-MVKISTIC'IVUHA. 107 



and neatly Hat structure of twin's, freijuently of green leafy twij^s, in which a single egg is 

 deposited. Often the old nests are used again after the birds have sliglitly relined them. In 

 some seasons their nests are found in the open forest country on the mainland." 



Hr. Walter E. Roth, late Northern I'rotector of Aborigines, <_)ueen^land, thus refers to the 

 capture of this species : — '"The Torres Strait Pigeons f';l/r;7'57/ri;'<')i; spilonlioa ) are cauj^ht on 

 the Lower Tully Ivi\er by two different yet effective means, according as they are hunted for 

 on the coast line or on the mainland. As the pigeons lly homewards of an evening to the islands, 

 they usually follow the same course of Hight, night after night, and when leaving the thick belt 

 of timber fringing the shore, they swoop down to tlie foreshore, and fly low on the water. These 

 facts are well known to the natives. Accordingly as the flock of birds commences to swoop, the 

 blacks (concealed beneath and on the shore side of the timbered belt) let fly any ordinary stick 

 into its midst, bringing down as many as four birds on occasion with the one throw. 'J'here is 

 often a signaller picketed some distance behind to give warning of the birds approach to the 

 individuals concealed in front. On the mainland these Torres Strait Pigeons similarly keep to 

 the one track. To capture them now, any high bushy tree is chosen along this same track, 

 anywhere convenient, and the native climbs up it as high as he can get. In his hands he holds 

 a long thin switch, to which a special name is applied, quite fifteen feet long ; to prevent this 

 accidentally dropping, it is attached to the wrist by lawyer-cane fixed to the butt end. Should 

 the tree be bare, comparati\ely speaking, of foliage, he will have a sort of bush shelter to hide 

 in, and to prevent accidents in the way of slipping off or falling down, will often tie himself to 

 the tree by a cane passed around his waist. He goes up the tree in the afternoon, about a 

 couple of hours before sundown, and so prepared awaits the e\'ening flight, when holding the 

 stick with both hands, he strikes at the passing birds, and is generally very successful in knocking 

 some down. Torres Strait Pi^'eons also have another peculiarity in that they always roost on 

 low branches, the knowledge of which was utilized in the old days on Hinchinbrook Island. 

 Here the islanders would, during the day time— /.<., during tlie birds absence on the mainland- 

 prepare numerous fires directly under those particular tre^s where they knew these pigeons to 

 roost, and at ni-ht time, after their return, set fire to them, the birds soon being killed and 

 suffocated in the smoke." 



Mr. Robert Hislop writes from North-eastern Queensland :— " The Torres Strait or Nutmeg- 

 Pigeon arrives in the Bloomfield River District about the middle of September. A few of these 

 breed on tlie mainland, and I have found nests as far inland as King's Plains, about twenty 

 miles fr(jin the coast. By far the greater number, liowe\^er, breed and camp on the islands. 

 Those that visit the Bloomfield River District come from the Hope Islands, which are about 

 nine miles to the north-east. They come over in large flocks from daylight until about 8 a.m., 

 and stait on the return journey about an hour before sunset. These Pigeons leave the district 

 again about the end of i\Iarcli." 



1 have made the following e.Ktracts from Mr. E. J. Banfield's interesting work.f where he 

 refers to the fauna of Dunk Island, lying to the north of Kennedy Bay in North-eastern 

 Queensland: — " The Nutmeg-Pigeon resorts to islands where there is no fresh water, and builds 

 a rude platform of twigs, and occasionally of leaves, in all sorts of trees and localities. Palms 

 and mani^roves, low bushes, rocky ledges, saplings are all favoured, no particular preference 

 being shown. It rears generally two, but sometimes three young, one at a time, during the long 

 breeding season, which continues from the end of September until the end of January, and for 

 each successive egg a fresh carpet of twigs or leaves is spread. A rare nest was composed of 

 the Moreton Bay Ash, with the petioles toward the centre, forming a comple.x green star. No 

 doubt the arrangement of the leaves was accidental, but tlie white dumpy egg as a pearl-like 

 focus completed a quaint device. .Another egg reposed carelessly at the base of a vigorous plant of 



* North Oueensld^ Ethn., Bull, No. 3, pp 27-S (igoi). t Confessions of a Beachcomber, pp. 114-19 (igoSj. 



