COLUMBID^ TUETUE 173 



breast and white on the abdomen and lower tail-coverts ; three 

 pairs of outer tail-feathers with marked black basa,l and white apical 

 halves. 



Iris black to hazel; bill, black with^ purplish tinge ; legs dark 

 red to purplish. Length lOdO ; wing 5-45 ; tail 4-60 ; culmen -58 ; 

 tarsus -80. 



The sexes are alike. 



Distribution. — The Laughing Dove is found throughout the 

 African Continent from Algeria and Egypt to Cape Town ; a closely 

 allied species replaces it in Western Asia, extending to Turkestan 

 and Central India. In South Africa the Laughing Dove seems to 

 be everywhere fairly common and occurs in all the Colonies and 

 territories, though it appears not to be quite so abundant as T. 

 capicola. 



The following are the chief recorded localities : Cape Colony — 

 Cape division (S. A. Mus.), Orange Eiver near Aliwal North (White- 

 head), Grahamstown, rare (Layard), Port Elizabeth, rare (Brown), 

 King William's Town, rare (Trevelyan), St. John's Eiver and Pondo- 

 land (S. A. Mus.) ; Natal— Durban (S. A. Mus.), Maritzburg (Fitz- 

 sioimons), near Colenso (Reid), Eshowe in Zululand (Woodward) ; 

 Basutoland, common (Murray) ; Transvaal — Marico and Eusten- 

 burg (Ayres), near Barberton (Eendall), near Johannesburg 

 (Haagner) ; Bechuanaland — Lake Ngami (Andersson), north Kala- 

 hari (Bryden) ; Ehodesia^Mashonaland (Ayres), Mazoe (Marshall) ; 

 German South-west Africa — throughout (Andersson) ; Portuguese 

 East Africa — Tete (Kirk) and Chicowa (Alexander) on the Zambesi. 



Habits. — The Laughing Dove is so called in consequence of its 

 peculiar note, which somewhat resembles a human laugh. It is a 

 tame and confiding bird and can often be seen about Cape Town and 

 the neighbourhood in much the same situations as the Cape Turtle 

 Dove, though it is not nearly so abundant as the latter. It is often 

 found about the thorn bushes along the rivers up country, and in 

 Marico, in the Transvaal, according to Ayres, frequents the open 

 threshing floors of the farmers in search of grain. The nest is built 

 in much the same situation, and of very much the same materials 

 as that of the Cape Turtle Dove. Eriksson found on December 6, on 

 the Limpopo Eiver, in the North-east Transvaal, four nests, one with 

 only one egg, the others each with three, all fresh ; while the South 

 African Museum has a clutch of two taken on the Umgeni, near 

 Durban, on November 10, by Mr. Millar. These are pure white 

 smooth and shiny, and measure 1'05 x 'SS. 



