Bronze-winged Pigeons 433 



blue or green spots or patches on the wings and often somewhat mixed colora- 

 tion of plumage. 



Green Pigeon. Coming now to Australia, we may mention a few of the 

 more important or interesting members of this group, among them the beautiful 

 little Green Pigeon (Chalcophaps chrysochlora), a bird about nine and a half inches 

 in length, with a head, neck, upper back, breast, and abdomen vinous, and the 

 middle of the back, scapulars, and upper wing-coverts resplendent golden green, the 

 wings ornamented by a small, snow- white patch on each shoulder. It frequents 

 the low scrubs and is almost wholly terrestrial in its habits, feeding on fallen seeds 

 and fruits. Although not uncommon in suitable locations, its nest has but 

 recently been discovered, being an especially frail structure placed in a low tree. 

 Other species of the genus, to the number of five or six, are widely spread over the 

 Oriental region. 



Bronze-winged Pigeons. Exclusively Australian and Tasmanian are the 

 two species of Bronze-winged Pigeons (Phaps}, both about thirteen inches long. 

 In the common Bronze -wing (P. chalcopterd) the plumage above is largely 

 fulvous or brownish gray, the throat white and the breast vinous, while the wing- 

 coverts are provided with a broad spot of rich coppery red or golden bronze- 

 green. This bird is widely distributed and is perhaps the best known of its tribe 

 in Australia, frequenting the low groves or the little meadows and plains among 

 the scrubs, through which it flies with astonishing swiftness. At evening, rarely 

 in the morning, it repairs to its drinking place, often coming from great distances 

 and in large flocks. It feeds entirely on the ground on seeds, grain, and fallen 

 fruit. The nest is usually placed on a horizontal limb of a low tree, sometimes on 

 a stump or even on the ground. The Brush Bronze-winged Pigeon (P. elegans), 

 as its name indicates, prefers the more scrubby situations, especially in swampy 

 places, and is more shy and solitary than its relative. It is slightly smaller than 

 the other and has the throat chestnut instead of white. 



Flock Pigeon. Another Bronze-wing, more widely known as the Flock 

 Pigeon (Histriophaps histrionica), is the sole representative of its genus. 

 It is about eleven inches long, cinnamon-brown above and bluish gray below, 

 with head, throat, and ear-coverts jet-black, except on the forehead, a circle 

 around the ear-coverts and the gorget, which are snow-white, while the 

 secondaries are marked with a patch of metallic purple. This bird, it is 

 said, never alights on trees, but spends its entire time on the ground, fre- 

 quenting mainly open, grassy plains and feeding almost entirely on seeds. 

 It associates in winter in flocks of vast size, or rather once did, for they now 

 seem sadly depleted in numbers, which has earned for it the name of Flock 

 Pigeon. These flocks, which often numbered hundreds of thousands of birds, 

 seem to have rivaled in size those of the North American Passenger Pigeon, 

 and like them to be going down before the advance of civilization. In seek- 

 ing water, which they do mainly at evening, they come in large flocks, often 

 from great distances, and after flying once or twice around the drinking 

 place to assure themselves of its security, settle about the water in incredible 

 numbers. This invariable habit has been taken advantage of for their destruc- 



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