y2 MY FOREIGN DOVES AND PIGEONS. 
spoiled or broken. In vain Dr Butler rearranged 
the spot, making the branches thicker; the pigeons 
undid all his work with the same result as before 
—more broken egys; finally the hen deserted the 
nest in November, and began to mope and died. 
The Wonga-Wonga was bred at the Zoo so long 
ago as in 1859, and many times also since then. 
It is seldom that this pigeon is offered for sale, 
and I cannot say what would be their value at the 
present time. 
THE BLACK-BEARDED DOVE (OR 
SPANISH PARTRIDGE). 
(Starnaenas cyanocephala). 
Habitat.—Cuba (and Florida Keys). 
Length.—Over 12 inches. Shape, strong and 
plump-looking. 
Colouring.—Adult male—Crown of head rich 
cobalt blue, bordered by a black band passing 
through the eye; this band again is bordered by 
a second one of pure white reaching from the beak 
to the back of the neck. The sides of the chin 
cobalt blue, under the chin a large dark blue (or 
black) bib, rounded at the two bottom corners and 
edged with a jagged band of white bordered very 
slightly with black. The feathers at the sides of 
the head are very curious, appearing as if grow- 
ing in ridges, starting backwards from the white 
face band. The breast and neck maroon; the 
back, wings, and tail olive-brown; the eye full and 
dark; the bill is sealing-wax red ai the base, slate- 
grey at the tip. The feet very dark crimson. The 
hen is very like the cock, but smaller and more 
slender in shape, lacking his upright carriage. 
WILD LIFE. 
Gosse in his ‘‘Birds of Jamaica’? says of this 
dove: “The Spanish partridge is not considered 
as indigenous to Jamaica, though it is frequently 
imported thither from Cuba. Jt may yet, however, 
be found in the precipitous woods of the north 
side. Albin, Brisson, Buffon, and Temminck 
attribute it positively to our island.” 
At the time when Jardine wrote his Naturalists’ 
Library in 1835 (some 12 years before Gosse) he 
gives a coloured plate of the Black-bearded dove, 
and the following note in his description: ‘This 
bird is a native of the southern islands of America, 
and is plentiful in Cuba and Jamaica, in which 
latter island it has obtained from its gallinaceous 
habits the name of pariridge. It lives entirely 
upon the ground, where it runs with great rapidity, 
like the above-named bird, the neck being drawn 
in, and the back forming a curve, by the pendant 
manner in which it carries its tail. It nidificates 
upon the ground, and Jays several eggs, and the 
young when hatched soon learn to follow the 
parent. It has a deep rnurmuring note, which is 
not often heard, the bird being of a retired and 
solitary disposition.” 
Jardine also remarks that ‘‘the tarsi, which are 
pretty long, are covered with small hexagonal 
scales.”? It must be remembered, however, that 
these two books were written years ago. At the 
present time I doubt if there is a single wild 
Black-bearded dove left in Jamaica; but even if the 
facts do not bear on the present day, they are 
interesting to read as a record of the past. 
LIFE IN CAPTIVITY. 
The Black-bearded dove is one of the hand- 
somest of his kind, and he seems to know it too, 
for there is something dignified and imposing in 
the very walls of a cock-bird in fine plumage. It 
is a very rare bird, being seldom imported to Eng- 
land, though it has been kept at the Zoo several 
times since 1864, and bred there six years later. 
In the year 1905 a friend in Jamaica sent me 
three specimens. In his letter to me on the subject 
he says “the Black-beardeds laid two eggs on the 
bare boards twice, and being heavy birds broke 
three out of the four. The fourth egg hatched 
under common pigeons, and very early found its 
feet, falling from the pigeon coop and hiding for 
a few days. I had given it up for a bad job when 
I was delighted to see it running after its foster 
parents and clamouring for food.’’ 
Cuba is only 90 miles from Jamaica, but owing 
to the quarantine regulations, little can be done in 
the way of obtaining birds, though I was once 
offered a hundred of these doves for a ridiculously 
small sum per bird if I would take the quantity, 
the trapper refusing to supply a smaller number. 
I had to refuse, having no room to house them 
till they found new homes; but all the same it 
seemed a pity not to accept a chance of introducing 
this lovely bird into England again. 
My friend in Jamaica had six of these doves 
altogether in his aviary, but one escaped, ants 
killed another, and a third disappeared; the re- 
maining three came to me. I found them at first 
very lazy birds, nothing seemed to disturb their 
stolidness, not even the cooing and bobbing up and 
