211 



are to look upon, which are coinmon and ])reed all 

 over the Protectorate, though they are certainly at 

 least partially migratory, as at the beginning of the 

 rains enormous flocks of them (mostly young birds) 

 pass over Bathurst, flying from South to North, 

 parallel with the coast, in company with similar flocks 

 of the Black Pigeon. In the adult the chief colours 

 are emerald-green, golden yellow and pale purple or 

 lilac, the green spreading over nearly the whole body 

 except the chest, which is yellow, and the shoulders 

 which each bear a purple patch ; the young on the other 

 hand are almost entirely green, which is not nearly so 

 bright as that of their parents. These birds are 

 entirely arboreal in habits, usually keeping to the 

 higher branches, though occasionally tempted to 

 lower ones by ripe fruit, when they have finished that 

 on the upper branches ; and I do not think that they 

 ever willingly visit the ground, even to drink. They 

 travel about in parties of about lo or 12, and (the adults 

 at any rate) are rather shy and wary birds, so that they 

 are often not easy to shoot, unless one waits under a tree 

 which is full of ripe fruit ; but even then their colours 

 harmonise so well with the foliage, that one finds that 

 the birds have discovered one and are off, before one 

 has even spotted a single individual of the flock. The 

 young on the other hand are often most unsuspicious 

 of the gun, but then their uniform green generally 

 makes them even harder to locate in a tree than their 

 parents, though one may be quite sure of their 

 presence above, from the gentle " putu-putu," they 

 utter when feeding. 



(To be continued.) 



