All rights reseived.'] ■ _ [JULY, 1906 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE JOURNAL OF 



THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



^be Great Crownet) pigeon. 



(^Goicra coronatd) 

 By W. Geo. Creswei^Iv. 



The imposing looking bird which is here figured 

 by the kind permission of our Vice-President, Dr. 

 Chalmers Mitchell, may be regarded as the type of a 

 group of seven species, which according to some 

 ornithologists constitute one of the four subfamilies 

 into which they divide the Columbidae. The other 

 six species are G. sclateri, G. albertisii, G. scheepmakeri, 

 G. victoria, G. becca7'ii, and G. cinerea. They are all 

 inhabitants of New Guinea, and appear each of them 

 to favour some special quarter of that great island 

 and its surrounding smaller islands in the matter of 

 habitat. 



The particular species under notice is of very 

 large size, being from 29 to 31 inches in length; its 

 habits are terrestrial rather than arboreal ; and in 

 common with its closely related congeners it lays only 

 one ^'g^ to a nest. The delicately laced crest is not 

 the least striking of its attractive characters, but it is 

 not always that it can be seen to such advantage as 

 might be inferred from Mr. Dando's charming photo- 

 graph, for this gentleman tells me that he waited — I 

 think he said some hours— at any rate a considerable 



