44 



MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS, 



through the kindness of a friend, who showed me 

 several of these doves as something rather un- 

 common. 



My old cock began early to show his character. 

 I shall tell you in the accounts of the Necklace and 

 the Picui doves how he bullied first one and then 

 the other. Once he met his match, and that was 

 in the cock Bar-shouldered dove, who was a 

 perfect tyrant, though smaller than some of his 

 opponents. My Aurita carried his perverseness so 

 far as to wish to retain the monopoly of the trap 

 cage (that I had set in the aviary to catch some 

 birds) for himself and his wife, refusing to allow 

 the other doves to enter it — which, as he was not 

 the bird I wanted to catch, was rather hard on me 

 as well as on them. 



My first hen died in 1903 ; she had been in bad 

 health for some time previously, and had diseased 

 feet. ^ In the same year I bought a second hen. 

 She is one of the ugliest birds I have ever seen, 

 for she must at some time (before I had her) have 

 had a terrible injury to her head, for there is a 

 great piece of bare skin above her eye that will 

 never have any feathers on again whilst she lives, 

 and it gives her face a rather drawn and distorted 

 look. But I would not change her for the most 

 beautiful hen bird you could give me, for she is 

 the most faithful little nesting dove you could 

 desire. She never tires of her eggs, and her chief 

 idea about her babies is not to drive them early into 

 the world — as is the idea of so many doves in bring- 

 ing up their young ones— but to keep them by her 

 as long as she can, brooding and caring for them 

 whilst ever they need her. 



The consequence is that when the young 

 Auritas really leave the nest they are able to fly 

 well at once, being several weeks old, and never 

 look behind them. I have one out now at the time 

 I write, a perky little bird just like the old cock in 

 colouring, except that as yet he has no bronze 

 neck; his breast is a pale brownish shade, not the 

 pretty pinkish tinge it will have later on, and the 

 white spots in the wings are not so conspicuous, 

 nor his chestnut quite so deep a shade ; except for 

 these few details the young bird is very like the 

 old birds in colour, even to the markings on the 

 wings and the black lines on the face, which are 

 plainly showing. 



It was a pretty sight to see the hen on the nest, 

 and a very black-eyed nestling peeping out, warm 

 and comfortable, from her feathers. At last I 

 think he got too large to be brooded, and then his 

 mother sat by his side. 



Although Gosse's book on Jamaica birds was 

 written so many years ago, the little ways of the 

 Aurita dove, that he so well describes, remain the 

 same to this day. He notes how they have a habit 



of "jerking the head by quickly shortening and 

 then lengthening the neck, immediately and invari- 

 ably followed by a flirt upward of the tail; this 

 action my captives were perpetually performing at 

 intervals of a few seconds when not walking." 

 You would be amused to see even my young one 

 just out jerking his little tail in a most approved 

 and upgrown fashion ; he might have been prac- 

 tising it ever since he left the shell. 



Another point about the Aurita which Gosse also 

 notes is its restless ways, but it should be noted 

 his doves were only kept in a edge, and this makes 

 a world of difference. He says the birds walked 

 rapidly about the cage floor all day long, invariably 

 walking over each other rather than deviate from 

 their course. I have had several private consign- 

 ments of doves sent me in long crates from 

 Jamaica, and find this restless way of birds (even 

 trampling over each other) is very general ; but 

 I think if Gosse had loosed his birds in an aviar\- 

 he would have found them behave differently. I 

 put down this habit of wandering to two causes — 

 a desire to find a way of escape, and a great dread 

 of being inspected by human beings at too close 

 quarters. 



The Aurita has a way of sobbing and moaning 

 when it is caught that is most curious to hear; it 

 is like a child or animal in distress. It does this 

 whilst held in the hand, and any one might think 

 who heard it that the bird was being put to the 

 greatest torture. I only know of one or two other 

 kinds of doves who have this trait, and none of 

 them are so noisy in their imaginary distress as the 

 Aurita. 



This dove was kept at the Zoo in 1873. It has 

 often been bred and frequently imported ; the price 

 is about 16/- a pair. It is very hardy and stands 

 the cold well. 



WHITE-WINGED ZENAIDA DOVE. 



(Melopelia Leucoptera). 



Habitat. — Southern border of the United States, 

 from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Lower 

 California, southward to Costa Rica and the West 

 Indies. 



Length. — About 1 1 inches. Shape, well propor- 

 tioned and shapely. 



Colouring. — A soft drab, and whitish on the 

 under-parts, the long quill feathers in the wings 

 dark brownish black ; when the wing is in repose 

 a very decided band of white runs along it, from 

 which the bird evidently derives its name. On 

 the neck is a lovely gold and purple sheen, very 

 beautiful when seen in the sunlight. Below the 

 ear is a small slanting black mark. The eyes are 

 bright orange surrounded by a patch of sky-blue 

 skin, which greatly adds to the bird's beauty. The 



