1-28 



FEUIS'IKHU.).*;. 



imONZR WING. 



he sometimes approached while feeding; on the ground, and when disturbed often do not fty 

 more than seventy or eighty yards before alighting; again. To see the powers of Hight of this 

 Pigeon, one must be concealed near a waterhole or creek when they come to drink at 



sundown. They come singly, flying low and swiftly straight 

 forward, dropping on the ground a few yards from the water, 

 remaining there a short time preening their feathers, and 

 then walking to the edge of the hole or creek quench their 

 thirst and fly rapidly away. In New South Wales these 

 birds are more abundantly dispersed inland than near the 

 coast. Thistle-beds are fa\'ourite haunts in and around 

 Wellington, at West Narrabri they are met with in the 

 sandy soil scrubs, and from Gulgcjng to Cobbora they were 

 occasionally met with singly, sometimes in pairs. On the 

 6th May, 1896, the late Mr. J. A. Thorpe brought me an 

 adult female in the llesh, captured the previous day under 

 somewhat peculiar circumstances. Mr. Walter Higgs and 

 a friend were fishing in Coogee Bay, near Sydney, some 

 distance from the shore, when their attention was directed 

 to a liird flying towards them from seawards. It fluttered 

 on to the boat exhausted, and after several attempts to 

 capture it flew to the shore, striking against the cliff's ; upon 

 rowing to the spot it was found dead. 



There is little or no variation in a number of specimens now before me procured from all 

 parts of Australia and in Southern Tasmania. An adult male, however, in perfect plumage, 

 which died in captivity at the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, has the entire under surface strongly 

 suffused with grey, and the under tail-coverts clear grey with whitybrown margins. The wing- 

 measurement of adult males varies from yfi to 8 inches. 



From Copmanhurst, New South Wales, Mr. George Savidge wrote: — "The Bronze-wing 

 Pigeon (Pliapi chalcoptera) is found in all parts of the Clarence River District. Some years 

 ago it was plentiful about Grafton and Copmanhurst. It prefers the open sandy forest country 

 to the brush lands; in the early morning it may still be seen on the hard metalled road leading 

 to Grafton; its call, different to that of any other Pigeon, is a low dull note like one trying to 

 say the letter M with the mouth shut. In the winter months I have seen flocks of twenty to 

 thirty birds; they visit the maize fields for the grains of corn, etc., that is left by the fartners; 

 they may often be found on freshly burnt grass country. They are quick strong fliers, and one 

 has to be a good shot to account for them as they fly through the timber. I have found its nests 

 and eggs many times; it seems to have no preference as to situation, sometimes building in the 

 Apple, Bloodwood, Stringy Barks, etc. ; the nest is a small structure, but substantially built for 

 a pigeon ; it varies in height from six feet to thirty feet; two eggs are laid for a sitting. The 

 aboriginals here call this Pigeon 'Tarbril.' " 



From Cobborah Station, Cobbora, New South Wales, Mr. Thos. P. Austin wrote me as 

 follows: — "The Bronze-wing Pigeon (Pimps clmhopteva) is still fairly plentiful in many parts of 

 Australia. I am afraid it is a matter of not a great many years before it will be \ery scarce. I 

 know of no other bird which is destroyed in such large numbers by poison, put out for the 

 destruction of rabbits, more especially by the poisoned water at dams. In the summer the 

 Pigeons drink every evening, some in the daytime, but most of them arri\e at a waterhole 

 just before sunset. Unlike other birds they always settle upon the ground some little distance 

 away from the water, and walk down until they come to the wire netting around the dam, which 

 has been placed thereto block the rabbits; this they follow until they come to the poisoned 



