76 MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 
patch of bare red skin, pointed in shape at each 
end. On the upper edge (dividing it from the 
grey crown) is a narrow blackish line. The sexes 
are alike, but the cock is a trifle larger than the 
hen. 
WILD LIFE. 
The little plumed Ground Dove loves the rocky 
country, and so is sometimes called in its own land 
the Rock Pigeon. They are strictly ground birds, 
and never perch in trees, but love to bask in the 
hot sun on the rocky side of the gorges, keeping 
together in small flocks. Being very much the 
colour of the sand, these litile doves may easily 
escape notice, but it is easy to approach close to 
them. .\ writer, who has travelled in .\ustralia, 
says of them: ‘These charming little birds are so 
tame in their natural state that they will hardly 
trouble to move out of the way of the horses’ hoofs 
as one rides along some track or primitive road in 
the Australian bush; and their soft coo is heard 
on all sides.’’ 
When disturbed, these birds rise with a whirr 
like a quail, but when fairly on the wing their 
flight is a gliding one. They can run very fast, 
and nest on the ground, laying two eggs, creamy 
white in colour and with a dull surface. The nest, 
composed of a few straws, is just a slight depres- 
sion in the ground, often close to a tussock of 
porcupine grass. Mr. Keartland tells us further 
that one of his camel drivers found a nest ‘‘con- 
taining two young oncs nearly able to fly. They 
were entirely brown, but others probably a week 
older were found, which had developed the black 
and white on the throat and head, which were 
invisible on the nestlings, as the feathers had not 
formed on these parts.’’ The flesh of the Plumed 
Ground dove is very white, and is said to be 
delicious eating. 
LIFE IN CAPILVITY. 
I cannot write much from my own experience 
of keeping the Plumed Dove, for the one specimen 
I possess I have had such a short time, and one I 
had some years ago only came to me on ils way to 
someone else. Mr. Seth-Smith, however, gives us 
some very interesting notes of these little doves. 
He tells us how he kept five specimens, two 
cocks and three hens, but they fought so amongst 
themselves that he found that it was impossible to 
keep more than one pair together. Then, too, like 
the Bleeding Heart pigeon, the cock bird seems 
given to chasing and tormenting his own hen, 
though at the same time he may be very fond of 
her, and a minute before may have been caressing 
her most affectionately. 
Mr. Seth-Smith put his one pair of plumed doves 
(he had sent the other three birds away), into a 
Jarge out-door aviary, but within an hour the doves 
began to worry the Quails and Hermipodes so 
much that the little tyrants had to be taken away 
and put in a smaller aviary, the outer part of which 
was turfed. The hen laid two eggs very shortly 
afterwards, and at once began to sit, though she 
had made no nest. A terrible thunderstorm, how- 
ever, caused her to desert the eggs, and though she 
laid several clutches later she never incubated 
them. 
The cock, when cooing to the hen, bows up and 
down, with outspread tail and wings, showing off 
his purple metallic patches very bravely. Mr. Seth- 
Smith’s birds became so tame that when he entered 
the aviary the cock would run up and start dis- 
playing and then make a little charge, uttering 
quite a savage ‘‘coo’’ as if to show the aviary was 
his and no mere mortal had the right to enter. 
The Plumed dove is not delicate, and possibly 
might winter out of doors provided it had a dry 
warm shelter to go into. These doves are fond of 
grass seeds, and if the aviary has no turf run, a 
piece should be dug up and a sod placed for them 
to peck at. 
In 1795 a pair of these birds nested at the 
Zoological Gardens and hatched and reared two 
young ones. 
AUSTRALIAN CRESTED PIGEON, 
(Ocyphaps lophotes). 
Flabitat.—Interior of North and East Australia, 
from Port Darwin and Port Essington to South 
Australia. 
Length.—About 12 inches. 
tioned and graceful. 
Colouring.—The head, face, throat, breast, and 
abdomen grey. .\ crest of blackish plumes on the 
head; the nape brown-grey, back and rump olive- 
grey. The sides of neck and breast have a pinkish 
wash. The wings on the shoulder parts buffish 
grey, the feathers being tipped with black, giving 
the wings a barred appearance. Lower down the 
wing becomes metallic, first a broad band of green 
and white, then a band of purple; the tail feathers 
are also metallic, but in a lesser degree than the 
wings. The eyes are buffy orange, the naked skin 
round them pink, the bill olive-black, the feet and 
legs pink-red. The female similar to the male, 
but rather smaller. 
Shape, well propor- 
WILD LIFE. 
Captain Sturt savs of the Crested Pigeon : ‘‘The 
locality of this beautiful pigeon is always near 
water. It is a bird of the depressed interior (parts 
of the interior of .\ustralia are below the level of 
the sea, reminding us of the Dead Sea, another 
