QQ NATURAL HISTOET SKETCHES. 



from the ground. "We used to kill an odd scrub pigeon 

 at times all through the winter ; but about April and May, 

 when they congregate, is the best time for shooting them. 

 In fact the best season for them appears to be after 

 the other pigeons have left. 



We had a little bird on the ranges which we called 

 the Ground Dove, about the size of a fieldfare at home, 

 and much more like a thrush than a pigeon. It was a 

 summer migrant to our parts, came and left with the 

 painted quail, and was generally to be found on the 

 ground on dry rises in the forest among fallen timber. 

 It rises with a loud flutter, and flies with a dipping 

 kind of flight. It is a pretty bird, variegated red, brown, 

 and black, with chestnut markings, and five or six white 

 diamond spots on each wing-shoulder. It lays on the 

 ground three largish, mottled, reddish eggs, in a careless 

 nest. Although not strictly game, we used to sell them 

 with the quail. 



There is a large species of pigeon on the Sydney side, 

 called the crown pigeon, but it is not met with here. 



The Australian Snipe is much larger than the common 

 English snipe, shorter in the leg, plumper, and thicker ; 

 and the general plumage and appearance, its manner of 

 rising and flight, remind us more of the double or solitary 

 snipe of Europe, than our common bird. There is no 

 real woodcock in Australia, and I fancied that the snipe 

 here appeared in some slight respects to partake of the 

 nature and habits of that bird. I never saw a jack-snipe 

 out here, nor do I believe there is one, although some 



