144 How to Sex Cage Birds. 



Nutmeg Fruit-Pigeon (Myristicivora bicolor). 



The sexes are much alike, but, so far as I could judge, the female 

 would seem to be larger than the male ; the bill of the female is 

 certainly more slender. 



White Fruit-Pigeon (Myristicivora luctuosa). 



The sexes differ very little, but the same structural distinctions 

 may be looked for as in the preceding species. 



Double-crested Fruit-Pigeon (Lopholcemus antarclicus). 



" Fleshy part covering the nostrils and at the base of the lower 

 mandible greenish lead colour in the male, and lead colour in the 

 female" (Gould, Handbook of Birds of Australia, vol. ii. p. 118). 



It is probable that the male is slightly larger than the female, 

 with a slightly better developed crest, but it is difficult to judge 

 from an examination of the dried skins. 



Chapter XXVIII. 



TYPICAL PIGEONS (Columbidce). 



This family includes the Rock-Dove, Stock-Dove, and Ring-Dove 

 (so-called) of the British Islands, but it seems hardly worth while 

 to consider them apart from their foreign relatives. 



White-backed Pigeon (Columba leuconota). 



The sexes are much alike, but the female is perhaps a little 

 smaller, and the grey colouring of its wings and back somewhat 

 duller, the back browner, the nape less white, abdomen smoky 

 rather than pearly ash coloured. 



Rock-Pigeon (Columba livla). 



The female is smaller than the male, and has a narrower bill as 

 viewed in profile, the rosy- violet of the scapulars is less lustrous. 

 Whether any of these characters will be of any value in dis- 

 tinguishing the sexes of the domesticated races is very doubtful. 



Stock-Dove (Columba oenas). 



The female is smaller than the male, its bill when viewed in 

 profile is narrower, the general colouring perhaps a trifle paler, the 

 lower back and rump bluish-ash (less slaty than in the male), the 

 mantle showing less prismatic rosy-lilac, the feathers of the back 

 and inner portion of wings less evidently edged with dusky. 



