250 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



which destroy the forest trees, are also contributing 

 causes to its extinction." 



This Pigeon first arrived at the London Zoological 

 Gardens in 1862. and two more examples -were added four 

 years later ; several others have since been acquired. 



VINOUS-THROATED FRUIT-PIGEON (Globicera ntfiyula). 



Neck and upper mantle grey; back, rump, tipper tail- 

 coverts, and wings brilliant bronzy-green tinged with 

 blue ; primaries with black inner webs and deep steel- 

 blue outer webs ; tail above deep steel-blue with blue 

 edges to the outer webs ; head and upper breast grey ; 

 cheeks, ear-coverts, and throat pale vinous ; chin whitish ; 

 breast vinous, becoming chestnut on abdomen and vent ; 

 under tail-coverts cinnamon; under wing-coverts grey; 

 primaries below darker grey ; tail below brownish-black ; 

 bill black, the basal knob and the feet probably red ; 

 eyes dark red. Female probably smaller, and with its 

 bill broader at the base than in the male. Hab., 

 Solomon Islands. 



Brenchley (" Cruise of the Curacoa," p. 265) mentions 

 the fact that the natives of San Cristoval, where he 

 obtained this species, " had eyes like lynxes, and 

 could discover from a great distance, though the day 

 was anything but clear, the pigeons which were in the 

 trees hidden by the leaves." He adds: "I brought 

 back a dozen pigeons, of which, by the way, the flesh 

 was not very well flavoured. I have taken the colour- 

 ing of the soft parts above from the description by 

 Salvadori, but in the " Proceedings of the Zoological 

 'Society" for 1887. p. 332, the bill, wattle, legs, and 

 iris are stated, on the authority of the collector, Mr. 

 C. M. Wood ford, to ba red; and as Mr. Woodford was 

 a careful collector and an excellent observer, we must 

 conclude that his account is accurate, at any rate as 

 regards the specimens of this pigeon to be found 

 on the island of Malayta. though of course it is pos- 

 sible that the colouring of the soft parts may differ 

 on San Cristoval. 



An example of this fruit-pigeon was presented to 

 the London Zoological Society in 1885 and a second in 

 1889. 



WHARTON'S FRUIT-PIGEON 

 (Carpophaga wharf oni). 



_Above metallic bronzy green, some of the feathers 

 with bluish edges ; flights blackish on inner webs ; 

 frontal edge whitish; forehead, cro.wn, cheeks, and 

 throat dark grey ; lower throat metallic green ; breast 

 and abdomen deep vinaceous purple, becoming grey 

 at the sides, on the tibial feathers, and vent; under tail- 

 coverts chestnut : under wing-coverts dark grey shot 

 with greenish ; flights below dark grey; tail below 

 blackish-brown ; bill black ; feet crimson. The female 

 is probably smaller than the male. Hab., Christmas 

 Island. Dr. C. W. Andrews says ("A Monograph of 

 Christmas Island," p. 38) : " The large Fruit-Pigeon, 

 called by the Malays ' Pergam,' is very common over 

 the whole island, but is much more often heard than 

 eeen, since it lives among the thick foliage of the 

 tops of the lofty forest trees, where, to the unprac- 

 tised _ eye, it is extremely difficult to discover. In 

 addition to the ordinary cooing note the male utters 

 a deep booming cry which is the most striking of 

 the forest sounds during the daytime. This note is 

 said to resemble closely the noise made by tigers, and 

 Mr. Ross told me than an old Bantamese woodcutter 

 who came to the island was at first afraid to enter the 

 forest, and was with much difficulty persuaded that 

 a bird was responsible for the sound. These birds are 

 very tame, and when a number were feeding in a tree 



it was generally possible to shoot several, one after 

 the other, without disturbing the rest. The boys in 

 the island used to catch them with a noose of sti ing 

 at the end of a long stick, and the birds would sit 

 quietly while the instrument of their destruction was 

 prepared, and the boy climbed into a convenient 

 position for using it. On one occasion I caught one 

 with my hands while it was drinking at a puddle on' 

 a tree trunk. 



" The food is the fruit and leaf -buds of the various 

 forest frees, and the birds gather in great numbers in 

 trees of which the fruit is just ripening. The feet are- 

 very powerful, prehensile organs, and, while feeding, 

 this Pigeon clambers about among the branches like 

 a Parrot. The nest is a very scanty structure of sticks- 

 placed high up in a tree. The eggs are two in number, 

 white and elongated, with both ends alike. I saw a 

 pair building on December 24, and obtained an egg- 

 on January 6. Many young birds were shot in April. 

 There seem to be two broods a year, for in the 

 middle of November there were also great numbers; 

 of young birds, characterised by their looser, duller- 

 plumage and grey legs ; in the adult the legs are a 

 bright red. I have counted between fifty and sixty 

 on the bushes round the small waterfall on the east 

 coast. The year before I visited the island was a 

 very dry one, and Mr. Ross informed me that great 

 numbers of these Pigeons had died of thirst." 



Two examples of this species were added to the col- 

 lection at Regent's Park in October, 1903. 



NICOBAR IMPERIAL FRUIT-PIGEON 

 (Corp&pkaga insularis). 



Upper mantle grey ; back, rump, and wings dark 

 metallic green, more or less tinged with bluish ; flights- 

 above black, dusty dark greyish-green on outer webs; 

 tail above dark bluish-green ; head, neck, breast, and 

 abdomen grey, the forehead rather paler and not tinged 

 with vinaceous; tinder tail-coverts dull chestnut, more* 

 or lees shading into dark green, especially on the longest 

 leathers; flights below brown ieli-grey ; under wing- 

 coverts grey shot with greenish ; tall below blackish- 

 brown ; bill pale leaden-grey, the tips lighter, the base- 

 and cere darker ; feet dull deep pink, pinkish-red, or livid 

 purple ; irides sometimes pale ruby-red, sometimes clear,, 

 sometimes dull lake-red ; eyelid pale lavender. Female 

 not differentiated, probably smaller than the male. 

 Hab., Nicobars. 



Hume says ("Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds," 

 Second Edition, Vol. II., pp. 367, 368) : " Mr. Davison 

 remarks of this species that ' they breed in February 

 and March. On Feb. 17 I found a nest on the Island 

 of Trinkut. It was built in a cocoanut palm, and was 

 about 20 ft. from the ground. As usual with Pigeons 

 and Doves, it was simply a platform of dry twigs very 

 loosely put together, and was built on a dried-up fruit 

 branch, which was itself merely a mass of dry twigs. 

 It contained one large white egg. It is my belief that 

 the normal number of eggs laid by this^ pigeon is only 

 one. This certainly is the case with Calcenas nlcobarica,. 

 for I must have examined at least a couple of dozen 

 nests, and in no single case was there more than one 

 egg or one young one ; and I have found that one egg 

 was the usual number laid by Palumbus elphinstonii, and 

 I was informed by several convicts that they usually 

 obtain only one young one from the nests of the present 

 species and those of C. bicolor.' 



" The egg which Mr. Davison obtained is pure white, 

 a very regular, moderately broad oval ; the shell smooth 

 and satiny, but with very little gloss. It measures 

 1.9 in. by 1.39 in." 



Specimens of this species were received by the 



