EGYPTIAN TURTLE-DOVE 
OR 
PALM DOVE 
Turtur senegalensis 
General plumage a dull pinky light brown, brighter on 
head and breast, which gradually shades off into white under 
the tail; wings, warm tones of dull umber brown, which 
colour also is on the tail coverts and two central tail feathers ; 
the rest of the tail is blue-grey with broad white tips, a part 
of the wing coverts a bright blue-grey ; it has a not very pro- 
nounced collar of black and bright golden brown feathers on 
the sides and front of neck, eyes crimson, legs and feet pink. 
Total length, 11 inches. 
Tue Doves have all had a sort of saintly character 
thrust on them, which they hardly deserve, as they 
are about the most pugnacious of birds, which is 
hardly a saintly qualification! It is true a pair of 
Doves by themselves, kept in semi-domestication, 
do show a sort of maudlin affection, but many of the 
smaller birds— Wrens, Tits, Warblers, and Swallows, 
and many others—all show equal, if not greater true 
affection to each other and absolute self-abnegation 
in their untiring devotion to their offspring. Why, 
therefore, the Dove has been peculiarly ticketed as 
92 
