438 'The Plover-like Birds 



erect, searching for food among the dead leaves on the ground. Its call notes, 

 he says, are deceptive, appearing near when distant, and distant when close by, 

 and its flight is noisy when starting, being similar to that of the European Par- 

 tridge from which it has received the misleading name " Percliz." 



The final group of the subfamily (the Calcenadina>) is the smallest of all, com- 

 prising but a single genus and three species, all confined to the Malay Archi- 

 pelago and the Pelew Islands. As already briefly indicated, they are distin- 

 guished at once by having the feathers of the neck very long and narrow, resem- 

 bling the so-called hackles on the neck of a game-cock. The best-known species 

 is the Nicobar Pigeon (Calcenas nicobarica), a strikingly beautiful bird about 

 fourteen inches in length, with the plumage a rich metallic green, showing 

 coppery reflections, while the head, neck, and upper breast are nearly black 

 and the upper and under tail-coverts and the curiously short tail itself are pure 

 white. The bill and a rather prominent knob at its base are black, while the 

 feet are dark purple and the sides of the feet and nails ochraceous yellow. The 

 Nicobar Pigeon, which ranges from the Nicobars through the Mergui Archi- 

 pelago and Greater Sunda Islands to the Moluccas, New Guinea, and the Bis- 

 marck Archipelago, seems rather to avoid large bodies of land and to be confined 

 to small islands, on some of which it occurs in thousands. Much of their time 

 is spent on the ground hunting among the dead leaves for their food, although 

 in the Philippines, Peale found them frequenting the highest forest trees in com- 

 pany with the Nutmeg Pigeons. Their only note at this time is a hoarse croak. 

 The nest, a nide affair of sticks, contains, it is said, but a single egg. 



A smaller and somewhat doubtful species (C. maculata) with the feathers 

 of the wing and scapulars tipped with a spot of pale cinereous white has been 

 described, but its home is unknown. The Pelew Island Pigeon (C. pelewcnsis) 

 is similar to the Nicobar Pigeon but smaller, being only eleven inches long, 

 and has the plumage indigo-blue instead of metallic green. 



The Crowned Pigeons (Subfamily Gourina). Entirely confined toHhe Papuan 

 and Solomon islands are the splendid Crowned Pigeons, the largest living repre- 

 sentatives of the suborder, ranging in length from twenty-five to nearly thirty-four 

 inches. They differ from the typical Pigeons in a number of marked features, 

 as the possession of an erect fan-shaped crest on the top of the head, a tarsus 

 covered all over with small hexagonal or nearly rounded scales, and the 

 absence of oil-glands, caeca, and gall-bladder, as well as a tail of sixteen 

 feathers instead of the normal number of twelve. In the manner of nidifica- 

 tion they also differ, the period of incubation being about sixteen days in the 

 typical Pigeons and twenty-eight days in these. 



Eight or nine species of the Crowned Pigeons (Gourd) arc known, all being 

 a bluish slate-gray in color, often with more or less of chestnut on the back and 

 wing-coverts. In four of the species the feathers of the crest have the barbs 

 entirely loose, while in the others they are spatulate or club-shaped at the tips. 

 But little is known regarding the habits of these birds beyond the fact that they 

 frequent the ground in search of their food. 



Recently a handsome small Crowned Pigeon (Microgoura meeki) has been 



