ZEBRA DOVE. 59 
Frazer to try once more if he could discover what 
bird it was, when, in looking up into the tree 
under which we were sitting we saw one of these 
little doves, and ascertained from the movement of 
its throat that the sound proceeded from it, 
although it still fell on our ears as if it had been 
some large bird upon the plain.” 
LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 
The Peaceful Dove is a quiet little bird, very 
different in character to the Zebra Dove, though so 
like it in appearance. 
You will notice the chief points of difference are 
that in the Peaceful the black bars extend right 
across the breast, and the bill and eye are a 
different colour, also the back of the head is not so 
red as in the Zebra. Dr. Butler found the Peace- 
ful doves quiet to the verge of dulness; they never 
left their branch except to feed, and then only ate 
sparingly. He considered the hens more delicate 
than the cocks. In another aviary I have read of 
a pair of Peaceful doves being forced to give up 
their nest to a little hen Pileated Finch, who forth- 
with took possession of it and started to incubate 
the eggs, sitting so closely that she could almost 
be touched without taking alarm. 
Mr. Astley bred the Peaceful dove in Italy most 
successfully, no less than four broods appearing 
in seven months, besides another clutch of eggs 
that failed to hatch. The nest was built in a 
covered box, partly open at one side, and entirely 
so underneath; inside this was fixed a bunch of 
heather, and the nest (of hay) was built on it. 
When first the young birds were hatched they were 
covered with fawn-coloured down, and on leaving 
the nest had a very spotted appearance, the 
feathers being spotted with cream-buff, and these 
again having a little bar, or spot, of dark brown; 
the general colour of the young birds was a ‘‘dull 
mouse brown.”’ There was no pink on the breast, 
nor bluish and pale pink round the eyes as in the 
adult bird. The eggs were about 133 days in 
incubating. 
This dove was kept at the Zoo as far back as 
1868, but I do not know if it has ever been bred 
there. The value of the Peaceful dove is about 
1o/- per pair. It should be taken indoors in 
winter, as it does not stand extreme cold well. 
ZEBRA DOVE. 
(Geopelia striata). 
Habitat.—South Tenasserim, Malay Peninsula, 
Indo-Malayan Archipelago, and from the Philip- 
pines southward to Lombock, the Celebes and 
Amboyna. It has been introduced into the 
Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Round Island, 
Réunion, and St. Helena. 
Length.—Rather over 8 inches. Build, graceful 
and slender. 
Colouring.—Adult male—Front of the head, 
cheeks and throat ashy grey, hind part of crown 
and occiput reddish, the principal part of the body 
brown or brownish grey, barred with narrow black 
lines; these, however, are not over the centre of 
the breast, which is pale vinous. The abdomen 
and under-tail coverts buffy-white, the sides and 
flanks ditto, but with narrow black bands; the 
iris brown, the bill black, the feet purple. The 
female is rather smaller than the male, and less 
reddish on the occiput. 
WILD LIFE. 
A gentleman who had visited Mahé, the largest 
island of the Seychelles group, writes of the Zebra 
doves, that they ‘‘abound on the estate, and come 
every afternoon to be fed with rice.’’ He adds 
that the doves are “ridiculously tame, for ‘wild 
birds,’ and when we sat in the verandah they would 
often perch on our shoulders or walk over our 
books.’’ 
LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 
The Zebra dove was at one time one of the 
commonest of imported doves, and could be bought 
for as little as 4/6 a pair, but of late vears it has 
not been offered for sale so frequently. I once 
reared a young one of either this species or the 
Peaceful dove, but before it was full grown it was 
killed by another bird. The cock Zebra looks very 
pretty when he coos, bowing to the ground and 
raising and spreading his tail like a fan. I cannot 
say, however, that either the Zebra dove or the 
Peaceful dove (which is so very like it) are great 
favourites of mine, partly because these small 
doves have a way—or rather the cocks have—of 
making themselves so disagreeable to others of the 
dove tribe that may be kept in the same aviary, 
and partly because the birds are liable to overgrown 
beaks in weak or old specimens; this, of course, 
means the beak must be clipped if the bird is not 
to starve, and clipping a beak is an operation 1 
rather shrink from if possible—it is very much 
worse than cutting claws. 
The late O. E. Cresswell, Esq., who kept the 
Zebra dove, found them wonderfully hardy for 
Indian birds; all the same, I think all tiny doves 
need protection in winter; they do not seem to have 
the vigour in them to withstand the cold as have 
the larger varieties. Mr. Cresswell says he never 
saw more devoted sitters or parents than the 
Zebras; they would defend their nest against birds 
four or five times their own size. Unfortunately 
this devotion to the young birds did not last, and 
nest after nest was Jost through the old birds start- 
ing again before the young ones were able to do 
