70 
Turlh' \ lliirhnrij Ili/hrid r>urt'i^\ 
mate reared a jiair of younfj' ones from the same nest, a cock and 
hen ; tli(> formei" is a very dark liird and at first sight looks almost 
exactly like a small Half-collared Dove ; the latter is jnst like her 
elder sister. These two birds have not yet been mated, but I think 
this second hen has also laid. 
The second hen, Turtle X Barbary received in 1 '.•(("), was 
mated during the first half of I'.tOt), to a hybrid Pigeon X Har))ary 
cock, natui'ally no result followed, except unfertile eggs ; at this 
time this ])air of l)ii-ds used often to have entire lil)erty and always 
returniMl to a small aviary where tlii'V lived. I was obliged to dis- 
continue this, however, on account of cats. Tliis is the hen which 
is mentioned above as now l)eing mated to a cock of the suuie cross 
received in l'.)04. 
From the above experiments I have come to the conclusion 
that while the male Turtle X Barbary hybrid is a perfectly fertile 
l)ird, lieing very little, if any, inferior in this respect to a ])urebred 
bird, the female on the other hand, through a i)i'olific layer of long 
eggs, does not appear capable of producing fertile ones. 
This particular cross is of common ()ccurrence, ))eing often 
produced when an odd Turtle Dove is kept among Barl)ary Doves, 
I even recently saw (me in Algiers, and in " Bi-itish Birds" for 
November, l'.M)7, we read of a wild bird hen having been shot at 
Stanway, near Colchestei-, in May, l',)()7, while in eom|)any with an 
ordinary wild Turtle Dove to whom it was presunial)ly mated. 
Foreign Birds. 
By Wesley T. Page, F.Z.S., etc. 
I have yielded to the solicitation of a numl)er of members 
to C(mimence a series, which must be a lengthy one, dealing with 
Foreign Bird Keeping and descril)ing the various genei'a and 
species in their resjiective groups. As a sort of opening chapter I 
puri)ose dealing with a few of the i)hases under which Foreign 
Birds are kept. These suggest themselves to me somewhat as follows: 
1. The keeping foi' Kxhilution puri)oses. 
2. The keeping of species hitherto not l)red in captivity, for 
the purpose of breeding, discarding each species after 
success, for others still unbred. 
