110 CAKPOPllAlilN*. 



more abundant in the localities they usually visit tiian others. In Auf^ust and September of 

 1890, these birds were exceedingly numerous in New South Wales, from the Tweed to 

 Hawkesbury Rivers, and an unusually larf,'e number were exposed for sale in the poulterer's 

 shops of Sydney. In July of the same year they were very common in Queensland, and had not 



been so plentiful since 1882. The flesh of the Top-knot 

 I'is^eon is not to be compared with the W'onga, or of any 

 of the r>ronze-winf^s, nevertheless during July, August 

 and September it often forms an important item in thc 

 mcnn of many an hotel and boarding-house in the northern 

 coastal districts of New South Wales. However numerous 

 this Pigeon is in Eastern .Australia, and it must breed 

 somewhere in large numbers, it is remarkable that its 

 common breeding-grounds have not been discovered, only 

 a few nests having been taken, and its egg is the rarest in 

 collections of all Eastern Australian species of Pigeon. 



.-\t Ourimbah I saw these birds feeding upon the seeds 

 ot the Cabbage Palm and on the berries of the Lilly-pilly. 



Some adult specimens ha\e the sides of the head and 

 throat more or less stained \vith rust-red. The wing- 

 measurements of adult males \aries from 10-3 to 11 inches. 

 From Copmanhurst, New South Wales, Mr. George 

 Savidge wrote me: — "The Tnp-k-iiot Pigeon (Lopholitmm 

 autarcticus) is at times very plentiful on the Clarence River. 

 TOP-KNOT PioKoN During July, August and September, igog, they were in 



flocks of many hundreds at Yamba, and in the scrubs 

 behind Iluka, the northern entrance to the Clarence Iviver. It was during the roughest trip it 

 was ever my lot to experience that I found the hrst nest. I was accompanied by my son and 

 four Aborigines, making our way across from the Dundorah to Coombadjah scrubs. As we led 

 our horses over the Coombadjah side of the range on to the Dundorah side, we noticed a Top- 

 knot Pigeon fly from an Oak-tree. I'pon searching we soon found the nest; it was placed in 

 a small patch of ' mistletoe,' on an outspreading branch of the Oalc, about twenty feet from the 

 ground. An Aboriginal was soon up the tree, and my long wished for hope of finding the egg 

 of tfiis Pigeon was soon dispelled by his exclamation of "young phellow." The parent bird 

 sat in a gum-tree close by, so we had a splendid upportunity for identification. It was some 

 years after before another nest was located, this time with a fresh egg, and in exactly the same 

 position and class of country as before. It was found on the 12th December, 1904, outside of 

 the scrub on Hill's Creek, near Cangai, in what we call thick Forest Oak' country. The nest 

 was placed in a small patch of ' mistletoe,' as before, and is a \ery small frail structure, even 

 smaller than that of tlie Magnificent FVuit-Pigeon, the height of the nest being about twenty-five 

 feet from the ground. The egg is white, and is larger than any of those found of the Magnificent 

 Fruit-Pigeon ; it seems strange, the bird being so numerous, during all our rambles we have so 

 seldom come across its nest. The blacks here call this Pigeon ' Cabobungi.' " 



An egg in Mr. George Savidge's collection, taken at Hill's Creek, Cangai Scrubs, Upper 

 Clarence District, from a nest in a Cnsiiariua, on the 12th December, tgo4, is an ellipse in form, 

 dull white, although lustrous the shell when examined with a strong lens will be found very 

 finely granulate ; it measures: — Length rji x riS inches. An egg in Mr. S. Robinson's 

 collection, taken by Mr. A. Hamilton on the 23rd November, igog, at Yungaburra, North- 

 eastern Queensland, is an ellipse iu form, white, the shell being comparatively close-grained and 

 lustrous. It measures: — Length i-jy x :-2 inches. 



