196 EGYPTIAN TURTLE DOVE. 



Gheece is the European locality of the Egyptian 

 Turtle Dove, and Asia and Africa its real home. Its 

 name is derived from its frequent occurrence in Egypt; 

 but it is also recorded as an inhabitant of Turkey by 

 Degland, and of the Sahara in Algeria by Captain 

 Loche. 



Count Miihle, in his "Omithologie Griechenlands," 

 says, "I have shot this pretty Dove many times in 

 summer, when drinking with the Common Turtle Dove, 

 but until the last year I had not regarded it as a 

 distinct species." 



Dr. Lindermayer, writing as late as 1860, in his 

 "Vogel Griechenlands," says that he has not hitherto 

 found it; but he has had the eggs sent to him which 

 he had mistaken for those of the Bee-eater, until after 

 due inquiry he was set right upon this point by Herr 

 Baron Konig-Warthausen. The eggs came from 

 Attila. He from this inferred that the Egyptian Dove 

 arrives about the same time as the Common Turtle 

 Dove, breeds at the same places, and goes away with 

 it, by reason of which Lindermayer considers it has 

 been so little noticed. Erhardt does not include it in 

 his list, nor has Kriiper discovered the eggs. There 

 cannot however be any doubt about its occurrence in 

 Greece, because Miihle's description of the bird is very 

 exact. 



The male and female have the head, neck, and 

 throat a beautiful pink, or flesh-colour, with the feathers 

 under the base of the beak pure white. There is a 

 distinct collar between the throat and the chest of pinky 

 russet, which goes only to the nape, where it becomes 

 blended with the colour of the back. From the nape 

 to the rump, and to the edges of the wing coverts on 

 each side, the colour is a rich lustrous russet brown, 



