THE CAPE OR HARLEQUIN DOVE. 65 
So eager were these Talpacotis to nest that later 
on, I think in 1906, they began sitting on two 
nests at once. The hen first built in some bushes 
near the aviary door, where she was often dis- 
turbed, for every time some one went in to feed 
the birds she would fly up and leave the nest. She 
then laid two eggs in an old nest close by; these 
the cock sat on, whilst the hen continued to sit on 
her first clutch. In the case of the cock the eggs 
came to nothing. It is the rule with doves that 
the cock sits by day and the hen by night, but I 
have known of at least one case where the hen 
appeared to do most of the work. The Talpacoti 
dove has been known to turn wholly or partially 
black in plumage where odd specimens were kept. 
It was first kept at the Zoo in May, 1868, and 
bred there in August of the same year, and also 
several times in later years. 
CHAPTER VII. 
BRONZE-WING DOVES AND PIGEONS. 
The Cape (or Harlequin) Dove. 
,, Tambourine Dove. 
». Indian Green-winged Dove. 
,, Bronze-wing Pigeon. 
», Brush Bronze-wing Pigeon. 
,, Partridge Bronze-wing. 
THE CAPE (OR HARLEQUIN) DOVE. 
(Ena capensis). 
Habitat—Common in Tropical and Southern 
Africa, and also Madagascar and Arabia, where it 
is found near Jeddah and Aden. 
Length.—About 9 inches. Shape, graceful and 
slender, with very long tail. 
Colouring.—General colour a brownish grey 
with (in the cock) a black mark over the face and 
throat. Two black bands cross the rump, and 
between them a belt of pale buffish brown. The 
breast and abdomen are white, the tail, which is 
very long, black and white. On the wings are 
large steel-blue patches of metallic feathers. The 
basal half of the bill is lake red, the remaining half 
orange. The iris is brown, the feet and legs dark 
rose-red. The hen differs chiefly from the cock in 
having no black mark, and is much browner in 
colour; but I have found individual birds vary very 
much. The young birds resemble the hen, but 
have blackish bands on the head and neck. Their 
feet are dark purple, and beak black. 
WILD LIFE. 
The Cape Dove is also known by the three other 
names of the Harlequin, Masked and Naquama 
Dove. It is found on wooded steppes, in hedges 
and gardens, round the farms, and in the cattle 
kraals. It builds its nest of a few dry twigs, 
generally in palms and acacias, from June to 
September. It would seem as if the nest were 
sometimes also built on the ground, for Captain 
Horsburgh, speaking of this dove, says: “I found 
the nests of this latter species last June, which is 
nearly the middle of winter here; one of the nests 
was on the top of a furrow in a ploughed field and 
not a bush near it. I presume the eggs must have 
beea near hatching time, as the little hen would 
only go a few feet away from the treasures, and as 
soon as J moved away she flew to them at once 
and settled herself down in a most confidential 
manner.”’ 
This was at Bloemfontein, and the same writer 
also tells us he has seen dozens of this little dove 
in Cape Colony. In one place he bought four 
specimens from a boy at a farm for 6d. each. 
In its wild state the Cape dove frequents the 
ground much more than when it is in captivity. 
The coo is a sound of Hoo-roo-roo, and as the bird 
makes it he spreads his long tail and jerks it 
upwards. The hens are imported much _ less 
frequently than the cocks. 
LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 
This little dove is one of the most graceful of 
its kind. It has a very long slender tail, and when 
in flight with outstretched wings it hovers like 
some beautiful foreign butterfly, for its wing 
motion is rather slow and hesitating. It is a quiet 
lazy little bird in captivity, and spending most of 
the day sitting quietly on a branch, seemingly 
indifferent to its surroundings. 
I have kept several specimens of this dove, and 
though my hens have laid eggs, I have never been 
successful in breeding any young ones. It has 
been bred in Germany and by two aviculturalists at 
least in England. The earliest of these records 
was in the aviary of a friend of mine, a lady in 
the South of England. She did not for long rear 
the young ones, for if the weather turned cold 
when they were in the nest, and the old birds failed 
to brood them, the young birds always died; at 
last, however, she succeeded in rearing a pair to 
maturity. 
In the second instance the gentleman in whose 
aviary the Cape doves bred, writes to me as 
follows :—‘I had several young hatched, but found 
that they would jump out of the nest at an early 
age and that the adults would not feed them on 
the ground. However, I devised a method of 
keeping them in the nest as long as I wished, and 
I then had no further trouble. I dare say you have 
noticed that the eggs are not white, but a deep 
warm buff; one clutch was almost saffron colour.’’ 
One of my own hens came to a sad end. She 
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