434 ORIENTAL PIGEONS. 



head, that utters a very sweet note among the Bamboo 

 groves and thickets; a handsome Pigeon, with a green 

 back and belly, and wings of reddish brown ; a black 

 Thrush, with a white abdomen ; and a splendid ultra- 

 marine blue bird, with the neck, and belly black ; a 

 land Rail, prettily marked ; a white-headed Falcon with 

 reddish brown wings; a large horned Owl, and the 

 minute Passerine species; the Griffin with a Falcon's 

 beak, is also sometimes met with ; and I have seen the 

 Crowned Eagle, the Cayenne Barbett, and species of 

 Lanius, Bubutus, Garulaa;, and Calorhamphus. The list 

 might easily be lengthened, were it at all necessary in a 

 short popular notice like this ; but long dry lists of orni- 

 thological nomenclature would not be likely to interest 

 the general reader. I may however offer a few words on 

 the famous swallow that supplies the Chinese markets 

 with nests, and pay a passing tribute to the extreme 

 beauty of the Pigeons of this part of the world. Many 

 of these belonging to the genus Vinago, are covered with 

 feathers of rich metallic hues ; in fact, the oriental Pigeons 

 are the most beautiful creatures imaginable. Their air is 

 full of softness, and their eyes of gentleness ; their motions 

 are all elegance, and their forms of the most graceful pro- 

 portions. The turn of the neck and the carriage of the 

 head are fraught with harmony; and the plaintive cooings 

 of their voices, issuing from the dead solitudes of sombre 

 woods, though somewhat mournful is soothing and 

 agreeable to the ear. Playful in their motions, 

 sportive in their caresses, they seem formed for love 

 and dalliance in the dense forests they animate and 

 adorn. The cooing of these birds in the tropics is 



