PIN-TAILED GREEN PIGEON 77 



of the Green Pigeons and the Paroquets when cUmbing about a tree. 

 In this particular Pigeon the hkeness is further heightened by the 

 long tail, and reaUy it is often, for a few moments, difficult to tell 

 which kind of bird one is watching until the discordant scream of 

 the Parrot or the mellow whistling of the Pigeon gives away their 

 identity. 



The Pigeon climbs about the branches with head tucked in close 

 to the branch, and his long taU also held close to it, just as a Palaeornis 

 holds his and, in the same way, if the Pigeon reaches over to clutch at 

 some tempting morsel a few inches away, up goes his tail to balance him, 

 and is then held rigid and somewhat erect until the balance is restored. 

 His foot-work, too, is quite similar to that of the Parrot, a slow and 

 rather stolid manner of working up and down the branches, step by 

 step, without hurry or flutter of wing. One point of difference, 

 however, always exists, and that is the Parrot never proceeds far 

 without usmg his bill to assist his legs, whereas never, as far as I have 

 been able to make out, does the Pigeon use his biU for the purpose. 

 But even this requires close watching to detect, for the Pigeon holds 

 his head tucked in so close to the branch that it often looks as if he too 

 was employuig his biU as an additional " hand." Harington seems 

 to have been deceived by the attitudes assumed by the Pin-tailed Pigeon 

 in climbing, for he says : "It also has the regular parrot-like habit 

 of using its bill for climbing up branches." Personally, however, I have 

 never seen the bill so used, either by wild birds or by those in captivity, 

 nor is the Pigeon's biU formed for such work, and it is possible that 

 this accurate and close observer has on this point been mistaken. 



The notes of the Pin-tailed Green Pigeon run through much the 

 same range of sounds as the rest of the tribe ; in anger the guttural 

 notes are used, whilst its beautiful whistling-notes to me seem as mellow 

 and sweet as those even of the Orange-breasted bird. It has, however, 

 some additional notes not often, if ever, uttered by any other Green 

 Pigeon, except its first cousin sphenurus, the Wedge-tailed Green 

 Pigeon. Harington describes these notes as " something hke the 

 subdued chattering of monkeys." 



Its flight is quite typical of the family, but is, perhaps, the least 

 swift of all the Green Pigeons, and at the same time rather more direct 

 and steady even when the bird has been fired at and frightened. 



I have never personally made a big bag solely of these Green 



