92 



MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 



spoiled or broken. In vain Dr Butler rearranged 

 the spot, making the branches thicker; the pigeons 

 undid all his work with the same result as before 

 — more broken eggs ; finally the hen deserted the 

 nest in November, and began to mope and died. 



The Wonga-Wonga was bred at the Zoo so long 

 ago as in 1859, and many times also since then. 

 It is seldom that this pigeon is offered for sale, 

 and I cannot say what would be their value at the 

 present time. 



THE BLACK-BEARDED DOVE (OR 

 SPANISH PARTRIDGE). 



(Starnaenas cyanocephala). 



Habitat. — Cuba (and Florida Keys). 



Length. — Over 12 inches. Shape, strong and 

 plump-looking. 



Colouring. — Adult male — Crown of head rich 

 cobalt blue, bordered by a black band passing 

 through the eye ; this band again is bordered by 

 a second one of pure white reaching from the beak 

 to the back of the neck. Tlie sides of the chin 

 cobalt blue, under the chin a large dark blue (or 

 black) bib, rounded at the two bottom corners and 

 edged with a jagged band of white bordered very 

 slightly with black. The feathers at the sides of 

 the head are very curious, appearing as if grow- 

 ing in ridges, starting backwards from the white 

 face band. The breast and neck maroon ; the 

 back, wings, and tail olive-brown ; the 6ye full and 

 dark ; the bill is sealing-wax red at the base, slate- 

 grey at the tip. The feet very dark crimson. The 

 hen is very like the cock, but smaller and more 

 slender in shape, lacking his upright carnage. 



WILD LIFE. 



Gosse in his "Birds of Jamaica" says of this 

 dove : "The Spanish partridge is not considered 

 as indigenous to Jamaica, though it is frequently 

 imported thither from Cuba. It may yet, however, 

 be found in the precipitous woods of the north 

 side. Albin, Brisson, Buffon, and Temminck 

 attribute it positively to our island." 



At the time when Jardine wrote his Naturalists' 

 Library in 1835 (some 12 years before Gosse) he 

 gives a coloured plate of the Black-bearded dove, 

 and the following note in his description : "This 

 bird is a native of the southern islands of America, 

 and is plentiful in Cuba and Jamaica, in which 

 latter island it has obtained from its gallinaceous 

 habits the name of partridge. It lives entirely 



upon the ground, where it runs with great rapidity, 

 lilie the above-named bird, the neck being drawn 

 in, and the back forming a curve, by the pendant 

 manner in which it carries its tail. It nidificates 

 upon the ground, and lays several eggs, and the 

 )'Oung when hatched soon learn to follow the 

 parent. It has a deep murmuring note, which is 

 not often heard, the bird being of a retired and 

 solitary disposition." 



Jardine also remarks that "the tarsi, which are 

 pretty long, are covered with small hexagonal 

 scales." It must be remembered, however, that 

 these two books were written years ago. At the 

 present time I doubt if there is a single wild 

 Black-bearded dove left in Jamaica ; but even if the 

 facts do not bear on the present day, they are 

 interesting to read as a record of the past. 



LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 



The Black-bearded dove is one of the hand- 

 somest of his kind, and he seems to know it too, 

 for there is something dignified and imposing in 

 the very walk of a cock-bird in fine plumage. It 

 is a ver}' rare bird, being seldom imported to Eng- 

 land, though it has been kept at the Zoo several 

 times since 1864, and bred there six years later. 



In the year 1905 a friend in Jamaica sent me 

 three specimens. In his letter to me on the subject 

 he says "the Black-beardeds laid two eggs on the 

 bare boards twice, and being heavy birds broke 

 three out of the four. The fourth egg hatched 

 under common pigeons, and very early found its 

 feet, falling from the pigeon coop and hiding for 

 a few days. I had given it up for a bad job when 

 I was delighted to see it running after its foster 

 parents and clamouring for food." 



Cuba is only 90 miles from Jamaica, but owing 

 to the quarantine regulations, little can be done in 

 the way of obtaining birds, though I was once 

 offered a hundred of these doves for a ridiculously 

 small sum per bird if I would take the quantity, 

 the trapper refusing to supply a smaller number. 

 I had. to refuse, having no room to house them 

 till they found new homes; but all the same it 

 seemed a pity not to accept a chance of introducing 

 this lovely bird into England again. 



My friend in Jamaica had six of these doves 

 altogether in his aviary, but one escaped, ants 

 killed another, and a third disappeared; the re- 

 maining three came to me. I found them at first 

 very lazy birds, nothing seemed to disturb their 

 stolidness, not even the cooing and bobbing up and 



