This is a neat and pretty bird, mild and gentle in its disposition. I kept a pair for some time, (a good many years ago) but never could succeed in raising more than one bird at a hatching, the other egg either proving bad, or if both hatched, one of them would die, it appeared to me, from their carelessness in feeding, and I have heard often since, from those who keep them, the same complaint. They are very loving birds, the male hardly ever leaving the female, and when she is sitting on the nest, he passes the night close by her side. When the male coos, he does not turn round like others of his tribe, but walks up to the female, lowers his head, and swells out his crop, then raising his head, lowers it again, and so repeats a very plaintive note. When moving about, they have a more lively note, which resembles a person laughing They require a pretty large cage, and two boxes, fastened one at each end about six or eight inches from the bottom, containing some fine soft straw for their nests. In Europe they are named the "Collared-Turtle Dove."

Food

They will eat any kind of grain; barley, rice, or buckwheat is the best; they will also eat bread. They require plenty of gravel in bottom of the cage, and also to be kept in a moderate temperature in winter; not too warm, for there are many, even tropical birds, who suffer from heat in our warm rooms in winter.

Characteristics Of The Sexes

The male of this bird has the upper parts of a reddish white, the lower parts pure white; there is a black crescent round the neck, the points of which come forward. The female is much whiter, and the ring paler.

Location

They are natives of the East Indies and China, whence they are brought to America.