?^ESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 687 



very close, and when roused up by a horseman only fly some twenty 



or thirty yards and down again ; by this it is always possible to tell 



if the bird has a nest, and the knowledge of this may enable a starving 



man to get a feed of young Pigeons or eggs, and so perhaps save his 



life. They have no voice except at pairing time, when during the early 



night the delicate soft coo-coo of one to another, so suggestive as it 



is of peace and love, is one of the pleasantest sounds that the traveller 



sleeping out on these plains can hear : it is a happy refrain in one's 



thouirhts of home and love. " 

 o 



A keen observer of birds, who has lived in the Gulf Countiy since 

 1869, in reference to the blacks catching Flock Pigeons, mentions a 

 somewhat different method than that described by Mr. Fletcher. The 

 black, hiding in a bough-covered hole, has a net spread out, one side 

 of wliich is attached to a long spear-like stick, the net being whipped 

 over the birds as soon as they alight. Tlic black then jumps out, 

 bites the neck of each Pigeon, throwing them into the hole, gets back 

 into his liiding place with the net ready for the next flock, which are 

 treated similarly. In tliis way my infomiant states that he has seen 

 hundreds of birds caught. 



Mr. W. H. L. Thornton, Queensland, in writing to " The Austral- 

 asian," remarks that from October to March (which includes the 

 breeding season) Flock Pigeons are silent birds. In June, 1866, when 

 lie took charge of Tower Hill Station, they were in countless numbers. 

 Twice he bagged forty-two at a shot. Mr. Thornton innocently adds, 

 that they left the district for over eight years, and accounted for their 

 absence by the country being stocked with sheep, whicli trample on 

 eggs and young. May not bags, forty-two at a shot, have something to 

 do with thcii- chsappearance also > A few birds returned in the season of 

 1897, but only remained a month or two. After fencing wire came 

 into the district, the blacks gave up the use of the boomerang for 

 killing the Pigeons, and used bits of iron about fifteen inches long. 

 The poor Pigeons learned to fly miles past water to go to a hole with 

 low banks, because the blacks could net or kill more easily with wire 

 and boomerang where the banks are steep. 



The eggs in my collection were taken in North-west Queen,sland, 

 March, 1891, by Mr. A. S. Macgillivray. His brother (Dr. W. 

 Macgillivray) informs me that the eggs are usually laid towards the 

 termination or soon after the wet season, when the grass is long and 

 gi-een, and are deposited in a depres.sion in the bare ground under an 

 overhanging tussock of Mitchell gi-ass, the seeds of this grass fonning the 

 principal food of both old and young birds. 



U.sual breeding months December to March. 



Mr. A. J. North states the interesting fact of these splendid 

 Pigeons breeding in capti\-ity in the aviary of the late Hon. William 

 Macleay, of Elizabeth Bay. during 1887-8S. 



But as against the field observations of such explorers as Stuart, 

 Fletcher, and others, jvho state the Hariequin Bronze-wing breeds in 

 summer after the rainy season, Mr. North says that " July and August 

 are the usual breeding season of this species." The fact that a set 



