Syd,
I think you'll find burung tite is the Zebra Dove Geopelia striata, closely
related to our Peaceful Dove G. placida (HANZAB lumped them, together with
the Timor Dove or Barred Dove G. maugeus, but then even HANZAB is known to
get it wrong... obviously Christidis & Boles didn't look into this species
complex too closely in terms of different vocalizations, soft part colours
and extent of barring on underparts, but that's another story...and before
my time at HANZAB).
Back to the ID...
You are quite correct about Spotted T-doves (Streptopelia) being kept for
their voice also in SE Asia. However tiny, grey doves are more in keeping
with Geopelia, and they are worth a fortune in Indonesia too - explaining
why they have been trapped out from most of Java these days). Incidentally
burung is Indonesian and Malay for bird, but it is worth noting that people
in the 4 southernmost provinces of (Peninsular) Thailand also speak a semi
intelligible dialect of Bahasa Melayu - so that may explain 'burung tite'
which I'm unable to find in my Indonesian dictionaries and haven't heard of
in my travels. In Indo., these doves are normally called perkutut
(Geopelia) or terkukur (Streptopelia) - onomatapoeic obviously.
Hope this is of some help.
Peter S Lansley <>
Melbourne, Australia
tel. +61 3 9375 4564
----------
> From: Syd Curtis <>
> To:
> Subject: birding-aus What is a Thailand "burung tité" ?
> Date: Monday, 3 May 1999 22:08
>
>
> "The Australian Magazine" ("Weekend Australian", May 1-2, 1999) on page
25
> carries a note about burung tités: "tiny grey doves" prized, bred and
> traded for their songs in Thailand. (In case email doesn't show it, note
> that "tité" has an acute accent over the "e".)
>
> "The bird with the most enchanting song may be worth 2 million Thai baht
> ($85,000)," says author Paul Jarry. And the eggs of a female with a
> particularly fine voice "can fetch more than $2600 each".
>
> Would someone please put a note on birding-aus as to the species?
>
> Somewhere in the dim recesses of my failing memory, I think that I once
> heard that the Spotted Turtle-dove _Streptopelia chinensis_ now
naturalised
> in much of the coastal strip of eastern Australia (it's common in
Brisbane)
> is kept for its voice in some Asian countries. Could it be the burung
> tité?
>
> Syd Curtis at Hawthorne, Qld.
>
> H Syd Curtis
>
>
>
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