on Green-wingecl Doves.



151



inmates in the aviary to consider—and they always seem to keep in

good health. It is one of the great advantages of doves, they are so

easy to provide for.


Dr. Butler tells us how an hen Green-wing that he had, picked

up a worm and shook it to pieces, eating it all, and in a wild state

these doves are said to be very fond of white ants. They are also

very partial to wild strawberries, and in a lesser degree raspberries

and blackberries.


I had long' wanted to breed the Green-wing, but never suc¬

ceeded in doing so till the year before last. The eggs, two in number,

are very dark in colour, almost buff. My birds sat exceptionally

well and the young when hatched I found to be the most curious

baby doves I had ever seen, with blackish skins. Many eggs were

laid and most of them hatched, but whether the young doves were

more restless in the nest than most of their tribe I do not know, but

several were lost through straying to the nest side and getting caught

in the nesting material or branches, and dying before they could be

found or rescued. x\t the end of the season I had only reared three,

they turned out to be two cocks and one hen.


The young Green-wings were very pretty when fully feathered,

the feathers dark blackish brown with lighter brown markings and

iust a few bright green feathers—as if one had dropped a spot of

metallic paint—on the back and wings. They were not at all timid

and allowed themselves to be photographed at very close quarters.


In “ Indian Doves and Pigeons ” it is recorded that in a wild

state the Green-wings’ eggs have been found at an elevation of over

4000 feet, though this height is exceptional. The nest is generally

well concealed, and more substantial than that of most doves. It is

composed both of dead twigs and live ones plucked from the tree.

The nests are mostly built in bushes at a distance of about five feet

from the ground. The favourite breeding season is from January to

May, according to the different locality; there are generally two

broods, sometimes three. In the case of my own birds in captivity

I found that, having once started, they would go on having nest

after nest all through the summer, and had we been more fortunate

I ought to have had quite a small flock of young birds.



