l.'M PKIilSTKKID^E. 



The late Mr. I. il. 1:! )wyei-lJowei and Mr. \i. ]. Cairn obtained specimens near 1 )erby, 

 antl Mr. (j. A. Keartland at tlie |uiiction ol the l'"it/riiy and Mai^aiet Ivivers, in North-western 

 Austraha. In (Jiieensland, on the opposite side ot the continent, I lie late Mr. [. Ivainhird procuretl 

 examples at Port I'enison, which are now in the Anstralian Museum. 



L'r. \\ . Maci;illi\ ray has sent nie the followin'.; notes relative to this species in the Cloncurry 

 ]>istric(, Northern Oneensland : — " lllilriopiiaps hiitrioiuid was lor many years by far the most 

 niniierous bird in the Ciulf country, occurrinf; on the Mitchell ^rass downs in countless mobs. 

 It was ,1 slight worth reniemberinf; to see these birds coniini^ in to water on a summer's evening; 

 from all parts o\ the plain. They live and breed oa the plains, leediiiL; piincipally on the seed 

 of the Mitchell f^rass, and nestinj; in a bare depression under one of its tussocks. It was no 

 uncommon si^'ht to Hush a tlock which would rise for o\er a quarter of a mile, the clatter and 

 whirr of the winj;s bein;^ simply dealenini;. They come in to water about sunset, each bird 

 only seemint; to take a sip or two, and then rising; and llyiuL; <jll ajjain to the plains; in this 

 manner would flocks of ten, twenty, fifty or several hundred succeed one another in constant 

 succession, alont; the banl:s ot a waterhole of perhaps a mile in lenj^th, for an hour or more. 

 This method of watering; was taken ad\antaj,'e of by the black's to obtain a good supply of 

 pigeons. The ordinary method was to knoclc them over with short green waddies as the birds 

 flew past, but my brother describes a rather successful method of trapping in vogue amongst 

 the Cloncurry blacks. .Advantage fieing taken of the fai't that the I'igeons have favourite 

 watering places along the banks of a waterhole, a hole is dug m the mud within a few feet of 

 .jue of these, and covered with green boughs stuck in the mud all romid the margin ; in this the 

 black conceals himself armed with a spear-lik'e stick- about lifteen feet in leni^th, to the terminal 

 four feet or so of which is fastened, by one edge, a square net, the opposite edge being fastened 

 to the ground where the birds are to alight ; it is kept lying llat on the ground, and as soon as 

 they settle it is whipped over them, the black jumps out, and biting each bird's neck throws it 

 into the hole, getting back' with the net reset for the next lot." 



I'"r.)ni Orange, New South Wales, Mr. \i. !I. Lane remarks: — "In the early sixties I saw 

 the Harlequin Bronze-wing on Kiacatoo Station, twenty-two miles below Condobolin, on the 

 Lachlan River, in flocks of fair size, but as I sold out my station interests there in i866, I have 

 never seen these Pigeons since. In September or October, i'S'14, I took several pairs of their 

 slightly cream-coloured eggs front under the shelter of bushes on the plaiiis, from what could 

 scarcely be called nests." 



The late Mr. I\. II. liennett wrote as follows from Mossgiel, South-western New South Wales, 

 in 1886: — " In the year i''^'^, when this part of the country was lirst occupied, P/inps hidrioui{a 

 was found on these wide plains in countless multitudes. They made their appearance in July 

 or the beginning of August, and bred during the months of October and November all over the 

 plains. Their eggs, two in number for a sitting, were deposited on the bare ground beneath the 

 shelter of a salt or cotton bush. Great havoc was caused amongst the young by various species 

 of birds of prey, particularly the Black Falcon (Faho suhnii^cf), and even by Crows, when flushed 

 by flocks of sheep. When on the wing these Pigeons do not lly straight off like Phnps 

 chalcoptcra, but circle round and round, and after a lengthened flight often alighted close to 

 where they arose from. During llight they freijuently point their wings perpendicularly, and 

 liy in the manner so noticeable in some domestic Pigeons, rising and falling with upturned 

 wings. At the period above mentioned, the country there being recently occupied, works in the 

 way ot water conservation were few and far between, and as the summer advanced and the 

 natural shallow pools dried up, these birds resorted to the few tanks or dams for the purpose of 

 drinking. With the exception of the Mutton Bird (Sccti'is In'eviiiiiidiis) 1 have seen congregated 

 on sorne of the islands in Bass Strait, I have never observed anything like the immense 

 assernblage of birds that were to be seen of an evening at these tanks. The whole ground from 



