■2-10 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



tlicy arc youiit;. The female lias a sort of peak, like a widow's, upon the breast 

 (lego beaks), whicli is of a ihin eolor. No one feather is 8tra;_'gliiii:j from tlic other all 

 over their bodies, they being very careful to adjust themselves and make them all even 

 with their beaks. The feathers on their thighs are I'ound like shells at the end, and 

 being there very thick have an agreeable effect." Another writer states that there is 

 also a frontal band re.senil)ling black velvet. It laid one egg once a year, and lived oti 

 seeds and leaves of trees. Its fle.sh was good. In 1805 Mr. George Jenncr procured 

 a large number of bones of this species, eighty-one in all, in the eaves on the island of 

 Mauritius. They were apjiarently the remains of no less than sixteen or seventeen 



Fio. 114. — Diduncului $trig%rtMlns, tooth-billed pigeon. 



individuals and, from the disj)nrity in size, were sui)posed to represent opposite se.\es. 

 They all appeared to belong to birds tlial had been eaten by men or quadrn])eds. 



The family DiinNciLin.*: possesses but one S])ecies, the curious bird known as 

 JJidunculas .i!ri</ii-(>stn'.s, or tooth-billed j.igcon. It is a native of the Samoan or Nav- 

 igator's Islands, where alone it is found, and is known to the iiilialiitants as tiianu-mea, 

 or red-l)ir(l, from the chief color of its ])liimage, which is chocolate-red. It fee.ls on 

 plantains and the fruit of a species of JJiuscoren or yan>, and is very shy and timid. 

 It is a ground-dweller, roosting on stumps and bushes, and building its nests in such 

 situations. Both .sc.xes assist in the duty of incubation, and are so intent in this 

 occupation that they suffer themselves at times to be cajitured by hand from the nest. 

 The DuhinciilKs is possessed of considerable jiower of wing, and flies through the air 

 with a loud noise, which, as stated by one observer, is so great, when the bird rises, 



