Volume 9, Plate XXI / Ornithology (Birds)

Bronze-Winged Ground Dove

Phaps chalcoptera

A native of Australia and many Pacific islands, frequenting sandy arid ground and low shrubs, breeding in tree-holes or on the earth and laying two white eggs, its sonorous cooings resembling the lowings of a cow. About fifteen inches long, it shows white forehead and throat, a hair-brown crown ringed with dusky red, bluish-grey neck, purplish-grey breast, and wing-coverts bearing brilliant metallic spots that emulate opal, ruby, and sapphire.