PIGEONS. 259 



on the Malabar coasts in search of the buds of Aricennia and similar trees. Its call 

 is a deep moan, likened by one writer to the croaking of a bull-frog, but said to be 

 somewhat ventriloquial. Its flesh is excellent. C. bicolor, from Australia, various 

 Papuan, Moluccan, and Malayan islands, one of the white and black plumaged birds, is 

 met with in great numbers in Australia wherever the wild nutmeg is found. It flies 

 rapidly, and usually at such a height as to be beyond the reach of a gun. It is said 

 to lay only one egg. C. pacifica, from various islands of the Papuan and Polynesian 

 archipelagoes, is a fine species, with the head and back of neck ash-color ; chin white ; 

 throat and lower parts of body vinaceous ; upper parts shining green with golden 

 reflections ; under tail-coverts chestnut ; bill with a round elevated knob at the base 

 black. This bird is very common in the Samoan Islands, wherever fruit or berries 

 are found. Many are caught alive and tamed by the natives, who esteem them 

 highly as pets, and carry them about in their canoes tied to long cords. The birds 

 very seldom attempt to fly away, but are generally on most familiar terms with their 

 owners. The average size of this pigeon is between sixteen and seventeen inches. 



The foregoing is a very brief review of one of the largest and most important 

 groups known to ornithologists. Of great value to man from the edible quality of the 

 flesh, they supply to the native denizens of many extensive districts of the globe one 

 of their principal means of subsistence. One curious fact regarding pigeons is, that 

 these birds are generally absent from localities where monkeys are found ; for these 

 nimble quadrupeds, being tree-dwellers and very destructive, would rob the open, easily 

 accessible nests of the birds of both eggs and young, and soon cause the extermina- 

 tion of the species. For this cause, with others, pigeons are most numerous in islands 

 of the sea, and in countries usually destitute of predatory animals and reptiles. 



D. G. ELLIOT. 



