6-0 NESTS AND EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



of Eastern Australia as far as the Herbert River ; and in winter the 

 south-east coast of New Guinea. It must be borne in mind, however, 

 that stragglers are not infrequently found beyond these limits." 



During my own visit to Northern Queensland, 1885, on the Barnard 

 Islands, at daybreak on the morning of the 9tli September, we shot a 

 beautiful brace of Nutmeg Pigeons. Although we heard their loud 

 " coo " in different places, the Pigeons were difficult to sight in the 

 leafy coverts where they sought refuge. They were just beginning to 

 arrive from northern latitudes, probably the Papuan Islands. They 

 roosted on the islands at night, returning to the mainland to feed at 

 sunrise. We saw numbers of last season's nests. 



Messrs. Le Souef and H. Barnard visited these islands late in the 

 season, November, 1891, during the full flood of birds. Mr. Le Souef 

 gives a very interesting account of them going to and from the main- 

 land. He says : — " We watched the Torres Strait Pigeons returning 

 from the mainland to roost. They came across to the islands in small 

 flocks, varying from half-a-dozen to twenty birds, there being a con- 

 tinuous flight for about an hour and a-half. The numljers that were 

 roosting on the island must have been many thousands, and when the 

 steamer's whistle was blown as it parsed by, a white cloud of birds 

 rose up, and as they settled again the dark-foliagcd trees looked as if 

 they were covered with large white flowers. It was a remarkable 

 sight, and worth coming a long way to see : the vegetation on the 

 island was full of Pigeons, and the cooing of so many birds was one 

 continuous sound. The male birds frequently made a curious chuckling 

 kind of noise, and also fought a good deal amongst themselves. . . . 



" Tliey seem to build anywhere — high up in the trees, low down on 

 the vines, and occasionally on the I'ocks or in the bird-nest ferns 

 growing on the ground. The nests vary in size, from a light structure 

 composed of a few sticks, to large bidky ones built of twigs with the 

 green leaves left on. The only Pigeons that seem to remain on the 

 island during the day are the hen birds, which were either sitting or 

 attending to their young. We found eggs, one only in each nest, in 

 all stages of incubation, and also young birds. " 



During another season, further north, on the Hope Islands, 

 Mr. Le Souef found hundreds busy hatching or rearing young, for very 

 few apparently lay on the mainland adjacent. A pair of eggs in the 

 Australian Museum was taken on Hope Island, 22nd October, 1860. 

 The 22nd October appears to be about their earliest date of laying. 



Mr. Le Souef writes : — " Tlic principal bird on the island was the 

 Ton-cs Strait Pigeon, and they were nesting there in thousands, and 

 we got quite confused when going through the mangroves by the noise 

 the birds made flying ofi' their nests and away through the thick leaves 

 of the trees above, and we were glad to retiun to the beach out of 

 their immediate neighbovu'hood ; their nests were everywhere, and 

 all sizes, some only a few sticks, but by far the majority were much 

 more bulky, being composed of green twigs vrith the leaves left on ; 

 and on the Barnard and other islands, where I have found large 

 numbers of these birds nesting, I have noticed the same tiling, and 

 rarelv found a fragile nest as most other Pigeons build. We noticed 



