88 MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 
are finer than wild caught ones that have not been 
reared on so generous a diet? It would be 
interesting to know. 
These two cocks may be living still; I heard of 
them long after they left me. The third young 
bird, though it lived to be adult, was never strong, 
and died on the way to a new home in Ireland. 
Another very fine pair of young ones died in the 
nest. “Joey”? was a most zealous parent; she 
would leave the nest to drive off a Picui dove that 
she considered was coming too close, and then 
quietly return to her treasured eggs. She finally 
died one winter, and was evidently a great age and 
possibly past breeding; but I think her life might 
have been prolonged if I had brought her into the 
heat during the cold weather. Bleeding Hearts 
cannot stand cold; perhaps it is their continual 
wandering on the ground that chills their feet, for 
the toes scem apt to suffer. 
‘Joey’? was one of the plainest Bleeding Hearts 
I have ever seen; the skin on her head was all 
drawn, and most of it bare; this injury was done 
before I had her by a rat, her previous mate being 
murdered outright. My Scotch cock, ‘‘Jim,’? had 
lost his hen too, before he came to me, from the 
same cause, and J am sure in bird language they 
told each other this mutual trouble. They were a 
most devoted pair, and after ‘‘Joey’s’’? death ‘‘Jim’’ 
refused to look at either of the pretty new hens 
I bought for him. Later on one of these hens 
scraped the top of her head, giving her a faint 
resemblance to the deparied ‘‘Joey’’; and after 
this, though it sounds strange, ‘‘Jim’’ took to her. 
The Bleeding Heart is a dove you cannot force 
in its likes and dislikes; it must be allowed to 
choose for itself. I find the cocks have one very 
bad habit—some of them chase and worry the hens 
so during the nesting season that in one case a 
beautiful hen I had died; but perhaps I ought to 
say one cock was the chief wrongdoer, and he has 
steadied down as he has grown older. 
The Bleeding Heart is not always good-tempered 
towards other doves. It is fond of mealworms, 
and delights in a little ‘‘soft food,’? ground nut, 
and ground biscuit. I] really think the ‘‘soft food” 
is almost a necessity—besides its grain diet—to 
keep this dove in perfect feather. 
When frightened the Bleeding Heart has a 
curious habit of running into a corner, where it 
stands for long with its back to you, the feathers 
held very close to the body, the head lowered. 
When the cock coos he throws himself right back, 
almost resting on the tail, and puffs out the breast 
and ‘‘heart’’ to quite an imposing size. I do not 
find that these doves care to nest if more than one 
pair of them is kept in the same aviary, but on the 
other hand, when put together for the winter in 
heat, they seem to delight in being in a little band, 
and to see them thus is one of the prettiest sights 
in my aviaries. 
The young birds are rich chocolate brown in 
colour, with three distinct buff bars across the 
wings, and just a tiny red line down the breast to 
show you where the heart is coming later on. The 
wings are as if tucked up, and the bealx very large 
and long. Two days after coming out of the nest 
my first young one could fly, though he had such 
short wings. It was a pretty sight to see the 
young birds standing on tip-toe beside ‘‘Joey,”’ 
and kissing her face over and over again. They 
were also great friends with the little baby Senegal 
doves. ‘Joey’? was much more with her young 
ones than the cock was. 
At the present time you can get Bleeding Heart 
pigeons for about 45/- a pair, but they would not 
be aviary specimens. These are worth about 30/- 
each bird. It is a dove that is very difficult for 
anyone (who has not kept a good many) to sex; so 
many birds are often sold sexed wrongly, or not 
in true pairs. 
I have heard an old legend about the Bleeding 
Hearts, but do not know if it is true as to its 
source. It is said that when Christianity was first 
preached in the Philippines the people were found 
to be heathens, but at the same time having a 
legend that long ago the Bleeding Heart pigeons 
had white breasts, but, on one settling on the 
Cross, and being shot by a Roman soldier, ever 
afterwards the bird had the red patch or ‘‘Heart 
of Remembrance.’’ It is supposed Christianity 
had been preached to these islanders years before 
by a shipwrecked Friar, and that all his teaching 
was forgotten save this legend. I have been told 
that the extraordinary influence of the Friars over 
the native population in Luzon is proverbial, and 
was probably the main factor in determining their 
existence for three centuries under Spanish Govern- 
ment, the Philippines being discovered in the 16th 
century. 
In an allied species of the Bleeding Heart, that 
lives- in the Malay States, a similar legend is 
assigned by the natives; in this bird the red patch 
is not so vivid as in Lusonica, where the effect is 
most realistic. 
This pigeon was kept at the Zoo so far back as 
1861, and has bred there several times. I have 
never seen two Bleeding Hearts quite alike. In one 
bird the ‘‘heart”’ will be a little larger, in another 
perhaps smaller; a third bird has longer legs, and 
in a fourth the grey on each side of the breast 
