BRUSH BRONZE-WIXG PIGEON. 



7* 



fruit resembling a cherry ; the kernels of this fruit 

 are always found in their gizzard." After the 

 breeding season the Bronze-wings gather in flocks 

 in the stubble-fields, where Gould says 30 or 40 

 brace may be killed in one day. This pigeon is 

 considered very good to eat, and is often shot as 

 in England we should shoot gamebirds. The 

 breeding season in Australia is from August to 

 December. 



Dr. Butler tells us that the nests are often built 

 in the horizontal branch of an apple or gum tree, 

 and that the Bronze-wing loves to live in the dis- 

 tricts where the acacias trees are found (on the 

 edge of the sand)- flats), as it lives largely on their 

 seeds; it often rears two or more broods in a 

 season. 



Mr. Campbell notes that the Bronze-wing was 

 first so called as far back as 1789 ; he mentions that 

 this pigeon will fly within 50 yards of water, and 

 always walks into it, mostly in the evening, but 

 a few birds come in the morning. Having 

 quenched its thirst, it will walk a few yards out of 

 the water and then fly away. The Bronze-wing 

 will feign a broken limb to lure you away from 

 the young birds. The nestlings, we are told, suffer 

 much from the crows, who are known to kill and 

 eat them. 



Dr. Leichard gives the red fruit of Rhagodia and 

 the blackberries of a species of Jasmine as the chief 

 food of the Bronze-wing. 



LIFE <IN CAPTIVITY. 



This lovely pigeon is deservedly a great favourite, 

 for it is tame, hardy, and easy to keep, apart from 

 its great beauty. It was bred at the Zoo so far 

 back as 1868, and has been bred both there and in 

 private aviaries man}' times since ; indeed, it is 

 almost the easiest to breed of all foreign pigeons 

 in captivity. 



As a proof of their kindly nature, we are told of 

 a tiny Passerine dove that formed a devoted friend- 

 ship with a hen Bronze-wing. So hardy are these 

 pigeons that they have been known to bathe when 

 ice has been in the bath. 



My ovt-n pair of Bronze-wings I have had for 

 years. I had at first two cocks and one hen, and 

 gave the lady her choice of the two. She was not 

 long in making up her mind, and seems never to 

 have repented it, for they are a most devoted 

 couple; but the strange part is that while the dis- 

 carded bird was a magnificent cock, perfect in 

 every way, the favoured one was blind on one side, 

 the eye being completely gone. Perhaps it was a 

 case of "pity being akin to love," but certain it is 

 the hen never wavered, and it used to be most 

 amusing to watch these two birds perched facing 



each other, gazing into each other's eyes as if they 

 were entranced. 



Every year I have reared several young birds, 

 but nearly all are cocks; it is ver}' seldom I have 

 any hens. 



I find my Bronze-wings, but especially the hen, 

 very fond of wineberries, not quite ripe; the fruit is 

 like a very small raspberry, but bright orange-red 

 in colour, and the birds like them best before they 

 get soft. Apart from its use as an article of food 

 for my doves — other kinds liking the berries besides 

 the Bronze-wings — the wineberry is a very pretty 

 shrub and would make a splendid hedge. 



The 5'oung Bronze-wings are very prett)', being 

 brownish with the feathers edged with a lighter 

 shade ; the white marks above and below the eyes 

 are very distinct, and the little cock shows his buff 

 forehead whilst still in the nest; the "bronze" does 

 not appear till later. 



Mr. Seth-Smith tells us his young ones left the 

 nest at two weeks old, and were fed till six weeks 

 old or more by the parent birds. The eggs are 

 large and white, and incubation lasts 17 to ig days, 

 the cock sitting during the day, the hen at night. 

 The Bronze-wing is one of the kindest and most 

 good-tempered of doves towards its own tribe. I 

 have known my old hen not only brood her own 

 young one, but also a little Solitary ground dove 

 that was about the same age. The Bronze-wing's 

 coo has been likened by one writer to the lowing 

 of cows in the distance, and by another to the 

 groan of a wounded horse. It is a deep note and 

 rather solemn. 



A short time ago I was much interested in 

 watching my birds making love to each other; the 

 cock drew himself up, swept his tail in a fan, and 

 burying his beak in his breast, struck an attitude; 

 then, still in the same position, walked partly 

 round the hen. She dabbed her beak several times 

 on the shelf (both birds were standing on a broad 

 wooden shelf that runs along the aviary front), and 

 then came up to the cock and kissed him again 

 and again on the neck and face ; she then went 

 a little way from him and spread out her nearest 

 wing fanwise to him, showing all the metallic 

 feathers. The affection of this pair of birds for 

 each other is very great. I have had them now 

 nearly seven years. 



The Bronze-wing has been known to eat earth- 

 worms besides its seed diet ; probably it would eat 

 mealworms too. 



A flock of these pigeons are wild at Woburn 

 Abbey ; and ten were turned out at the Zoo as an 

 experiment. The Tasmanian birds are said to be 

 more brilliant than the Australian ones. The value 

 of the Bronze-wing varies very much. I paid 48/- 

 for my three birds. I have seen them offered for 



