310 GYRANTES. COLUMBAD^E. 



was raised in defence. They were spiteful towards 

 an unoffending Kildeer Plover, pecking at him so 

 violently as to pull the feathers from his side, and 

 make him cry out. I fed them with maize. 



I have now in my possession a Pea-dove, shot 

 by Sam in December, the lower mandible of which 

 is distorted by the point being turned on one side, 

 so that the mandibles cross as in the Cross-bill. 

 The tips, however, could be brought into contact. 

 It was shabby in plumage, and in very poor con- 

 dition, the cause of which was obvious, for, open 

 the plumage of the under parts wherever I would, 

 the body was swarming with lice (Nirmus) ; and a 

 large proportion of the body feathers were crowded 

 with nits to such a degree, that on one feather which 

 I placed under a lens I counted upwards of 170 ; and 

 there were other feathers more crowded than this. I 

 judged it to be a moderate estimate, that on this 

 unfortunate bird there were not less than 500 lice, 

 and 10,000 nits. On one of the thighs, where they 

 were very thick, there was an ulcer. In addition 

 to this, two large bird flies (Ornithomyia) flew from 

 the plumage, while I was examining it. 



The nest is, as usual, a loose platform of twigs in- 

 terlaced, with scarcely any hollow, and no leaves ; 

 it is often built in an orange, or a pimento, and 

 contains two eggs of a drab hue. Near the end 

 of March we started a Pea-dove from the centre 

 of a lofty Ebby palm (Elais) in Mount Edgecumbe ; 

 it immediately alighted on the ground just before 

 my lad, and began to tumble about in a grotesque 

 manner, affecting inability to fly. Sam was not to 



