The Nicobar Pigeon. 351 



since, with the exception of a few of the birds of prey, not a sin- 

 gle land bird has so wide a range. Ground-feeding birds are 

 generally deficient in power of extended flight, and this spe- 

 cies is so bulky and heavy that it appears at first sight quite 

 unable to fly a mile. A closer examination shows, however, 

 that its wings are remai-kably large, perhaps in proportion to 

 its size larger than those of any other pigeon, and its pectoral 

 muscles are immense. A fact communicated to me by the 

 son of my friend Mr. Duivenboden of Ternate would show 

 that, in accordance with these peculiarities of structure, it 

 possesses the power of flying long distances. Mr. D. estab- 

 lished an oil-factory on a small coral island a hundred miles 

 north of New Guinea, with no intervening land. After the 

 island had been settled a year, and traversed in every direc- 

 tion, his son paid it a visit; and just as the schooner was 

 coming to an anchor, a bird was seen flying fi'om seaward 

 which fell into the water exhausted before it could reach the 

 shore. A boat was sent to pick it up, and it was found to be 

 a Nicobar pigeon, which must have come from New Guinea, 

 and flown a hundred miles, since no such bird previously in- 

 habited the island. 



This is certainly a very curious case of adaptation to an 

 unusual and exceptional necessity. The bird does not ordi- 

 narily require great powers of flight, since it lives in the forest, 

 feeds on fallen fruits, and roosts in low trees like other ground 

 pigeons. The majority of the individuals, therefore, can 

 never make full use of their enormously powerful wings tiU 

 the exceptional case occurs of an individual being blown out 

 to sea, or driven to emigrate by the incursion of some carnivo- 

 rous animal, or the pressure of scarcity of food. A modifica- 

 tion exactly opposite to that which produced the wingless 

 birds (the apteryx, cassowary, and dodo), appears to have here 

 taken place ; and it is curious that in both cases an insular 

 habitat should have been the moving cause. The explanation 

 is probably the same as that applied by Mr. Darwin to the 

 case of the Madeira beetles, many of which are wingless, while 

 some of the winged ones have the wings better developed than 

 the same species on the continent. It was advantageous to 

 these insects either never to fly at all, and thus not run the 

 risk of being blown out to sea, or to fly so well as to be able 



