Birds of Celebes: Peristeridae. 651 



33, 54]; Kangean (Vorderman 62]\ Tagulandang, Ruaug, Talaut, Peling (Nat. 

 Coll. in Dresden and Tring Museums); Sooloo (Platen 48, 64). 



Celebesian Province: — South Celebes (P. & F. Sarasin 69, Everett 71); 

 Minahassa (Meyer 28, Guillemard 38); Malibagu in Bolaang Oki Distr. (P. & F. 

 Sarasin); Gorontalo Distr. (Meyer 28, Riedel 39); W. Celebes {Doherty 75); 

 Togian (Meyer 28); Banka, Mantehage and Manado tua (Nat. Coll.); Tagulandang 

 and Ruang (iid.); Siao (Hoedt 15, Duivenb. 15, Nat. Coll.); Great Sangi (Hoedt 13, 

 Platen g 1, Meyer, and Nat. Coll. in Dresden Mus.); Talaut Islands (Nat. Coll. 

 in Dresden and Tring Mus.); Sula Islands: Sula Besi and Sula Mangoli [Allen f 2, 

 Bernstein 15, Hoedt 15); Peling (Nat. Coll. in Dresd. and Tring Mus. 70). 



The Beetle-wing, as Indian ornithologists sometimes call this Ground-dove, 

 was described over a hundred and lifty years ago by Edwards, who speaks 

 of it as the most beautiful of the Dove-kind in his opinion that he had ever 

 seen. It is very questionable even now whether any before- or since-discovered 

 Columbine types can claim to surpass it, beautiful as are, for instance, the 

 Golden Doves [Chrysoenas) of Fiji, the Nicobar Pigeon, the Crowned Pigeons of 

 the Papuan Islands and above all Otidiphaps from New Guinea. Its voice is 

 as pleasing as its plumage; a passage, quoted by G. D. Rowley (XXI) from 

 Sir J. Emerson Tennent, reads: "its soft and melancholy notes as they came 

 from some solitary place in the forest, were the most gentle sounds I ever 

 listened to"; Legge speaks of its cry as "a melodious though deep unpigeon- 

 like coo". As cage-birds they are much appreciated by the Malays, who, by 

 imitating their call-note with a peculiar instrument described by Burbidge (27), 

 lure them to their capture in a sort of wigwam of leafy boughs; they are said 

 to become tame quickly in captivity and have also been imjiorted into European 

 Zoological Gardens. Another good, though less aesthetic, qualification is men- 

 tioned by Whitehead (46) and Hagen (50), namely, that they are very 

 good eating. 



It is not generally known, apparently, that this Pigeon is to some extent 

 a local migrant, or at all events shifts its quarters in some parts according to 

 the season. Thus, in the Travancore Hills, Mr. Bourdillon (J9) found that 

 it descends to the lower jungles in winter, while in a part of Ceylon Mr. 

 Holds worth (13) observed that it frequents the jungle at the end of the year 

 in great numbers. In some parts of the East Indies the migratory movement 

 is more pronounced; in Labuan and on the opposite coast of Borneo it is, 

 as stated by Mr. Burbidge (27) and Mr. Whitehead (46), a summer visitor, 

 arriving with the S. E. Monsoon in April; and Mr. Whitehead also says (45) 

 that in Palawan it was very common when he first arrived in the island in 

 June, but by September none were to be met with. In other quarters its 

 range has undergone variation within the memory of man, for Mr. Re id (30) 

 was informed by an "old shikaree" that the latter caught them when a boy in 

 the Lucknow division of India, a district where it does not now occur. In 

 Celebes it appears to have become commoner of late years; five and twenty 



82* 



