Long- tailed Pigeons 423 



districts, even including towns, where it feeds on grain and seeds as well as 

 berries and small fruits of various kinds, often doing much damage. The nest 

 is a slight platform of sticks usually placed well up in a tree, and two or some- 

 times three broods are raised in a year. 



Of the two remaining genera of this group, the first (Nescenas] has the first 

 primary about equal to the sixth, and the tail of a uniform rufous color. The 

 single species (N, mayeri) is confined to the Mauritius and has the plumage 

 mainly pink with the wings and upper back brown; it is nearly sixteen inches 

 long. According to Rothschild it is now much reduced in numbers and 

 threatened with extinction. The final genus (Turturosna) comprises six 

 African species. They are birds of moderate size, with the hind neck made 

 conspicuous by means of very bright metallic colors, the sexes being often 

 very unlike in coloration. 



Long -tailed Pigeons. The second group, known collectively as the Long- 

 tailed Pigeons, has the tail longer than the wings, but the individual feathers 

 are not sharp pointed at the tips, as in the next group. They are comprised 

 in four genera and about forty species, all of the Indian and Australian regions. 

 In the first genus (Turaccena) the general color of the plumage is slate, while 

 the tail is only moderately graduated, the outer feathers being considerably more 

 than half the length of the central ones. Of the two species, T. menadensis of 

 the Celebes has the face and throat white, while the other (7". modesta) from 

 Timor is plain slate-color throughout. Both, however, have the hind head, 

 nape, and mantle w 7 ith more or less of metallic golden green and lilac. The 

 majority of the forms are embraced in the typical genus Macropygia, in which 

 the head is small and Dove-like, the bill rather slender, and the plumage partly 

 or wholly chestnut, purplish brown, or cinnamon, while the tail is strongly gradu- 

 ated. They are usually known as the Cuckoo-Doves, from the resemblance of 

 their tails to those of the Cuckoos. Major Wardlaw Ramsey says of the general 

 habits of these birds that they are Ground Doves " of a tame nature, very partial 

 to open glades and clearings in dense forests, especially when covered with a 

 secondary growth of low, scrubby jungle. It is generally found singly or in 

 pairs, and on being flushed it only flies a short distance and alights on some con- 

 venient branch, spreading out the tail like a fan as it does so. Its food is com- 

 posed of seeds and berries, of which it consumes an enormous quantity." Of 

 the three species found in India, the Bar- tailed Cuckoo-Pigeon (M. tusalia) is 

 about sixteen inches long and has much of the upper part black barred with 

 rufous-chestnut and with parts of the head and neck lilac-gray overlaid with 

 a changeable metallic gloss. On the Andaman and Nicobar Islands is found 

 the Andaman Cuckoo-Pigeon, a bird the same size as the last, but with the upper 

 parts dark brown somewhat speckled and barred with black, while the head is 

 chestnut all around. Much smaller is the little Malay Cuckoo-Pigeon (M. rufi- 

 ceps}, which is widely spread over the Malay Peninsula, Burma, and Java to 

 Borneo. It is said to be a shy bird, keeping to the dense forests in small parties 

 of five or six. The only Australian species is the so-called Pheasant-Pigeon (M. 

 phasianella)oi East and South Australia, where it is a denizen of the dense coastal 



