on the Nesting of the Scaly Dove. 279


Dr. Greene in Notes on Cage Birds (Second Series, page 252) it

would appear as though there were nothing exceptional about

the achievement of my little pair. The writer there says: “ The

nestlings differ considerably from their parents in appearance,

for their colour, until after the first moult, is a pale ashen-grey,

very slightly marked with the scaly undulations that are so con¬

spicuous in the old birds.” This description does not at all

agree with my young bird, which is slightly whiter than its

parents, and the undulations perfectly distinct though not quite

so broad as those of the adults. I do not know of any other

Dove in which the young so very closely resemble the adults in

plumage. I therefore wrote to Dr. Greene, asking him if he

actually knew of a case in which young had been reared in this

country, and he has kindly replied as follows : “I do not

remember where I got the particulars about these Doves that

appear in Notes on Cage Birds , but probably from Russ, whose

work Die Fremdlaiidischen Stubenvogel, I have not by me now.

I have not kept this species and have not any personal knowledge

of its having bred in this country.”


As several others of our members have pairs of these

Doves it is quite possible that I am not the first to have bred the

species, but perhaps in any case my experience is worth putting

on record.


The Scaly Doves are certainly not very peaceably inclined

towards the other Doves in the aviary while they are nesting,

and do their best to drive them all away ; nevertheless, two or

three young Diamond Doves have been reared within a few yards

of the nest of the Scalies.


For the benefit of those who do not know the Scaly Dove

I may say that it is about eight inches in length, of a very light

brown above, and white below, with each feather edged with a

crescentic bar of black, which gives it a very scaly appearance.


This species seems to be subject to melanism, for the

dealer from whom I obtained my pair also sent me, on approval,

a pair that were almost entirely black.


The Scaly Dove ranges from the southern border of the

United States and Mexico, through Central America to Brazil.



