WHITE-WINGED ZENAIDA DOVE. 



15 



feet are bright crimson, the beak black. The hen 

 is the same colour as the cock, but there is not so 

 much sheen on her neck, and she is slightly smaller 

 in size. 



WILD LIFE. 



The White-winged Zenaida Dove is one of the 

 commonest birds in the West Indies. It feeds on a 

 kind of small bean, rather like a wild pea. This 

 plant is very common, and grows as a bush, cover- 

 ing many acres. 



We are told by Gosse in his "Birds of Jamaica" 

 that the White-wing lives in flocks of 20 or 30, and 

 when flying the birds go in a body like tame 

 pigeons. They feed on the seeds of the castor-oil 

 plant, the orange, and the ph^'sic-nut, and are very 

 easily taken in springes baited with orange-seeds. 

 Sometimes only the foot is caught in the noose, 

 when the bird will not struggle, but occasionally 

 one is caught by the neck ; and Gosse tells of one 

 instance where a poor White-wing cut its head off 

 with giving a sudden jerk when it felt itself 

 ■caught. The black natives are not humane in 

 their trapping of birds, nor does their suffering or 

 injury when caught arouse their pity. They will 

 set their traps and not visit them for days, quite 

 careless of the fact that the poor prisoners may be 

 injured as well as starving. When the rains fall 

 the White-wings leave the open country and take 

 to the woods and morasses. They are said to 

 build a very fragile nest in the pimento, orange, 

 and seaside grape. 



LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 



In June, 1901, about 50 White-winged doves 

 were imported to England ; they were said to have 

 come from Egypt (which was obviously an error), 

 and were sold under the name of Pecunia Doves. 

 I bought a pair for 15/-, and though the birds were 

 newly imported, they were in good feather and 

 condition. The cock, however, unfortunately 

 injured himself on the journey, for he arrived with 

 the crown of his head covered with dried blood, 

 and besides this, one side of his face quite pushed 

 in, giving him a most curious look, as if the face 

 were on one side. Strangely enough the eye was 

 uninjured. I can hardly think this latter hurt was 

 of recent date, for the bird did not seem greatly 

 affected by it. 



About the middle of IVIay the birds began to nest. 

 Two nests were failures, both being deserted, and 

 one, if not both, contained fertile eggs. During 

 this time the cock was very bad tempered towards 

 the other doves in the aviary, never really hurting 

 them, but chasing them about. Towards the end 

 of June a third nest was made, and this time the 

 birds sat well. On July gth I found an empty 



eggshell on the floor, and a few days later could 

 see the young ones in the nest quite plainly. 



They were very pretty — soft drab with brown 

 eyes ; the vi'hite band on the wings, and also the 

 white in their tails, was very decided. By July 

 22nd, being then about a fortnight old, the first 

 young one left the nest, followed a day or two later 

 by the second ; both seemed rather weak on their 

 feet. However, they both survived, and by August 

 1st stayed out of the nest altogether. When they 

 first appeared they were 7 or 8 inches in length, 

 and very long and slender in shape. Both birds 

 grew very fast, and soon were nearly as large as 

 the hen, but slimmer. They were rather darker 

 drab than the old birds, and had no blue skin round 

 the eye nor sheen on the neck ; the eyes were dark 

 brown, and in one young bird I could just see the 

 dark mark coming beneath. The feathers round 

 the eye were whitish, and a wash of pale chestnut 

 came below the eye, merging on to the throat. 

 The feet were pale flesh colour, the beak light 

 pinkish. 



When the White-winged cock attacks another 

 bird he does so in the same manner as the Barbary, 

 lowering his head until it is in a straight line 

 with his body and then charging the offender. 

 Once only (as far as I remember) have I had a 

 dove of this size killed outright by another. I was 

 so tired of the aggressiveness of a cock White- 

 wing and a cock Crested dove that I put these two 

 pairs together, thinking one would be the master, 

 and the other would settle down, and all the rest 

 of my little dove community would benefit. An 

 hour or two later I came down to the aviary, and 

 was aghast to find my White-wing cock laid on the 

 aviary floor dead ; he seemed to have only had one 

 peck just between the neck and shoulders; he was 

 a splendid specimen, and in spite of his bad temper, 

 a great favourite of mine. 



At the time the White-wing nested I had three 

 other pairs of doves that all brought up young ones 

 during the season in the same aviary. These were 

 Bleeding Hearts, Necklaces, and Senegals, and 

 the aviary was only 16 x 6J feet in size. The 

 wonder is that any of them bred in so crowded a 

 space ; two pairs of birds were quite plenty, at the 

 very most three, but with the latter number one 

 could not hope for much success. Nowadays I 

 keep far fewer birds together, and am sure it is 

 much the wiser plan if you want them to do well. 

 The White-winged dove was kept at the Zoo in' 

 1874. It is often offered for sale at the present 

 time, the usual price being about 16/- a pair. It 

 is very hardy and stands our climate well. Just 

 lately I have seen it offered for so low a sum as 

 7/6 a pair. 



