366 COLUMBID^. 



late. Nearly all the occupied nests coutaiued .youug, aud hundreds 

 of young had left the nest. I only succeeded in finding two eggs, 

 one partially incubated, the other ready to hatch off ; the former 

 of these unfortunately got broken on the island, the latter I suc- 

 ceeded in preserving by cutting a hole in one side, and then placing 

 the egg in a small paper tray near an ants" nest. The nests were, 

 as I have mentioned above, regular Pigeons' nests — merely a plat- 

 form of twigs, very loosely and carelessly put together, and without 

 lining of any kind, and in no single case contained more than one 

 young one or one egg, so I think we may safely assert that the 

 normal number of eggs laid by this bird is only one. Many of the 

 nests I examined contained young ones only a day or two old, 

 perfectly devoid of even down, and with closed eyes ; in fact exactly 

 like the young of the domestic Pigeon when first hatched : other 

 nests contained young that flew from the nest on our climbing the 

 tree. One nest I found was only 10 feet, but the others ranged 

 from 20 to 30 feet from the ground, and were always placed in 

 thick bushy trees. 



"In the other islands that we visited in which this bird occurs, 

 I could learn nothing as to whether they breed there or not, except 

 on Katchall, where a native told me that they built on trees ; but 

 he could neither get me the eggs, nor could he even give me a de- 

 scription of them or of the number laid : probably it was merely 

 a good guess of his that they built on trees, and that they do not 

 really build on Katchall Island, but all resort to Batty Malve to 

 breed. I certainly never met with any but adult birds on the 

 other islands where they occur, but again, on the other hand, 

 while most of the birds were breeding on Batty Malve, others, 

 though onlv a fe\A-, were to be found on Katchall, Treiss, 

 Track, &c."" 



The egg is of course spotless and pure white, but the shell, 

 though compact, is very finely, almost microscopically, pitted all 

 over, and it has scarcely a trace of any gloss. It measures 1-8I 

 by 1-27. 



Subfamily CARPOPHAGINiE. 



Carpophaga aenea (Linn.). Tlce Green Imperial Pujcoii. 



Carpopliaga sylvatica (Tick.), Je.rd. B. Iml ii, p. 455, 

 Carpophaga sfinea (Linn.), Hume, Rough Draft N. Sf E. no, 780, 



Captain AVimberley sent me two eggs of this (Ireeu Imperial 

 Pigeon procured in the Andamans, near Mount Harriet, in July. 

 Unfortunately no particulars as to nest, &c., were recorded, and it 

 is not known whether both came out of the same nest or whether 

 each was from a separate nest. The eggs are of the usual Pigeon 

 type, broad ovals, very obtuse at both ends, unspotted uhite, with 



