286 THE CROWNED PIGEON. 



many others, so that the injury which the plant 

 might sustain from foreign bodies striking against 

 it and breaking the bladders, is obviated.* 



On the 8th of April we were in latitude 3P 

 34' north, longitude 4P 27' west. It has been 

 remarked, during the time the Crowned pigeons 

 have been on board the ship, that they do not 

 eat for five days, or a week, and then recom- 

 mence eating so much, that the man attending on 

 the poultry can hardly supply them with suffi- 

 cient : they continue thus to eat for the space of a 

 fortnight, or more, and then cease for a cer- 

 tain period, as I have just before observed. At first 

 this was supposed very naturally to proceed from 

 illness ; subsequent observation, however, de- 

 cided that it did not originate in such a cause. 

 They have not now eaten for three days, the 

 paddy placed in their trough still remaining un- 

 touched. The birds have a healthy appearance 

 in plumage and general looks, and are in as 

 excellent, if not better condition, tlian when 

 they first came on board the ship at Singapore. 

 Paddy is the only food given them, as they 

 prefer it to all other kinds of grain that have 

 been tried. 



* Vide Labillardiere's Voyages, vol. i. p. 334. 



