100 T. H. Newman—The Bosy-grey Turtle-dove and others.


THE ROSY-GREY TURTLE-DOVE AND OTHERS


By T. H. Newman, M.B.O.U.


On 1 st May of last year two Rosy-grey Turtle-doves were deposited

in the Zoological Gardens, one of which was afterwards presented to the

Society by Major Maurice Portal on 30th July.


When considering this species one is confronted with one of those

fascinatingly maddening problems of nomenclature. These birds

were entered under the name of “ Turtur roseigriseus Unfortunately

we are now forbidden to use Turtur in this connexion, since it must be

applied to the little African Amethyst- and Emerald-spotted Doves,

formerly known as Chalcopelia, which sounds like a riddle—when is

a Turtle-dove not a Turtle-dove ? The answer to which I suppose would

be, when it is a Turtur, for no one is likely to call the species of

Chalcop>elia Turtle-doves; also the specific name must be spelt

roseogrisea, as Sundevall wrote “ C(olumba) roseogriseam vocamus”.

The Turtle-doves (with the exception of the tranquebarica group) are

now placed in the genus Streptopelia.


The extraordinary interest of the Rose-grey Turtle-dove lies in the

fact that there can be no reasonable doubt that it was the wild ancestor

from which the familiar so-called Barbary Dove has been derived.

I have before referred to this in our Magazine, 1 when I stood sponsor

to the Burmese race of the well-known Indian Ring or Collared Turtle¬

dove. I am glad to say that this form has been upheld and is mentioned

both in Mr. E. C. Stuart Baker’s 2 beautiful book on Indian Columbce,

and by Dr. Hartert in his great work on Palsearctic birds, 3 and I also

possess eggs taken in Burma and kindly presented to me by Mr. Stuart

Baker. Lest it might be thought that I feel unduly elated by this, let

me mention that not only did I receive a rebuke from our present

Hon. Secretary at the time for presuming to describe a new form without

a type specimen (the bird I founded my description on was destroyed

by rats), but Mr. Douglas Dewar in his entertaining book, Birds of

the Plains, made some amusing remarks on changes of nomenclature



1 Avic. Mag., IV (2), pp. 321-6, 1906.



2 Indian Pigeons and Doves, pp. 225-6, 1913.



3 Die Vogel der paldarl. Fauna, ii, p. 1497, 1920.



