300 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



bird woiild do. The natives call it Ngilu fwritten in 

 tihe missionary jargon ' Qilu '). It breeds in low 

 bushes, making a flimsy nest, never out of the reach 

 of a man's hand, and lays two eggs, white ; axis I// 3'", 

 diam. 10"'." 



Although Russ does not mention this species in his 

 work, it has been represented in the London Zoological 

 Society's collection more than once, and recorded both 

 in the 8th and 9th editions of the " List of Animals." 



WONGA-WONGA PIGEON (Leucosarcia picata). 

 The upper surface, including the wings and tail, of the 

 adult bird is leaden-grey, quills dark brown, outer 



brown ; the white bands from the shoulders across the 

 sides of the breast broader, and the black spots on the 

 under surface more numerous, often divided into pairs 

 (on each side of the shaft), characters noted in living 

 female. Hab., Eastern Australia, from Rockingham 

 Bay, through the interior, to Victoria. 



Tolerably abundant in the brushes of New South 

 Wales, where the woods, according to Dr. Ramsay, 

 resound with, its monotonous, deep, and melancholy 

 call. It frequents both dry and damp localities, is 

 strictly a ground feeder, only taking to the trees when 

 disturbed. It lays two comparatively small white eggs. 



For many years I coveted a pair of this species, but 



THE WONGA-WONGA PIGEONS. 



tail feathers white tipped, the forehead and chin white, 

 the lores black, an indistinct whitish line under the 

 eyes and on the ear-coverts ; cheeks pale grey, gradually 

 deepening downwards and continuous with the leaden- 

 grey of the breast, which is divided by a broad semi- 

 circular white belt ; chest white in the centre, feathers 

 of flanks and abdomen white-edged and with triangular 

 black subterminal spots ; under wing-coverts dark grey, 

 with whitish edges ; under tail-coverte brown, washed 

 with buff and edged with whitish ; feet crimson pink, 

 bill purplish towards the tip, flesh-pink towards the base 

 and on the cere ; iris dark brown, the eyelashes crimson. 

 Female apparently longer in the tarsus, the forehead 

 of a less pure white hue, and stained' behind with 



had I known I should never have indulged my fancy. 

 I purchased a pair on March 25, 1905, and turned them 

 out into my larger outdoor aviary. There they built 

 two nests in a small fir tree, but laid no eggs. The 

 cock sang from dawn to dark, with hardly any inter- 

 mission, and as the performance consists of a measured 

 repetition of a perfectly monotonous penetrating hoo- 

 hoo-hoo-hoo, sometimes one or two hundred times with- 

 out a pause, it may well be understood how my neigh- 

 bours blessed me. Eventually, in September, I brought 

 the pair indoors and turned them into one of my bird- 

 room aviaries, at the back of which, near to the ceiling, 

 was a platform of branches and sticks, about a foot 

 wide and six feet long. There the hen laid four or five 



