THE VICTORIA CROWNED PIGEON. 



231 



Of 



.in court-yards, with poultry. They have frequently been brougli 1 

 alive into Europe, 

 where they are justly 

 considered among the 

 greatest ornaments of 

 the menagerie: and one 

 instance has occurred 

 a female laying 

 but these were 

 unproductive. In a 

 wild state they breed 

 in the highest trees. 



These birds have all 

 the habits of the com- 

 m;>n Pigeons; billing, 

 inflating their breast, 

 and cooing: the noise 

 of their cooing is, ri 

 however, so loud, as, \n 

 at times, to resemble 

 rather a bellowing. It 

 is said that M. Bou- 

 gainville's sailors were 

 greatly alarmed at 

 hearing this noise for 

 the first time, in the 

 wild and unfrequented 

 spots of some of the 

 islands on which they 

 landed : they supposed 

 it to proceed from the 

 savage cries of hostile 



, . THE GREAT CKOWNI> PIGEON. 



and concealed natives. 



The Crowned Pigeons are found in New Guinea, Pulo, and a few of 



the adjacent islands. 



THE VICTORIA CROWNED PIGEON. 



The Victoria Crowned Pigeon, the second member of this group 

 with which we are acquainted, is also principally of a slaty blue colour, 

 but has a reddish brown under side ; the wing stripes are bluish gray, 

 and a broad line at the end of the tail whitish gray. In this bird the 

 feathers that form the crest terminate in small fan-like appendages. 

 The eye is reddish, and the foot flesh-pink. The pigeon is somewhat 

 larger than the species last described. It inhabits the most southern 

 parts of North Guinea, and is nowhere very numerous. " Their walk," 

 says the Rev. J. G. Wood, " is quite of a royal character, stately, ma- 

 jestic, and well according with the crown they wear upon their heads. 

 The crest seems always to be held expanded. They have the Labit of 



