084 A/ESTS AND EGGS Oh AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



547. — HisTuiopHAPS HisTRioNicA, Gould. (464) 



FLOCK PIGEON. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v., pi. 66. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xxi., p. 52y. 



Privious Descriptions of Eggs. — *Diggles ; Companion (Mould's Hand- 

 book, p. 2j (1877); 'Ramsay: I'roc. Linn. Soc, N.S. Wales, 

 vol. vii., p. 409 (18S2) ; North : Proc. Linn. Soc, N.S. Wales, 

 vol. iii., 2nd ser., p. 148 (1888); D'Ombrain : Victorian 

 Naturalist (1891). 



Gi-i}tjr(iphical Dutributioii. — North-west Australia, Northern Terri- 

 tory, Queensland, New South Wales, and South Austraha (interior). 



Ntst. — The bare grottnd, under any convenient low covert — tussock 

 or bush — on the plains. 



Eygs. — Clutch, two ; elliptical in form ; texture of shell tine but 

 strong; surface glossy; coloiu', wliite, with a slight creamy tone. 

 Dimensions in inches ; (1) 1-32 x -98, (2) 1-24 x -98. 



Ohscrvuttunis. — This most beautifid and brilliant Bronze-wing, which 

 is strictly terrestrial, never alighting ujjon trees, is a dweller of the 

 great Central and Northern cli\asians of Australia, where dimng winter 

 it assembles in immense flocks, hence the name Flock Pigeon of the 

 dwellers of the interior. However, an informant writes ; " The 

 immense numbers of Flock Pigeons are never seen now, and the 

 birds seem to bo rajjidly becoming scarcer."! 



The Flock Pigeon is short and plump, wears a brownish or cinna- 

 mon-coloured coat, and has black and white markings about the face, 

 therefore the bu'd may be easily recognised. 



Gould first met this interesting Pigeon, as a new bird, on the 2nd 

 December, 1839, while camped on the Mokai River, in the interior of 

 New South Wales. He gives the following graphic pictiu'e : " 1 was 

 strolling down beside the stream at sunrise, when one of these birds 

 rose from the water's edge, flew to the distance of forty yards, and 

 again aUghted on the ground, where it assumed much of the air and 

 actions of a Sand Grouse ( Ptervch's). A fortnight after this I des- 

 cended about one hundred aud fifty miles down the Namoi, and while 

 traversuig the extcn.sivc plains, studded here and there with patches 

 of trees, that skirt the Nuiulawar Range, I was suddenly startled by an 

 immense flock of these birds ri.sing before me, and again alighting on 

 the ground at a short distance. Finding they would not admit of near 



* No dimensions given. 



t Regarding the alarming decrease of these exceedingly interesting I'igeons 

 from the downs and plains of North-west (,)iieensland, where the long grass 

 provides natural covert and aljinidance of food for them, IJr. W. Macgillivray 

 stales that the introducti(m of sheep and cattle {which not only prevent the 

 grass from seeding, but also disturb the birds and trample un their eggs and 

 young) is the principle cause of the great diminution in numbers which has 

 taken place of late years, only odd little lots of the I'igeons being now seen. 



