210 COPPER-COLOURED GROUND DOVE. 
ing, it also shews a nearer approach to the true gal- 
linaceous birds, for its nest is not fixed or built like 
that of the species we have described, in a tree or 
bush, but upon the surface of the ground. The num- 
ber of its eggs, however, are only two, but the 
young are said to become sooner fledged, or at least 
able to follow their parents, than those which nidifi- 
cate at a distance from the ground. In general they 
are found in families, or associated in larger covies, 
and in disposition are described as wild and not easily 
approached. 
In length this bird measures about nine inches. 
The bill, which is red, is rather more than half an 
inch ; the basal part of the culmen of the upper man- 
dible is thinly covered with small feathers. The 
cheeks and throat are of a reddish- white ; the crown 
of the head, the back part of the neck, and the whole 
of the upper plumage are of a rich orange-brown, 
glossed with purplish red, giving it a coppery appear- 
ance. The foreneck and breast are reddish-white, 
tinged with pale purplish-red, and passing upon the 
belly and abdomen into pale wood-brown, slightly 
tinged with pale purplish-red. The tail and quill 
feathers are of the same colour as the back, the first 
quill broad to the tip. The legs and feet are red ; 
the tarsi one and an eighth of an inch in length. 
Another species apparently belonging to this group 
is the 
