120 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



the most scrubby localities, giving preference to such as are low 

 and swampy ; and I have never seen it perch on the branches 

 of trees. When flushed it rises very quickly with a loud 

 burring noise similar to that made by the rising of a Partridge. 

 The shortness of its wings and tail, and the extreme depth of 

 its pectoral muscle, render its appearance more plump and 

 round than that of the generality of Pigeons. It is a very 

 difficult bird to shoot, from its inhabiting the denser parts 

 of the scrub, from which it is not easily driven. It flies 

 but little, rarely for a greater distance than to cross a gully 

 or top a ridge before it again abruptly descends into the 

 scrub. 



Its food consists of seeds and berries of various kinds^ 

 particularly in Tasmania of a plant there called Boobyaller. 



I believe it never migrates, but merely removes from one 

 locality to another, as food may be more or less abundant. 



Its note, more lengthened than that of the Common 

 Bronze-wing, is a low and mournful strain, and is more often 

 repeated towards the close of the evening than at any other 

 time. As an article of food it is by no means to be despised. 

 On a comparison of this species with the PJiaps chalcoptcra^ 

 the two birds will be found to diff^er materially in structure ; 

 the wings of the present species being shorter, and the tail 

 comprising a smaller number of feathers, than that of the 

 other. 



The sexes diff'er so little in the colouring of their plumage 

 that dissection is requisite to distinguish them. 



In Western Australia it has been observed to breed some- 

 times on the ground, and in a fork of the Xanthorrhcea or 

 grass-tree ; the nest being formed of a few small sticks, and 

 the eggs as usual being white and two in number, fifteen 

 lines long by eleven lines broad. 



Forehead light chestnut ; lores black ; crown of the head 

 and nape dark grey ; a broad line of rich deep chestnut 

 commences at the posterior part of the eye and unites a-t the 



