GROUND-DOVES. 



291 



always on the ground, unless when disturbed or 

 alarmed ; it then usually flies into the nearest tree, 

 .generally choosing the largest part of a horizontal 

 branch to perch, upon. When it rises from the ground 

 its flight is accompanied with a louder flapping or burr- 

 ing noise than I have observed in any other Pigeon. 



" Its note is a coo, so rolled out that it greatly 

 resembles the note of the Quail, and which, like that 

 bird, it scarcely ever utters but when on the ground, 

 where it frequently remains stationary, allowing itself 

 to be almost trod upon before rising. Its favourite 

 haunts are meadows covered with short grass near 

 water, or the edges of newly-burnt brus'h. It would 

 .seem that this species migrates occasionally from one 

 part of the country to another ; for during the months 

 of September and October not a single individual was 

 .to be seen, while at the time of my arrival and for a 

 month after they were so abundant that it was a 

 common and daily occurrence for persons to leave the 

 .settlement for an hour or two and return with several 

 brace ; in the latter part of November they again 

 appeared, but were not so numerous as before ; and in 

 the January and February following they were rarely 

 to be met with, and then mostly in pairs inhabiting the 

 Jong grasses clothing the moister parts of the meadows. 



" It incubates from August to October, making no 

 nest, but merely smoothing down a small part of a 

 clump of grass and forming a slight hollow, in which 

 it deposits two eggs, which are greenish-white, one inch 

 and a quarter long by seven-eighths of an inch in 

 breadth. The young bird on emerging from the egg is 

 clothed with down like the young of the Quail." 



Mr. Seth-Smith says that a pair in his aviary which 

 persisted in nesting in the winter, scratched a depres- 

 sion in the ground (in which they placed a few bits of 

 hay or small sticks) close to the door of the aviary, so 

 that it was impossible to enter without disturbing them. 

 The birds took turns in incubation like other Pigeons, 

 but the young, which died when about to hatch, were 

 thinly covered with whitish down. 



The London Zoological Society has possessed one pair 

 of this species, Mrs. Johnstone had another pair, and 

 Mr. Seth-Smith had four specimens. 



PLUMED GROUND-DOVE (Lophopliaps, plumifera}. 



Pale cinnamon ; back of neck and mantle with obso- 

 lete brown bars ; upper wing-coverts and scapulars grey 

 at base, brown in the middle and with cinnamon rays 

 at the tip ; tip and outer web of first primary brown, 

 otherwise the primaries are cinnamon ; secondaries 

 brown, edged with rufous, cinnamon at base of inner 

 webs ; three of the inner secondaries with an oblong 

 bronzy-purple spot on their outer webs ; central tail- 

 feathers earth-brown ; lateral feathers with the base of 

 outer web brownish-cinnamon, of inner web greyish, 

 the terminal portion black ; forehead and a line on the 

 ;sides of the crown grey ; naked lores and orbital skin 

 crimson or orange-red, edged above and below by a 

 narrow black line ; centre of crown and crest-feathers 

 cinnamon, the latter becoming whitish -buff towards the 

 tips ; ur-ner part of ear-coverts silvery-white, lower part 

 silvery-grey ; cheeks and throat white ; chin, a central 

 stripe on the throat, and gorget, black ; a crescentic 

 band of grey on the chest edged behind by a narrower 

 black band ; centre of abdomen pure white ; flanks 

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

 coverts brownish-grey with whitish outsr webs; bill 

 olivaceous-black; feet greenish-grey, ashy between the 

 scales; irides yellow. Female slightly' smaller than 

 male. Hab., N.W. Australia. 



Gould quotes the following notes by Elsey ("Hand- 



book," Vol. II., p. 156) : " This lovely little bird was 

 abundant on the Victoria, especially about rocky holes 

 and exposed hot gullies and on the hot sandy beds 

 of the broad rivers of the Gulf, where it was strutting 

 about in the full glare of the sun, with its crest erect. 

 I have shot six or eight at a time on those rivers."* 



Mr. A. J. Campbell thus describes the nidification 

 ("Nests and Eggs," p. 691): "-Nest: A slight depres- 

 sion in the ground, sheltered by herbage spinifex, etc. 

 Eygs : Clutch, two; elliptical in shape; texture of shell 

 fine ; surface, glossy ; colour, light creamy-white. 

 Dimensions in inches, 1.0 by .79." 



" The species probably lays at any period of the year, 

 but the principal breeding months, no doubt, include 

 those from October to March. Dr. W. MacGillivray, 

 who has found these Pigeons plentiful in the doncurry 

 Ranges, took eggs usually in October. They were placed 

 on the bare ground, under a spinifex tussock, on the 

 seeds of which the birds feed." 



Russ says that this Pigeon reached the Zoological 

 Gardens of Amsterdam in 1865 ; G. Bosz, of Cologne, 

 offered two pairsi at a high price in 1893, a coloured 

 illustration of which was forwarded to him and identified 

 as this species ; these two pairs found their way to the 

 Zoological Gardens of 'Cologne and Berlin ; in 1894 

 several specimens were imported, no less than three 

 pairs being exhibited at the show of the "^Sgintha" 

 Society, and in succeeding years others came into the 

 German market ; a female in the possession of Nagel, 

 a chemist, laid several eggs, but invariably soft-shelled. 

 The ninth edition of the London Zoological Society's 

 " List of Animals " records a pair purchased in 1894, 

 and two pairs received in exchange, and in 1895 four 

 young ones bred ; but Mr. Seth-Smith tells us that all 

 these belonged to the white-banded form, L. leucogaster, 

 and he believes that all subsequently imported, including 

 a large consignment in 1904, belonged to the latter 

 species ; he also expresses a doubt whether L. plumifera. 

 has ever been seen alive in this country, if, indeed, in 

 Europe. It would, however, be rather odd if the 

 directors of the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam, 

 Berlin, and Cologne, as well as Dr. Russ (who probably 

 got his coloured illustration named at the Berlin Zoo- 

 logical Museum) should all have fallen into the same 



WHITE-BELLIED GROTTND-DOVE (Lophoxjhaps leucogaster). 



Differs from the preceding species in its paler and 

 duller cinnamon colour, a distinct whitish band in front 

 of the grey pectoral band, the whitish centre to the 

 breast and the buff abdomen and vent. Female slightly 

 smaller. Hab., S. Australia and Victoria River, N.W.- 

 Australia. 



From Mr. A. J. Campbell's account of this bird, it is 

 evident that its habits resemble those of L. plumifera. 

 He thus describes the nidification (" Nests and Eggs," 

 p. 694) : "Nest. A slight hollow in the ground, with 

 a few loose blades of grass in or around, and sheltered 

 by a tussock. Eggs. Clutch, two ; elliptical in shape ; 

 texture of shell fine ; surface glossy ; colour, light 

 creamy white. Dimensions in inches of a proper 

 clutch : (1) 1.05 bv .8, (2) 1.03 bv .81 ; of another pair* 

 (1) 1.04 by .8, (2) 1.03 by .8."t 



Doubtless Mr. Seth-Smith is correct in identifying all 

 the birds imported since 1894 with this species, and it 



* Did these notes relate to L. plumifera or L. leucogaster? 

 It iia certain -thiat Elsey obtained the latter on the Victoria 

 Raver. 



t Dr. Stirling- Bays that the eg-gis are duM creamy white, with 

 a rather roug-h surface and lacking- the usual glossy surface of 

 Pigeon eg-gis. 



