76 



MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 



patch of bare red skin, pointed in shape at each 

 end. On the upper edge (dividing- it from the 

 grey crown) is a narrow blacl-cish hne. The sexes 

 are alil^e, but the cock is a trifle larger than the 

 hen. 



WILD LIFE. 



The little plumed Ground Dove loves the rocky 

 country, and so is sometimes called in its own land 

 the Rock Pigeon. They are strictly ground birds, 

 and never perch in trees, but love to bask in the 

 hot sun on the rocky side of the gorges, keeping 

 together in small flocks. Being very much the 

 colour of the sand, these little doves may easily 

 escape notice, but it is easy to approach close to 

 them. A writer, who has travelled in Australia, 

 says of them : "These charming little birds are so 

 tame in their natural state that they will hardly 

 trouble to move out of the way of the horses' hoofs 

 as one rides along some track or primitive road in 

 the Australian bush; and their soft coo is heard 

 on all sides." 



When disturbed, these birds rise with a whirr 

 like a quail, but when fairly on the wing their 

 flight is a gliding one. They can run very fast, 

 and nest on the ground, laving two eggs, creamy 

 white in colour and with a dull surface. The nest, 

 composed of a few straws, is just a slight depres- 

 sion in the ground, often close to a tussock of 

 porcupine grass. Mr. Keartland tells us further 

 that one of his camel drivers found a nest "con- 

 taining two young ones nearly able to fly. They 

 were entirely brown, but others probably a week 

 ■older were found, which had developed the black 

 and white on the throat and head, which were 

 invisible on the nestlings, as the feathers had not 

 formed on these parts." The flesh of the Plumed 

 Ground dove is very white, and is said to be 

 delicious eating. 



LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 



I cannot write much from my own experience 

 of keeping the Plumed Dove, for the one specimen 

 I possess I have had such a short time, and one I 

 had some years ago only came to me on its way to 

 someone else. Mr. Seth-Smith, however, gives us 

 some very interesting notes of these little doves. 

 He tells us how he kept five specimens, two 

 cocks and three hens, but they fought so amongst 

 themselves that he found that it was impossible to 

 keep more than one pair together. Then, too, like 

 the Bleeding Heart pigeon, the cock bird seems 

 given to chasing and tormenting his own hen, 

 though at the same time he may be very fond of 

 her, and a minute before may have been caressing 

 her most affectionatelv. 



Mr. Seth-Smith put his one pair of plumed doves 

 (he had sent the other three birds away), into a 



large out-door aviar}', but within an hour the doves 

 began to worry the Quails and Hermipodes so 

 much that the little tyrants had to be taken away 

 and put in a smaller aviarj', the outer part of which 

 was turfed. The hen laid two eggs very shortly 

 afterwards, and at once began to sit, though she 

 had made no nest. A terrible thunderstorm, how- 

 ever, caused her to desert the eggs, and though she 

 laid several clutches later she never incubated 

 them. 



The cock, when cooing to the hen, bows up and 

 down, with outspread tail and wings, showing off 

 his purple metallic patches very bravely. Mr. Seth- 

 Smith 's birds became so tame that when he entered 

 the aviary the cock would run up and start dis- 

 playing and then make a little charge, uttering 

 quite a savage "coo" as if to show the aviary was 

 his and no mere mortal had the right to enter. 



The Plumed dove is not delicate, and possibly 

 might winter out of doors provided it had a dry 

 warm shelter to go into. These doves are fond of 

 grass seeds, and if the aviary has no turf run, a 

 piece should be dug up and a sod placed for them 

 to peck at. 



In 1795 a pair of these birds nested at the 

 Zoological Gardens and hatched and reared two 

 voung ones. 



-AUSTRALIAN CRESTED PIGEON. 



{Ocyphaps lophotes). 



Habitat. — Interior of North and East Australia, 

 from Port Darwin and Port Essington to South 

 Australia. 



Length. — About 12 inches. Shape, well propor- 

 tioned and graceful. 



Colouring. — The head, face, throat, breast, and 

 abdomen grey. A crest of blackish plumes on the 

 head ; the nape brown-gre\', back and rump olive- 

 grev. The sides of neck and breast have a pinkish 

 wash. The wings on the shoulder parts bufflsh 

 grev, the feathers being tipped with black, giving 

 the wings a barred appearance. Lower down the 

 wing becomes metallic, first a broad band of green 

 and white, then a band of purple ; the tail feathers 

 are also metallic, but in a lesser degree than the 

 wings. The eyes are buffy orange, the naked skin 

 round them pink, the bill olive-black, the feet and 

 legs pink-red. The female similar to the male, 

 but rather smaller. 



WILD LIFE. 



Captain Sturt says of the Crested Pigeon : "The 

 locality of this beautiful pigeon is always near 

 water. It is a bird of the depressed interior (parts 

 of the interior of Australia are below the level of 

 the sea, reminding us of the Dead Sea, another 



