200 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
inferior summits^ and sheet the sides of the sloping hills^ 
resound with the energetic coo of the Bald -pate [Col, leuco- 
cephala) ; the short reiterated moans of the Partridge Dove 
[Geotrygon monianum) ] the querulous call of the Ground 
Dove [Chammpelia passerina) ; and the tender melancholy 
sobbing fall of the gentle White-belly [Peristera Jamaicensis) . 
^^But as it is in the lowland plains and cultivated estates 
that we most abundantly hear the melody of singing-birds^ 
so here do the plaintive voices of the doves fall most fre- 
quently upon the ear. The White-wing (Turtur leucopte- 
rus), and the Pea-Dove [Zenaida amahilis) are essentially 
lowly birds; and these, with the exception of the white- 
belly^ are the most incessant and the most tender of all 
our cooers ; not however that we hear their voices imme- 
diately around the homestead — when they come into the 
open pastures to feed they are usually wary and silent ; — but 
from the surrounding woods, the tall thick trees of the pens, 
and especially the impenetrable mangrove morasses, their 
loud but sweetly gentle moanings fall with a mournfully 
pleasing cadence upon the ear. The pea-dove^s voice is 
the more tender, and is particularly prominent in the even- 
ing, while the blustering sea-breeze gradually lulls itself to 
repose ; the longer, sharper, and more impatient call of the 
