greyer birds, I consider, are prettier and more 
dainty. The young birds are also'grey and vinous, 
but the colours are not so bright as in the adult 
birds, and the checked collar is at first lacking. If 
allowed, the Senegal dove would probably nest all 
the year round, the same as the Barbary. 
The Senegal was first bred at the Zoo in 1861, 
and in 1907 some were liberated as an experiment 
in the Gardens, and I ium told have done very well, 
and settled down and nested. I have seen single 
cock birds offered for as little as 2/6 each, but the 
proper price is 12/6 to 15/- for a good adult pair. 
I believe 1 gave 20/- for my pair in 1go1, but this 
was through ignorance of their value, and possibly 
they were not as common then as now. The 
Senegal is hardy and stands the cold well. 
CHAPTER VI. 
GROUND DOVES. 
The Bar-shouldered Dove. 
., Peaceful Dove. 
» Zebra Dove. 
» Diamond Dave. 
», Sealy Dove. 
», Picui Dove. 
», Passerine Dove. 
}, Talpacoti (or Cinnamon) Dove. 
BAR-SHOULDERED DOVE. 
(Geopelia humeralis). 
Habitat.—J\ustralia (except the south-west), and 
Southern New Guinea. 
Length.—11 inches. Shape, long and graceful. 
Colouring.—The head (except the back of the 
neck) and upper breast, pale ash grey. The back 
of the neck has a very deep collar of red-brown, 
every feather being tipped with black, giving the 
bird a scaled appearance. The back wing coverts, 
rump and upper tail coverls pale brown tipped with 
black; the lower breast and under-tail coverts pale 
lilac-vinous. The cye is pale straw-colour, the 
bare skin round it nearly purple, the bill slate, the 
nostrils light bluc, the legs and feet pink-red. The 
hen is usually smaller than the male, and more 
slender in build; the grey on the breast is darker 
and duller. 
WILD LIFE. 
The Bar-shouldered dove frequents the ground 
more than the trees, us it feeds largely on the seeds 
of numerous grasses. Gould tells us that when in 
Australia he found this dove so tame that it would 
sometimes perch within two yards of where he was 
sitting; he adds, however, that thirst and the scant 
supply of water may have made it bolder than 
50 MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 
usual. This dove breeds in its wild state in 
August, making a nest of thin twigs on the lower 
Icaves of Pandanus. In a recent work on “The 
Nests and Eggs of .\ustralia,’?’ Mr. Campbell tells 
us that the Bar-shouldered dove prefers the wooded 
and scrubby localities, and that when cooked it 
is delicious eating, especially when hashed with 
sweet potatoes. 
LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 
The Bar-shouldered dove is a very handsome 
bird, Jong and elegant in shape, and with very 
attractive markings, but it is a bird that has a 
bad character for being very quarrelsome with its 
own tribe, one writer, from his own experience, 
going so far as to say he considers it unsafe to 
keep with other doves. 
It seems to vary much in size. Dr. Butler had 
two male birds, and one was much larger than 
the other, the former bird proving a great tyrant 
to all the other doves. In my own case IJ have had 
three birds in all, one cock and two hens, and both 
the hens were much-smaller than the cock. Two 
of these birds were sent me direct from Australia; 
they arrived in very bad condition, and you cannot 
wonder when IJ tell you that the travelling box they 
were shipped in was only about 17 inches square 
and also contained, besides the Bar-shouldereds, a 
large Fruit pigeon and a Blue Bonnet parrakeet. 
The butcher who had charge of them, being 
evidently a kind and sensible man, took on himself 
to separace the birds on the vovage, but they were 
sent by rail on reaching England, in the original 
box cage. The parrakeet and the large pigeon had 
not suffered, but the poor Bar-shouldereds had both 
been injured. The cock, a very fine bird, had a 
wound over one eye that never properly healed 
all the time I had him, whilst the hen was a most 
horrible sight, one side of her face being com- 
pletely sliced off, the evesight on that side of course 
being destroyed. 
It was evidently not a new wound, and I should 
say had been done when first the birds started 
before the butcher partied them. How anyone 
could be so cruel as to send four birds a long 
voyage in such a confined space I do not know; 
but I think some people think a bird or animal can 
bear anything and yet live. 
The poor little hen only lived a few weeks, and 
I really was glad she died. Meantime the cock 
had got into trouble. He raised his wing in a 
striking attitude at a little Conure, and the latter 
gave one snap in return at the dove’s leg and broke 
it high up in the thigh. I was in the aviary at 
the time, and, with the help of my birdman, we 
set the leg with a splint and some cottonwool and 
thread. We dressed it often, and were rewarded 
