, to make these notes clear.

Briefly then, I purchased a supposed pair of Rufous Doves in

September 1902, but the birds, though cock and hen, were

otherwise quite different, though both belonging to the genus

Leptoptila. The hen was a Rufous Dove, the cock a Solitary

Ground Dove. At the time I wrote I did not know what the

latter bird was, so for want of a better name, I called it the

“ Green Dove” in my notes on the Rufous Doves.


Through the kindness of Mr. Newman and Mr. Finn, who

have been at great trouble to identify the doves (by comparing

my two living birds with the skins in the British Museum) the

unknown dove has been found to be the Solitary Ground Dove

of South America.


The following are quotations from Dr. Sclater’s notes on

this dove:—“It appears to be nowhere very abundant, and

addicted to rather a solitary (presumably in pairs) sort of life,

though sometimes three or four birds may be seen together. It

spends a great deal of time on the ground, where it walks about

under the trees rather briskly, searching for seeds and berries.

The song is a single uninflected and rather melodious note,

which the bird repeats at short intervals, especially in the even¬

ing during the warm season. Where the birds are abundant, the

wood, just before sunset, becomes vocal with their curious far-

sounding note, and as this evening song is heard as long as the

genial weather lasts, it is probably not related to the sexual

instinct. The nest is a simple platform; the eggs, two in

number and white, but more spherical in shape than those of

most other pigeons.”


I have only heard of one importation of this dove since I



