





THE CROWNED GOURA PIGEON.* 



This magnificent and beautiful bird is a native of many of the islands of the great Indian 

 Archipelago, being by no means rare in Java and Banda. In New Guinea it is abundant, 

 as well as in most of the Molucca Islands. It inhabits the forests, and feeds upon berries, 

 seeds and grain. It exceeds in size all the other Columbine sj^ecies, being from twenty- 

 seven to twenty-eight inches in extreme length. The bill, which is two inches long, is 

 black ; the tips of the mandibles are thickened, and that of the upper one moderately 

 deflected. The head is adorned with a large, elevated, semicircidar, and compressed 

 crest, composed of narrow, straight feathers, fui'nished with disconnected silky barbules, 

 and alwa3's carried erect. This, as well as the head, the neck, and all the inferior parts 

 of the body, are of a pure grayish-blue colour. Its nest is built upon a tree. 



These birds are easdy rendered tamed ; and in the East Indies they are frequently kept 

 in court-yards, as poultry. They have all the habits of the common pigeons — billing, 

 inflating the breast, and cooing. The soxmds which they emit, however, are far from 

 being so gentle as those to which we apply that term ; tbey rather become a loud noise. 

 It is said that M. Bougainville's sailors were greatly alarmed on hearing it for the first 



Lophyrus Coronatus. — Vieill. 



2b 



