210 MINUTE ANIMAL FOEMS. [CHAP. vi. 



interior, but I do not think that it migrates to the 

 north-west. Two remained with us at the Depot in 

 lat. 39 40', long. 142, during a great part of the win- 

 ter, and on one occasion roosted on my tent ropes near 

 a fire. The note of this Dove is exceedingly plaintive, 

 and is softer, but much resembles the coo of the Turtle- 

 Dove."* 



Australia is a land of minute forms of animated nature, 

 and this is one of the most charming. To behold is to 

 admire ; to possess is to cherish with the interest called 

 forth by fragile beauty. It is probably quite the smallest 

 existing Pigeon. The same continent also is inhabited 

 by that beautiful little Quail the Synoicus Chinensis, 

 which is not larger than a young Guinea-fowl that has 

 just broken the shell. What minute, insect-like 

 things its young ones must be ! The little Grass Par- 

 roquets, not bigger than Larks, are well known : and 

 among quadrupeds, there is the Flying Opossum Mouse, 

 Acrobates pygmcea, less than a mouse in size, and with 

 a tail like an Emeu's feather (in fineness, not in double- 

 ness) a pet calculated to rouse the jealousy of all the 

 American Flying Squirrels, or European Dormice, that 

 were ever fondled in a lady's apron. 



Mr. Gould's graphic account both makes us desire 

 the bird, and indicates the diet and position most 

 suitable for it in our aviaries. " Its natural food being 

 the seeds of grasses and leguminous plants, it is observed 

 more frequently on the ground than among trees. I 

 sometimes met with it in small flocks, but more often 

 in pairs or singly. It runs over the ground with a short 

 bobbing motion of the tail, and while feeding is so re- 



* Captain Sturt. 



