The Zoologist— May, 1874. 3993 



reminded me very forcibly of those of our own familiar wood 

 pigeon, with the exception of being much more open in their 

 arrangement. They are simply composed of a few twigs and dry 

 bents, and it struck me as being an extraordinary fact that such a 

 large egg could be accommodated on so small a platform, I 

 was also curious to know how the birds managed to collect the 

 twigs, &c., to build their nests with, as I felt convinced, from their 

 awkward habits when perched, that it was utterly impossible for 

 them to pluck them from the trees themselves. I had not, however, 

 to wait long before this difficulty was solved, for I observed the old 

 birds collecting the dead and fallen twigs which were floating in 

 the sea close to the rocky shore, and this they managed to do as 

 they skimmed or hovered over the surface of the water. As soon 

 as they had secured a twig they flew off" to the spot they had 

 selected for their nest, and with the same hovering or flapping 

 motion as they hung above the trees they fixed the twig securely 

 in its place. Here and there the female bird was sitting on, or ad- 

 jacent to, the newly-commenced nest, and received the twig brought 

 to her by her mate and adjusted it to her own satisfaction. These 

 nests were placed very close together, and it seemed astonishing 

 that the birds did not occasionally make mistakes. 



On looking up from below while the old bird was sitting on her 

 nest nothing whatever could be seen of her large white egg, but by 

 shouting at the bird and shaking the tree she might at last be 

 induced to leave her nest. This was accomplished in a most 

 clumsy manner and accompanied by a great flapping of wings, 

 and it was a marvel that the egg was not hustled off" the nest to the 

 ground beneath; but with all their apparent awkwardness the old 

 birds, as they left their nests, appeared to drop their egg from 

 between their thighs lightly on to their frail nest. In all the nests 

 we examined to-day there was never more than one egg, and in 

 only one was there a young chick, and this was but just hatched, 

 thereby proving that at this time of the year these birds had only 

 commenced to breed. 



In plumage they varied considerably, but of course this might be 

 due to their diflferent age or sex. I observed on many occasions 

 the old males feeding the females on their nests, and these were of 

 a deep greenish glossy black hue, and possessed bright scarlet 

 pouches, which, at their pleasure, they seemed to have the power 

 of distending to a most extraordinary degree. This might possibly 



