384 PIGEONS AND SAND-GROUSE. 
being on the cheek, while a third passes above the eye, the rest of the under-parts 
being grey, shading into fawn colour, the quills brown edged with pale rufous, and 
the tail reddish brown, with the outer feathers tipped with black. This bird inhabits 
the plains, being most abundant in the neighbourhood of water, and is sometimes 
observed in pairs, but more frequently in small flocks of from four to six. When 
approached, instead of taking flight, it runs off rapidly in an opposite direction, 
and crouching down, either on the bare plains or among the scanty herbage, remains 
till all but trodden on. When it rises, its flight is rapid, and accompanied by a 
loud whirring noise of the wings. No nest 1s made, the two eggs being deposited 
on the bare ground, and the young are able to run when no larger than quails. 


CRESTED AND COMMON BRONZE-WINGED DOVES (} nat. size). 
Plumed The last two genera of the bronze-winged doves are distinguished 
Bronze-Wing. }y having the head crested, while they differ from one another in the 
shape of the tail-feathers, which are short and nearly even in Lophophaps, and in 
Ocyphaps long, the middle pair being longer than the outer. Of the former, three 
Australian species are known, all with the general colour cmnamon, the innermost 
secondaries with metallic bronze-purple spots, the cheeks and throat white, the throat 
having a black band down the middle, commencing on the chin and joining the gor- 
get, which is similarly coloured, the breast having a grey band across it. Writing 
of the plumed bronze-winged dove (L. plumifera), of North-Western Australia, Sturt 
says it was generally seen perched on some rock, basking with pleasure in the heat 
of the sun, and was exceedingly wild, taking flight at the slightest noise. 
