088 JOURNAL, BOMB A Y NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XII. 



1289. Myristicivora BicoLOB, Scop, Blanf,, IV^, p. 23 ; " Str. Feath.," 

 II, p. 264. 



A common resident in the Nicobnrs : to the Andamans, the Great Cocos^ 

 Barren Island and Narcondam, according to Hume, a seasonal visitant. As 

 Davison remarks, it is not so generally distributed throughout the Nicobars as 

 C. i'luularin. Davison also remarks that where the birds had a choice they 

 seemed to prefer the mangrove swamps to the thick forest, A strikingly 

 handsome bird, it associates in large flocks, and fifty or sixty dashing with a 

 clatter of wings out of a tall tree, their black and white plumage showing 

 up vividly against the background of green foliage, are a sight to gladden 

 the eyes of a naturalist wandering in these steamy jungles. Though one 

 would hardly think it, their boldly pied coloring of jetty black and cream- 

 colour is more or less protective. On the wing they are, of course, conspi- 

 cuous, but iimong the shifting lights and shadows of a thickly leaved tree on 

 which the sunlight is falling, they are extremely hard to make out. Often I 

 have known a flock were in the branches above me, and yet perhaps only one 

 bird on the outside of the tree with the light shining on its white breast 

 would be visible. 



Their noi'e is a chuckling ' hu-hu-hu !' 



In his paragraph on its distribution, I see Mr. Planford quotes Dr. Maingay 

 as stating that this pigeon only occurs on the islands down the coast of the 

 M day Peninsula. This is incorrect ; it certainly keeps principally to the 

 small islets oif the coast, but only this week I shot three and saw several 

 more at Kua'a Selangor on the mainland of the Peninsula. 



Car Nicobarese — " Kaluia.'' 



1290. Calcenas nicobarica, Linn. Blanf, IV, p. 24 ; "Str. Feath.," II, 

 p. 271. 



Occurs throughout the Nicobars, and is also a rare straggler to the 

 Andamans and Cocos. 



These pigeons breed in thousands on the small uninhabited and rarely 

 visited island of Batti Malve, south of Car Nicobar. Mr. Hume's party 

 landed on the island on March 16th, 1873, and he gives a most interesting ac- 

 count of the breeding colony ("Str. Feath.,"" ii, 95 and 271). Mr. Hume was 

 unfortunately too late for eggs, all the nests at that date containing young, 

 in some cases only just hatched and in some fully fledged. One egg was 

 obtained, but apparentl\ not much of a specimen, as it was preserved by 

 cuttiug a hiile at the side and placing it near an ant's nest. Nearly every 

 thick tree contained several nests ; on one Mr. Davison counted as many as 

 thirteen. He describes them as regular pigeon's nests, merely a platform of 

 sticks very closely (loosely ?) and carelessly put together and with no lining 

 of any kind. 



My own experience of the Nicobar Pigeon is confined to the island of Car 

 Nicobar, where I came across it pretty often in August and September. I 



