194



Mr. T. H. Newman,



the domestic bird, but slie speaks the Barbary tongue, if I may

so express it, with a slightly foreign accent: for example, the

laughing note, instead of being a clear ringing He-he-he-he-he,

is usually run together like He-e-e-e-e. She has never been

mated.


In 1902, the Turtle x Barbary hybrid cock paired with a

white Barbary hen. One young one was hatched, almost on the

same day unfortunately the hybrid parent escaped, which follow¬

ing the final example of its prototype of the Ark, “ returned not

again any more.” The hen notwithstanding managed to rear

the young one, but it was weakly and did not live for more than

six weeks ; for which I was sorry ; because this bird, in spite of

being bred from a white hen and only being £ T. turtur to f of

T. risorius, was very dark in colour, being very little, if any,

lighter than its father, and very much darker than any of the five

young which were bred from the same hybrid parent when

mated to a normal coloured Barbary hen the summer before ;

which fact is not a little curious. Can it be that the absence of

pigment in the white female parent gave a better opportunity

for that of the male to be transmitted ?


Another hybrid with which I have been very successful is

that between the Necklaced dove ( 7 ". tigrinus ) and the Barbary.

It is hardly to be wondered at that this cross should be a hand¬

some one, considering what a beautiful species T. tigrinus is.

But this species seems to be subject to a good deal of individual

variation, both in size and in the intensity of its markings. The

largest birds are said to come from Java, Timor, etc. As far as

my limited experience goes, the larger specimens seem less

distinctly marked on the wings than the smaller. The bird

at present exhibited at the Natural History Museum, from

Tenasserim, is very large, larger than any I have ever seen alive,

with the dark shaft stripes on the upper parts poorly developed,

but it does not appear to be immature as it has a large neck

patch forming quite a cape round the nape and sides of the neck.

In its large size and comparatively plain wing-coverts, this

specimen would seem to approach T. chinensis, a species however

with which I am not acquainted. An imported hen, that came

into my possession, though large, was decidedly smaller than the



