THE BRONZE-WING PIGEON. 69 
and drawn into the arbour, the remaining doves 
being too absorbed to notice the disappearance of 
their comrades.’’ On the other hand, in Upper 
Assam this bird is described as being shy. 
LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 
I have never bred this beautiful dove myself, 
though I have kept numerous specimens since 
1898. One of these earlier birds escaped, but not 
being able to fly well he was soon recovered. The 
hen tormented and chased the cock; she was not 
a good feathered specimen, and always looked 
hump-backed. I kept the doves in the heated 
aviary that winter, and turned them out in April 
of the next year. I did not find them very interest- 
ing; they kept much in the shelter, and in the 
summer came out to roost at night. 
In January, 1901, one of my birds nearly died 
of cold. I found it in a state of collapse, trembling 
and the feet clenched. I brought to the heated 
aviary and placed it on the hot pipes, and gave it 
a little brandy and water. The moans of the poor 
bird were pitiful to hear, but after a time it came 
round, and though it ate nothing all day, by the 
next morning it seemed all right. TI still have one 
of my original birds; he must be by now at least 
ten years old, and is still in perfect plumage and 
as young looking as ever. Last year I got a good 
breeding bird as a mate for him, but she has not 
found much favour with my old cock; he seems 
only interested in himself, and they have made no 
attempt to nest. 
The Indian Greenwing has been bred several 
times in private aviaries. Dr. Russ bred it freely, 
the nest being formed in a wire cage hanging high 
up. Mr. Seth-Smith bred this dove in 1904. The 
hen was a very old bird that had nested and laid 
eggs whilst in her former owner's possession. A 
new mate being obtained for her, they started 
nesting, though not till the spring after the cock’s 
arrival. Several young birds were reared. The 
young were very small on leaving the nest; their 
heads were almost bare, but the wings were fully 
feathered and they could fly well. In colour the 
young birds were a “very dark brown, almost 
black, broadly tipped with reddish brown’’; even 
then a few green feathers were visible on the back 
and wings. The change in the plumage was 
gradual, and in the first adult feathering the colour 
was not so bright as in the old birds. The two 
eggs were cream colour, not white. 
Mr. Thomasset tells us how his cock (the 
original mate of the bird referred to above) would 
coo and caress the hen. He would depress the 
head and breast, and arching his wings above his 
back, show off all his beautiful green plumage 
while displaying to her. 
Dr. Greene gives a long account both of his own 
Greenwings and also the nesting of a pair in 
Wales. These latter birds stood the severe winter 
of 1881 out of doors, when the thermometer went 
down to 3 degrees below zero. The nest was built 
in the shelter (in a small dead spruce), and was 
composed of twigs, and the young birds were 
hatched out three times during the season. Owing 
to numerous accidents, however, they were not all 
reared. In this aviary was a very mixed collec- 
tion of birds, from Crested doves and parrakeets 
down to Zebra finches; the aviary was only 24 feet 
long by 14 feet wide, with a sleeping-house 12 feet 
by 6 feet, and this is not a large space for so many 
birds of different kinds, to have any hope of 
successful nesting. 
Dr. Greene tells us that the young Greenwings 
resemble the hen until after the first moult, but 
are wanting the bronze reflections of the adult bird. 
The young were hatched in about 17 days, and in 
about three weeks left the nest, but were fed by the 
parents for some time longer. There were two 
broods during the season, but so many as four 
have been known. Both Dr. Greene and another 
writer give the Greenwing a character for bad 
temper. In the one case the hen drew blood from 
the male with her bill, plucking out many feathers 
every time he tried to caress her; in the other 
instance a pair had lived togethcr for years and 
reared numerous young ones, when suddenly the 
cock turned upon the hen and ended in murdering 
her. 
I cannot say I have found my own birds fierce 
either with each other or with other doves, my 
first hen being the exception, but she did nothing 
serious. At the time Dr. Greene wrote Indian 
Greenwings were 30- to 4o/- a pair. I paid 18/6 
for my four birds in 1900; the average price now is 
about 12/6 a pair. These doves were kept at the 
Zoo in 1856, and many times since. 
THE BRONZE-WING PIGEON. 
(Phaps chalcoptera), 
Habitat.—.Australia and Tasmania. 
Length.—Over 15 inches. Shape, 
heavy, with short thick legs. 
Colouring.—Adult male—The forehead rich buff, 
a white line runs across each side of the face under 
the eye, the breast is a lovely shade of soft purple 
shading into grey on the abdomen, the sides of the 
neck (merging into the breast) deep slate grey. 
The wings are very beautiful, being adorned with 
four rows of gorgeous metallic feathers, the first 
long and 
