242 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY 



from whence it had come, but soon got higher up by 

 climbing, using its tail to assist it. 



" Except when driven from its holes, the Kakapo is 

 never seen during the day, and it was only by the 

 assistance of dogs that we were enabled to find it." 



"During the latter half of February, and the first 

 half of March, whilst we were amongst the haunts of 

 these birds, we found young ones in many of the 

 holes, frequently only one, never more than two in 

 the same hole. In one case, where there were two 

 young ones, I found also an addled egg. There was 

 usually, but not always, an old bird in the same hole 

 with the young ones. 



" They build no nest, but simply scrape a slight 

 hollow amongst the dry dust formed by decayed wood. 

 The young were of different ages, some being nearly 

 fully fledged, and others covered only with down. 

 The egg is w.hite, and about the size of a pigeon's, 

 2 in. long by 1 9-16 in. broad. 



The cry of the Kakapo is a hoarse croak, varied 

 occasionally by a discordant shriek when irritated or 

 hungry. The Maories say that during winter they 

 assemble together in large numbers in caves, and, at 

 the times of meeting, and again before dispersing to 

 their summer haunts, that the noise they make is 

 perfectly deafening." 



Dr. Lyall then gives some account of specimens 

 which he kept as pets ; they were subject to sullen fits 

 and used to bite severely. On the other hand, Sir 

 George Grey gives them a good character, as lively, 

 animated, playful, etc. When pleased with its food 

 it makes a grunting noise. 



Between 1870 and 1875 no less than six examples of 

 this Parrot were exhibited at Regent's Park, and in 

 May, 1907, a specimen was deposited there. 



CHAPTER XV. 



ORDER COLUMB/E 

 (Doves or Pigeons). 



Jerdon observes that the " Pigeons may be said to be 

 intermediate to Rasores and Insessores; and Cuvier con- 

 sidered that they form the passage from one tribe to 

 the other. Some ornithologists place them as an aber- 

 rant family of the Rasores; others as the last of the 

 Insessores. They approximate the Rasores by their 

 vaulted beak, their large nasal fossae, covered by a soft 

 membrane ; their crop dilatable externally, the form of 

 their tarsus and foot, and their blunt nails, their mas- 

 sive form, and general physiognomy, and by their 

 affording excellent food; whilst they hold to the 

 Insessores by their monogamous habits, the young being 

 hatched blind and helpless, the hind toe being on a 

 level with the other three, and the short tarsus never 

 being spurred. In their internal anatomy, too, they 

 equally partake of both, having the thick gizzard of the 

 Rasores, and the small coeca and simple gastric glands 

 of the Insessores. On the whole, I consider, with 

 Wallace and others, that they approach the Rasores 

 more nearly than they do the Insessores." 



The Doves, as a general rule, form a platform of 

 twigs in a tree as a nest, upon which they lay two white 

 eggs. Some species, however, build and lay in caves, 

 and others merely scratch a hollow in the earth and 

 line it sparsely with dead grass or other herbage ; some 



species also only lay one egg." In a general way the 

 Columbce are vegetable feeders, living upon fruit, 

 young shoots of various plants, or seeds, but they also 

 greedily devour earthworms ; and I suspect that the 

 soft larvae of certain insects are not despised by them ; 

 they eat them greedily in captivity. 



FRUIT PIGEONS (Treronlda-). 



I do not think it worth while to consider the three 

 sub-families into which Salvadori has divided this 

 family, chiefly upon the relative length and width of 

 the bill. This is an excellent feature for the 

 differentiation of the sexes ; but I should think that in 

 the case of a multitude of species it would be less valu- 

 able, the differences being more defined in one species 

 than another, so that one would sometimes have to rely 

 upon colouring to decide as to which sub-family a 

 bird belonged to. Perhaps I am wrong ; but I note 

 that colouring enters into the diagnoses, and it is not a 

 safe character to rely upon even for genera, much less 

 for sub-families. 



The fruit pigeons, with a few exceptions, have four- 

 teen tail feathers ; the soles of their feet are very 

 broad, each toe having the skin expanded at the sides. 

 They are, for the most part, beautifully coloured birds, 

 but common, and easily obtainable, as they should 

 be, from the natives of the Papuan and South Pacific 

 Islands, are hardly ever to be seen alive here ; or, if 

 perchance one sickly bird does reach the London 

 dealers, its price is so high as to be prohibitive. 



I supposed at one time that fruit pigeons might be 

 difficult to feed during the journey home; but, on the 

 contrary, I understand that they will readily accept 

 moistened peameal or boiled potato, in the absence of 

 fruit ; and I cannot see why preserved fruits should not 

 be soaked in warm water and supplied as a change of 

 diet. It is a grievous thing that the lovely species of 

 Ptil'ipus should so rarely be seen in captivity. 



In confinement, according to Russ. these birds may 

 be fed upon a soft food mixture, boiled carrot, potato, 

 figs, moistened white bread, boiled rice, as well as 

 minced raw msat and hard-boiled dried egg. I should 

 be inclined to omit the raw meat and substitute a few 

 small earthworms or mealworms. 



WEDGE-TAILED FRUIT PIGEON (Sphenocercus sphenurus). 

 Upper surface olive-green; the back washed with 

 maroon; lesser upper wing-coverts maroon; median and 

 greater-coverts olive-green, the latter narrowly edged 

 with yellow ; flights mostly slate-black, narrowly edged 

 with yellow ; but the tertiaries olive-green ; tail of the 

 latter colour, but increasingly tinged with grey, and 

 with an ill-defined subterminal blackish band; head, 

 neck, and under surface mostly greenish-yellow, but 

 the crown and breast suffused with rufous ; sides grey, 

 with green ^edges to the feathers ; flanks dark green, 

 with yellowish-white borders to the feathers ; centre of 

 abdomen yellowish-white ; longer under*, tail-coverts buff 

 or pale ashy, the basal ones green towards base, yel- 

 lowish-white towards tips ; wing beiow leaden-grey ; 

 tail below grey; bill dull smalt-blue, very pale blue 

 towards tip ; feet crimson-pink ; orbital skin pale smalt- 

 blue ; irides with an inner ring of pale bright-blue, and 

 an outer ring of buffy-pink. Female of a darker green, 

 with no maroon on the back and wings, which are 

 uniform with the rest of the upper surface ; crown and 

 breast not suffused with ruf ous ; the longer under 



* It has been stated that the Columbce never lay more than 

 two egrgis, but I have seen three well-grown young 1 in the 

 of the European Wood-Pigeon ; of course, two'femalee may 

 deposited in the same nest. 



