BLUE PIGEON. 297 



Phytolacca are ripe, about the end of the year, these 

 pigeons flock in considerable numbers to feed at dawn 

 and at evening. About the same time they are nume- 

 rous in the lowlands, for I have found them plentiful 

 in the large morass that extends along the shore from 

 Crabpond to Parker's Bay. They were flying about 

 in pairs, for the most part, among the black man- 

 grove trees, on whose seeds they were probably 

 feeding. But I found in the stomachs of those 

 which I shot, the white blossoms of a species of 

 missletoe which is abundant there, and in one the 

 bean-like seeds of, as I believe, the madjo-bitter 

 {Picramnia). Early in February I visited the 

 mangrove woods of Mount Edgecumbe morass, to 

 seek these birds. They were rather numerous, but 

 alighted only on the summits of the tallest trees. 

 Finding that they were very shy, I seated myself 

 and remained quietly watching. Thus I obtained 

 several successive shots, as they appeared to come 

 round to the spot periodically, perhaps once in 

 half-an-hour. Two or three were in company, and 

 as they flew from tree-top to tree-top, their move- 

 ments were announced by a guttural jiigy jug, and 

 by the loud rushing of their powerful wings. Fre- 

 quently one would chase another round the trees, 

 playfully, which I conjectured to be a symptom of 

 pairing. 



The common note of the Blue Pigeon resembles 

 somewhat the barking of a cur ; bow-ivow — ivow, the 

 last syllable protracted and falling. It is much 

 like the Sary-coat-hlue of the Bald-pate, but the 

 short second syllable is wanting. 



