on diamond doves.



347



need, for I have often noticed that the birds kept in my coldest

aviaries look really better both in plumage and condition than those

that are kept warmer, but of course the hardening process should be

gradual and should be begun in the early summer.


I once tried to hand-rear a young diamond dove, and for

some days it did well, growing very fast and taking food readily

from a quill tooth-pick (cut into shape). I fed it chiefly on soaked

white millet, just gently inserting the tip of the toothpick between

the beak and pushing the seed in with my finger. I got quite fond

of the little bird, for it was very tame, and loved to be near the fire,

perching most contentedly on my finger. Unfortunately it got a

chill, and this, and an accident combined, caused its death.


Diamond doves are not suitable for cage birds; their flight

is too rapid and strong for such close confinement, and I find them

very nervous if looked at from close quarters, they at once begin to

flutter and get frightened.


Gould mentions that the natural food of the diamond dove

in Australia is “ the seeds of grasses and leguminous plants ’’and

that the bird is more often seen on the ground than amongst trees.

He notes how friendly it is to man and that it is not infrequently

observed close to the huts of the stock-keepers, but Gould wrote

long ago, and probably with the advance of civilization the little

diamond has become shyer and rarer.


In conclusion, I may just note a strange friendship I once

had between two cock birds, a parson finch (who was the bully of the

aviary) and a diamond dove, whose wings were injured so that it

could not fly. These two would sit together, nestling side by side,

nearly all day long, the parson finch talking continually to the

dove in a language that was evidentlly understood and appreciated.


Since writing the above notes, I have been able to examine

the body of a newly-hatched diamond dove. I have often wished

to see one, but my wish was granted under rather tragic circum¬

stances. Diamond doves lay the eggs almost invariably at a sitting ;

the eggs are so small that I had often wondered what the young bird

could be like when just out of the shell. Like most of the dove

family the eggs are pure white, and in shape they are rather rounded

at both ends.



