158 ^^^^'^ Magazines, &c. ^ [x.^'"j'an. 



almost equal rapidity the scared robber touched the ground, 

 and scurried into the adjacent scrub, where he made good his 

 escape. Strange to say, the Sparrows immediately deserted the 

 locality, and the hollows of the old box have ever since been 



tenantless." 



* * * 



The Partridge-Pigeon {GeopJuips scriptd). — Mr. T. H. 

 Newman, P^.Z.S., M.B.O.U., in TJie Avicultural Magazme for 

 October, writes of the nesting of this Pigeon, and, in some 

 interesting notes, refers to the belief which has obtained, and 

 for which Gould was largely responsible, that the young differs 

 from that of other Pigeons in being clothed with down when 

 hatched, and being able to fly strongly while still in the 

 "down " stage. Mr. Newman says : — " They have nested freely 

 this summer, and I hope my notes, made during the rearing of 

 the young, may be the means of clearing up some of the 

 mystery which has hung round the nesting of the genus 

 GeopJiaps, for apparently the young of no other Pigeons have 

 excited so much difference of opinion, and the statements that 

 the young ' are hatched clothed with down, like a Quail,' and 

 that they ' fly strongly when they are only as large as a Quail,' 

 have led to the belief that these birds, which so wonderfully 

 assimilate a Partridge in appearance and habits, are really more 

 Partridge than Pigeon. It would be hard to find another case 

 among birds of one group approaching another so closely in 

 superficial details as the genus GeopJiaps does the Partridges. 

 Yet in no point do they really differ from the more typical 

 Pigeons," Dealing with the supposed precocity of the young, 

 Mr. Newman quotes Mr. A. J. Campbell's* comments on 

 Gould's statement, with the field observations of Messrs. Charles 

 and Harry Barnard, and states that these are in agreement with 

 his notes. Mr. Newman's pair of birds nested in April, 1908; 

 on the 24th of that month a broken ^%g was found, and on the 

 26th another was laid, but the birds did not sit. Early in May 

 they were found to be sitting on two eggs, and on the 23rd a 

 young bird emerged. The writer says : — " On the 23rd May 

 one young one was hatched ; the other egg contained a nearly 

 full-sized dead chick. This is my note, made the same day : 

 — ' Young covered well with rather dark fawn down, but 

 not more so than many other Doves ; bill dark brown, 

 almost black on edges of mandibles, a white knob on 

 botJi mandibles at tip, tips of bill very pale grey, feet greyish 

 pink.' A later note from another young one adds, ' the down 

 is paler (pale yellow) on under surface,' and that there is ' a 

 bare line down breast and abdomen.' " It is pointed out that 

 " the young is no more clothed with down like a young Quail 



* " Nests and Eggs," p. 690. 



