msTKIOl'IIAl'S. l;J5 



tlie water's eclf,'e to a distance of many yards around the tank, would be den.,ely packed with 

 then:. When alarmed— as was frequently the case, although no danger was near— the whole 

 flock would simultaneously take wing, the noise resembling thunder, and as the immense cloud 

 wheeled around preparatory to again alighting, they would fairly darken the air. When drinking, 

 for I have reared a nuniher of them in captivity, the bill is plun,i;ed into the water, frequently 

 when very thirsty right up to the eyes, and several large gulps taken in .juick succession, the 

 bird never raising its head until it has finished. Unlike the other members of the Pigeon family 

 that I have reared, these birds never became tame in captivity. Its food consists of the various 

 seeds of herbaceous plants." 



i\Ir. S. Robinson, writing from Buckiinguy Station, near Nyngan, New South Wales, on 

 the 30th April, 1895, remarks:— "The Harlequin l>ronze-wing usually appears in this district 

 immediately upon the break up of a drought, when heavy rains make the 'wild sago' grow, which 

 is the first herbage to make its appearance. Then they come in great numbers, and stay several 

 months, breeding in the meanwhile. They lay in thousands all over the plain, two eggs being 

 the most I have found in a nest, or more properly speaking a small hole scraped in the ground, 

 either under a small saltbush or a tuft of grass." 



Mr. Tom Catter wrote as follows from Western Australia :—" The Harlequin Bronze-wing 

 ( I Iiitn.f haps kistnoniid) Is known throughout the north-west as the "Flock Pigeon," from its 

 habits of occurring at certain times in great flocks, usually after good rains, when grass seeds 

 are plentiful. Then years may pass without any of the birds being seen at all. I noted a few 

 small flocks on the Minilya I^iver in 1887. After that year none were again observed until 1890, 

 which was a record wet year, my rain gauge recording twenty-three and a half inches of rain in 

 six weeks. Odd birds were often seen in the course of that year on the grassy plains, and they 

 must have bred, although 1 found no eggs. In December a great bush fire raged for some 

 weeks between the Lyndon and Minilya Ixivers, an area of fully one hundred miles square, 

 being burnt out. (3n the jnd January, i<,oi, I was driving along theedge of the fire, and camped 

 at some pools on the Lyndon River, where these Pigeons were drinking in countless myriads, 

 flock succeeding flock in quick succession. The roar of their wings was like the noise of heavy 

 surf on a reef. I noticed that when a flock went to drink the birds settled all over the surface 

 of the pool, as well as all round the edge, and all seemed to be in a frantic hurry, flying away 

 again in a few seconds. On the open unburnt plain, on the edge of the fire, great area^^s were 

 covered with vast numbers of these birds busily feeding, so that the ground was literally covered 

 with Pij^eons." 



From Melbourne, Victoria, Mr. G. A. Keartland sent me the following notes :—" During 

 my stay in West Kimberley, North-western Australia, I saw lar-e ftocks ol Histnopimps histnonic^i 

 visiting a swamp to drink. They came in hundreds at a time, and flew so close together that 

 nine birds out of one flock were either killed or crippled through striking against^the single 

 telegraph wire. They were never seen singly, but always in flocks, and when breeding scores 

 of nests may be found close together on a small piece of ground. During the day we di-Iturbed 

 immense numbers of them whilst feedmg amongst the Mitchell grass and 7V.W.V: on the open 

 plains." 



The eggs are two in number for a sitting, elliptical or oval in form, of a faint creamy-white, 

 the shell comparatively coarse-grained, smooth and lustrous. A set of two taken at Kiacatoo 

 Station, twenty-two miles west of Condobolin, Central New South Wales, in September or 

 October, 1863, by Mr. F. H. Lane, measures :-Fength (A) 1-27 x 0-93 inches ; (B) 1-29 x 

 0-9 inches. A pair of these birds bred in the aviary of the late Sir William Macleay, at Elizabeth 

 Bay. Two eggs in the Macleay Museum measure :— Length (A) 1-3 x 0-93 inches; (B) 1-22 

 X 0-92 inches. A set of two eggs in Mr. S. Robinson's collection, taken for him by Mr. A. H. 

 Glissan on the 6th October, 1908, between Boulia and Camooweal, on the border line of the 



