242 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



Rev. S. J. Whitmee, a male, was very savage, ruffled its feathers, and tried to bite any 

 one approaching it. He stated that he knew from experience that if it got hold of the 

 finger it gave a severe grip. It was placed in a large aviary with other birds, and 

 lorded it over the other inmates, only permitting them to feed when it had finished, 

 driving them about in a very savage manner. Some later writers have considered 

 that the proper position for this bird should be next to Treron, but as the reasons given 

 do not seem to be thoroughly conclusive, it is best to leave it next to the dodo and its 

 kindred, where the majority of ornithologists have, up to the present time, considered 

 it should be placed. 



The GOURID^E comprises the great ground-pigeons, the largest and finest of existing 

 species. There are about six belonging to the genus Goura^ known by the trivial 

 name of crowned-pigeons, and remarkable for their great size and the high, open 

 crest with which the head is ornamented. They pass most of their time upon the 

 ground, walking in a majestic kind of way along the forest paths, flying, when disturbed, 

 to the lowest branches of the nearest trees, in which situations they pass the night. 

 They are natives of the Papuan Archipelago, where the absence of predatory animals 

 and scarcity of large reptiles permit them to lead a comparatively secure life and breed 

 unmolested in the localities they frequent. They feed on fruits, and lay two eggs ; 

 the nest is stated to be placed on the branches of trees. Some of the species have, at 

 different times, been inmates of the aviaries in various zoological gardens, where they 

 always attracted attention and admiration from their size, stately bearing, and the 

 harmonious coloring of their plumage. The earliest known species is the G. coronata. 

 Another even more beautiful is G. albertisii, from New Guinea, and G. victoria from 

 Jobi and Misori. 



The COLUMBID^E, containing those pigeons whose long tarsi fit them more for a 

 terrestrial than an arboreal existence, and also the doves, comprises a great number 

 of species scattered all over the world, divided by different authoi's into many genera, 

 a large number of which can at the most only be considered of sub-generic value, and 

 many as entirely unnecessary, being of no value at all. Thirty-nine may be considered 

 as sufficiently established to require notice, and in this article a brief review of the 

 species they contain will be given. 



The first is Otidiphaps, a genus created for the beautiful birds from New Guinea 

 and other of the Papuan Islands. Their exact position is not yet fully established, 

 some authors having placed them, with an expressed doubt, however, in the family 

 Didunculidae, others in the Gouridae. Of the two the latter is certainly more nearly 

 correct, but it would seem that the great crowned-pigeons are sufficiently characteristic 

 to stand in a family by themselves, and then Otidiphaps would occupy the position 

 here assigned it at the foot of the present family. Three species of this genus are 

 known, birds of considerable beauty of plumage and symmetry of form. They have 

 been so lately discovered that very little has been recorded about them, only two or 

 three Europeans ever having seen them alive. They are said to live in woods, feed 

 upon fruits, and one (0. nobilis) is said to have a strong voice like a megapode. The 

 flesh is white, tender, and most excellent for food. They are about eighteen inches in 

 length, with a plumage of green and blue, metallic about the neck, and chestnut on the 

 back. The tail contains the unusual number of twenty feathers. 



The genus Eutrygon has but a single species (E. terristris), a native of Papua. It 

 is a handsome bird with a rather strong bill, and a plumage of a general dark leaden 

 gray. There is a white spot on the sides of the head ; the back, rump, wings, and 



