NkSTS A.VD EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN blRD:i. Ggj 



546. Ptt,\PS ELEGANS, Toiiiuiiuck. — (463) 



BRUSH BRONZE-WINGED PIGEON. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v., pi. 65. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxi., p. 527. 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs. — Gould ; Birds of Australia (1848) , 



also Handbook, vol. ii., p. 126 (1S65); North; Austn. Mus. 



Cat., p. 274 (iSSg). 



Geographical Distrib-ution. — Australia iu general, Tasmania and 

 islands in Bass Strait. 



Xiit. — Similar to that of the Common Bronzu-wiuged Pigeon — a 

 flat structure or platform of twigs. Usually placed in a thick bush, 

 on a fallen tree, or even on the ground, in secluded scrubby localities. 



Effff.^. — Clutch, two ; elliptical in shape ; texture of shell fine, except- 

 ing the smaller end, wliich is slightly granular ; surface glossy ; colour, 

 pure white. Dimensions of a clutch: (1) 1-32 x -98, (2) 1-24 x -97. 



Observations. — Tlie Brash Bronze-wing Pigeon is not quite such a 

 handsome bird as the common Bronze-wing, and has a habitat restric- 

 ted more to the southern part of Australia, especially coastal regions, 

 from east to west, including Tasmania and some of the islands in Bass 

 Strait. 



The Bronze-wing loves the open and the forest, but the Brush 

 Bronze-wing is more shy and solitai-y, and, as its name indicates, 

 prefers scrubby situations and the growth about swampy places. I have 

 seen the birds and obtained their eggs in the Lejitospermum tracts 

 that gird the shores of Port PliilUp Bay, and also in the west iu the 

 short thick scrubs of King George's Soimd. In Western Austraha it 

 is fond of placing its nest in the fork of a gi'ass tree ( Xanthurrhcea). 



Writing from Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, Mr. James G. 

 McDougall states he found the Bronze-wing a rare bird there, wliile 

 its Brush congener was common in the mallee scrub and melaleuca 

 swamps, and further, that the kangaroo hunters rear and sell the young 

 of the latter bird. 



In Tasmania, Mr. A. E. Brent observes, the Brush Bronze-wing 

 usually seeks the sides of deep dark gullies for a nesting place, and 

 almost in every instance the shady side of the same. 



Like the other Bronze-winged Pigeon, the Brush bird breeds 

 almost any time of the season, but usually during the months from 

 October to January. 



The following are the dates of my finds: — 9th October, 1883, 

 Evandale, Tasmania; August, 1884, Mordialloc, Victoria; 9th Novem- 

 ber, 1886, Lilydale, Victoria ; 28th December, 1889, Torbay, W'estem 

 Austraha. 



