A'ESTS AND EGGS OT AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 673 



XeaL—Thc usual flat and frail stnictiure of twigs, three or foiu- inches 

 across. 



Eggs. — Clutch, one to two, but mostly one; elliptical in shape, 

 sharply nipped off at one end ; texture comparatively fine ; surface 

 glossy ; colour, white. Dimensions in inches : (1) 1-4 x -94. (2) 1-39 x -96. 

 A specimen from off wliich the pai-ent was shot, in the Clarence River 

 district, is much larger: TGS x 1-2 1. 



0/>.s'cri-((//<r«.s-.— This fine and large, but somewhat local Fruit-eating 

 Pigeon, like the m.ajority of its kind, is .strictly arboreal, and is likewise 

 a denizen of the dense sciiibs from the Cai'dwell district in the north 

 to the Livei-pool Range in the south. 



In the fonner district, Mr. Broadbent remai'ks : " The White-headed 

 Fiiiit Pigeon is not of veiy frequent occuiTcnce, but still may be pro- 

 cured at all times of the year. It is a bird which, till veiy recently, 

 was common in the Enoggera (Brisbane) Scnib, and is still so in Nerang 

 and other South Queensland districts. It is to be noted tliat the Card- 

 well bird of this species is not so fine in plumage, and is also somewhat 

 smaller than its Brisbane congener." 



Gould described the nest and eggs, but furnished no dimensions of 

 the latter — possibly he described them by analogy. 



Mr. A. Meston, in -wi-iting to the " Queenslander," says : " We found 

 (March 1st, 1889) nests at nine thousand feet on Bellenden-Ker of the 

 White-headed and Pheasant Pigeons, each with a single egg, in the 

 centre of the top of tall ferns about nine feet high." 



It was not till 1897 that we really leaant anything about the egg 

 of the White-headed Fruit Pigeon. Diu-ing the visit of Mr. Le Souef 

 to the Bloomfield River, 1894, one of the black boys, named " Bamboo," 

 in the service of Mr. Hislop, brought, on the 23rd November, an egg, said 

 to belong to this bird. ^\^len Mr. Le Souef re-visited the locaUty, two 

 seasons afterwards, another nest was found, from which the parent bird 

 was flushed. Tlie nest was built near the end of a branch of a scnib tree 

 overhanging a watercourse. Date, 28th November. 



In the Richmond River district, November, 1891, late one evening 

 in some thick scrub, mth stinging trees not a few, my companion shot 

 from a verj- tall fig-tree a pair of " Baldies," as the locals called the White- 

 headed Pigeon. One fell near me, wliich I eagerly clutched, but was 

 surprised at its extreme tenderness; handfuls of feathers pealed off at 

 each con\'ulsivc straggle of the dying bird. In size and colour this Pigeon 

 resembles in a degree the familiar dark " Blue Rock," except the head 

 and neck and a portion of the breast, whicli are white. The usual 

 beautiful bronzy-pm-ple tints appear on the hackled feathers of the back 

 and neck. The light soon fades from its large, bright hazel eyes, and 

 the lovely pink-red tint of the bill assumes a duller hue. Its pink, scalv 

 feet are large and well adapted to cling to the branchlets while gathering 

 figs or other fruits. 



At other times it was a common thing to hear from the dense reclusive 

 sci-ub their call of " booh-booh," the second " booh " being scarcely audible 

 except when the bird was near at hand 

 43 



