MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 



by the leg knitting- together splendidly, so that 

 be3'ond a slight limp the injury was not permanent. 

 After the hen died the cock pined very much, and 

 was overjoyed when I presented him with a new 

 wife. I was never fortunate enough to rear any 

 young ones, and found the cockbird so quarrel- 

 some that finally I was glad to give both birds 

 away. 



The male bird had a most peculiar coo that after 

 a time became rather irritating, and earned for 

 him the nickname of the "Popple-wock" dove. 

 The late Mr. Cresswell tells us how he had a cock 

 Bar-shouldered dove seven years, and the bird 

 would "cuckoo" to order. It even deceived the 

 real Cuckoos who would fly close to the aviary, 

 and once being heard by some workmen half-a- 

 inile away (who were working on a much lower 

 level than the aviary), the report got spread, and 

 even into a London paper, that the cuckoo had 

 been heard in Herefordshire at an extraordinary 

 time of the year. After the cock's death the hen 

 started to "cuckoo," though she had rarelv if ever 

 done so before, and would answer the cuckoo's 

 call. 



The Bar-shouldered is a very handsome dove, 

 but its bad temper and trj'ing coo, which Dr. 

 Butler not untruly describes as "an impudent con- 

 ceited sound," considerably lessens its attractive- 

 ness as an aviary pet. It was first kept in the 

 Zoo in May, 1868, and bred there in July of the 

 same year, and many times since. The value per 

 pair is hard to say, but it is a dove not often offered 

 for sale, nor is there apparently much demand 

 for it. 



Mr. Cresswell's cock made nests and sat on 

 them, but whilst his firsi hen was alive no eggs 

 were laid, and the cock even went so far as to 

 destroy other birds' eggs and nests and hinder 

 them from breeding. A new hen was got to put 

 with the cock into another aviary, and here within 

 ten days the hen had laid and was sitting well. In 

 his notes a year later Mr. Cresswell tells us how 

 the Bar-shouldered doves had failed to make their 

 nesting a success. Every year they hatched about 

 five pairs and always deserted the young birds 

 when they were about a fortnight old. The only 

 one that was reared was brought up under some 

 Barbary doves as foster parents. 



Dr. Butler gives a most interesting description 

 of the courting postures of the cock Bar-shouldered 

 dove. He says when the ordinary bowing and 

 chasing seemed to leave the female indifferent, the 

 cock "suddenly turned his back on her, raised his 

 head to its highest elevation, spread his tail fan- 

 wise so that it swept the earth, and ran forward 

 two or three steps, with a short sharp guttural 

 sound, then looked over his shoulder and repeated 



the action perhaps a dozen times. His rage when 

 she ignored all his efforts was unbounded, and he 

 then commenced a system of tyrannous persecu- 

 tion, varied with occasional fondlings, which bade 

 fair to reduce her to a scarecrow." 



The most general way for the Geopelia species 

 to show off to the hen is to bow almost to the 

 ground, at the same time drooping the wings, and 

 raising and spreading the tail like a fan. I once 

 saw my own cock go through a most curious per- 

 formance : he put down his head till his beak 

 touched the wooden shelf he was standing on, and 

 then rubbed the beak about, making a noise at the 

 same time like a toy wind-up mouse. He was a 

 fine bird, but a great bully, keeping the Auritas 

 and Madagascars (who are also rather tyrants), 

 and needless to say his own wife, in order. I was 

 really glad when a friend kindly took him, in 

 spite of his beauty. 



THE PEACEFUL DOVE. 



(Geopelia trainquilla). 



Habitat. — Australia. 



Length. — 8j inches. Shape, slender and elegant. 



Colouring. — ."Vdult male — Forehead, cheeks, and 

 throat grey, the occiput, back and wings ashy 

 brown ; the breast, sides, and back of neck grey ; 

 abdomen and flanks vinous. As in the Zebra dove, 

 this bird is covered with tiny black lines, giving it 

 a striped or barred appearance. These bars extend 

 right across the upper breast, whereas in the Zebra 

 they extend only across the sides of it. The bill 

 and orbits are bright greyish blue, the iris of the 

 eye bright ash grey, and the legs greenish grey 

 in front, redder behind. 



WILD LIFE. 



Gould says this dove is "chiefly observed on the 

 ground, feeding on the seeds of various plants 

 under the shelter of thinl3'-timbered forests 

 bordering plains." Campbell tells us that the 

 Peaceful doves fed close to the camp, and that the 

 nest is composed of twigs, rootlets, and fine dry 

 grass. 



Captain Sturt calls this dove the "Ventrilo- 

 quist." He says "it frequents the banks of the 

 Darling and the Murray, but is not so common as 

 Geopelia cuneata (the Diamond Dove). I first 

 found it on the marshes of the Macquarie, but 

 could not see it. The fact is that it has the power 

 of throwing its voice to a distance, and I mistook 

 it for some time for the note of a large bird on the 

 plains, and sent a man with a gun more than once 

 to shoot it, but without success. At last, as Mr. 

 Hume and I were one day sitting under a tree on 

 the Bogan Creek, between the Macquarie and the 

 Darling, we heard a note, and I sent my man 



