So MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 
THE SOLITARY GROUND DOVE. 
(Leptoptila chloroauchenia). 
Habitat.—South Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, 
and the Argentine Republic. 
Length.—About 11 inches. Shape, strongly 
built, but shapely. 
Colouring.—Adult male—General colour dark 
greyish; wings, tail and back olive brown, the 
long quill wing feathers being of a darker shade. 
The outer tail feathers are tipped with white, but 
the white is not noticeable unless looked at from 
below, or unless the tail is spread. The breast, 
throat, cheeks, and forehead are a lovely soft dull 
purple tint, the sheen on the neck and back of the 
head an exquisite blue green (like the green pearl 
in a shell). The under-paris white, the iris bright 
orange, the bill horn-coloured, the feet pink. The 
hen is very like the cock, but rather smaller, 
slighter in shape, and lighter in colour. The green 
on the neck is not so vivid, the purple bloom on 
the breast not so distinct. 
WILD LIFE. 
Dr. Sclater says of this dove: “It appears to be 
nowhere very abundant, and addicted to rather a 
solitary (presumably in pairs) sort of life, though 
sometimes three or four birds may be seen 
together. It spends a great deal of time on the 
ground, where it walks about under the trees 
rather briskly, searching for seeds and _ berries. 
The song is a single uninflected and rather melo- 
dious note, which the bird repeats at short 
intervals, especially in the evening during the 
warm season. When the birds are abundant, the 
wood, just before sunset, becomes vocal with their 
curious far-sounding note, and as this evening 
song is heard as long as the genial weather lasts, 
it is probably not related to the sexual instinct. 
The nest is a simple platform; the eggs two in 
number and white, but more spherical in shape 
than those of most other pigeons.’’ 
LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 
This is a rare dove, and seldom met with. I 
was fortunate in getting mine (in ignorance of 
what they really were) very cheaply. 
I am very fond of the Solitary Ground dove. He 
is so harmonious in his quiet beauty, and looks as 
if he had been sitting in the moonlight and caught 
a little of its tints, just the same as the Rufous dove 
makes me think of the sunset and that its rosy 
shade had just caught his breast. 
At first sight you might think both these doves 
plain and quiet-looking; wait till you have kept 
them for a time, and if you have a true love for 
the delicacy and harmony of colouring in doves 
you will learn to appreciate them properly. 
Once only since I bought my birds have I seen 
the Solitary dove offered for sale; a small impor- 
tation of seven birds arrived in England, but I do 
not know what became of them. The price asked 
was very reasonable. 
My cock Solitary was sent me in 1902 with a hen 
Rufous dove, the two birds being said to be a pair; 
but the birds, though both belonging to the genus 
Leptoptila, were quite different. My true hen 
came to me in a strange way. .\ dealer, knowing 
my weakness for doves, offered me this single 
unknown bird for 5/-. I declined it, then fortu- 
nately changed my mind and bought it, only to 
find on its arrival it was a hen Solitary. For a 
long time this hen could not fly; she was strong 
and healthy, but her wings were very sore. She 
had evidently knocked herself very badly, and 
there was one long wound from end to end of each 
shoulder. 
In 1903 I put my three birds, namely, the two 
Solitarvs and a hen Rufous, together, two separate 
nests were started at the same time, and fertile 
eggs were laid, but I never reared any young ones. 
However, [ had learnt this much, that my birds 
were a cock and two hens; for up to this time I 
was entirely ignorant as to even what the Solitary 
Ground doves were. Later I procured a cock 
Rufous, and these two pairs of doves and a pair 
cach of \urita and Bronze-wings were all put into 
the same aviary. .\t one time all four pairs were 
nesiing together, and all brought up young ones 
that season. 
The Solitary doves nested in April; two fine 
young ones were hatched, but both died when a 
few days old. There were at the time two young 
Rufous doves just out, and the Solitary cock used 
to help to feed these young birds and preen their 
feathers. 
The next attempt of the Solitary doves was in 
the Rufous doves’ old nest (they having chosen 
another site), and for some time the little Rufous 
used to return to their old nursery, sitting one on 
each side of the cock Solitary as he sat, all three 
being as contented and pleased as possible. This 
second nest was started about May 30th, two fertile 
eggs were laid, but when incubation had been 
going on for about 13 days one egg was unfortu- 
nately broken. The other evg hatched into a fine 
young bird, and as might have been expected 
received the greatest care and attention from its 
parents. The young Solitary did not seem to care 
to return to the nest, having once left it, as the 
little Rufous had done. It was one of the 
strongest and most active young ones I have ever 
bred, and after a few weeks was almost as large 
as either of its parents. 
