.VESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. oS I 



Observations. — The beautiful Brouze-wing is uudoubtodly the best 

 known of its tribe in Australia, being found throughout the Continent, 

 also in Tasmania. But no doubt the seasons regulate its presence 

 in various locahties. 



It was first called the Bronze-winged Pigeon in 1789, and is 

 weU named, on account of the resplendent feathers of lustrous 

 bronzy-green upon the wing. As a sterhng sportsman and uatiirahst 

 once remarked, " What a glorious bird does an old cock Bronze-wing 

 appear when seen perched upon the bare hmb of a gum-tree, with 

 bronze bvuTiished wings, chestnut head, and glossy breast reflected in 

 the rays of the evening sim I 



As a boy I used to flush them from under the native cherry 

 (ExucarpusJ trees, feeding upon the fallen seeds in the forest under 

 Mount Cottcrell. Here we loved to watch their arrow flight through 

 the trees, and to hear the soft cooing note, especially in the mating 

 season, wafted from some secluded spot in the timber. 



About 1870, the Bronze-winged Pigeon used to be very plentiful 

 about Oakleigh and the foot-hills of the Dandenongs, where I have 

 seen good bags taken, and where we frequently found their nests (on 

 one occasion with fledged young in July, proving that these Pigeons 

 wiU breed occasionally at any period of the year). 



It is interesting to watch this fine bird in drought or thirsty 

 regions arriving at sundown at some favourite pool to drink. 



On the " Habits of Birds coming to Water," Mr. H. W. Ford, 

 F.G.S., kindly favoured me vrith the following communication : — " The 

 Bronze-winged Pigeon flies witliin fifty yards of water and always walks 

 in — mostly at evening, but a few come in the morning. They walk 

 a few yards out from the water usually, and then fly away. The 

 Crested Pigeon (a creamy-grey bu'd, smaller than the Bronze-wing) 

 flies right in, mostly evening or afternoon, and drinks hke a horse, 

 for it never lifts its head, but sucks up the water. It remains about 

 water for some time before flying away." 



In Southern Queensland, Mr. Hermann Lau writes : — " Although 

 frequently seen in the interior, the Bi-onze-wing Pigeon is only met 

 with in the little plains or meadows that intersperse the coastal scriibs, 

 where this handsome bird is mostly seen at the sheltered vegetation 

 amongst the sand dunes, close to the roaring billows of the Pacific* 

 Its nidification is not alone restricted to arborescent places, even in 

 the nook of a high rock have I seen its nest, and on one occasion 

 I was struck by observing the head of a Bronze-wing protruding out 

 of the nest of a Black Magpie (Gorcora.r). A more snug position 

 than between the mud-made walls the bird could not have chosen. 

 It was high in a tree, and I had to send my black guide higher in order 

 to ladle the two eggs out of the nest. Western Creek, October, 1874." 

 Refen-ing to Bronze-wings sometimes breeding upon the gi-ound, 

 in October, 1898, Mr. Herbert Fraser, Winbai-, Louth, New South 



* There is a slight doubt in my mind whether this coastal bird mentioned by 

 Mr. Lau is not really the Brush Bronze-wing (/'. clegnns). but as Mr. Lau is a 

 keen and careful observer, he is entitled to the benefit of the doubt. (A. J. C.) 



