Birds of Celebes : Peristeiidae. g59 



this similarity is not borne out by the structure of the skeleton') which is dove- 

 like, nor by other considerations. Davison (13), who has given the best account 

 of the habits of these birds, writes from observations made in Batty Malve: 

 "Their gait is quite pigeon-like, every now and then one would stoj?, and toss- 

 ing the leaves aside, dig into the ground with its bill; they did not move in 

 any regular manner but walked hither and thither, and if two adults, or two 

 young ones met, they generally made a peck or two at each other before sepa- 

 rating. I did not observe them use their feet to scratch aside the leaves, like 

 gallinaceous birds, nor did I see any of the adults run, they kept to a steady 

 but sprightly walk the whole time. Occasionally a young one would rush up 

 with outspread wings to one of its neighbours, and then stand with open mouth 

 flapping its wings till it was either beaten off, or the other beat a retreat, but 

 I did not see any of the young fed by their parents. They are very silent 

 birds, and the only note I heard was a somewhat hoarse guttural kind of croak, 

 not unlike that sometimes made by a domestic pigeon when taken in the hand". 

 Mr. Whitehead (31) speaks of the note as a powerful "Coo". 



Hume and Davison (13, 34) express the opinion that the small, unin- 

 habited, and almost inaccessible island of Batty Malve is the only spot in the 

 Nicobars to which these pigeons resort to breed. Here, says Hume, they "swarm 

 by thousands, and in the early morning may be seen flying from the island in 

 flocks out to sea, doubtless to other islands of the group to feed. When well 

 up in the air their flight is swift and powerful, and they remind one much of 

 sand grouse". They appear never to lay more than one egg, which is deposited 

 in a true pigeons nest of twigs in a tree. Mr. Whitehead heard of a breeding- 

 place on some small islands out at sea near Pvilo Tega Island, Borneo, and our 

 artist, B. Geisler, learnt from the natives that there is a breeding-place in the 

 Katakatei District of the Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain, and another, from other 

 sources of information, on the Purdy Islands. It also seems to breed freely in 

 confinement, and Mr. Bartlett (8) ascertained from birds in the Gardens of the 

 Zoological Society of London that the period of incubation is as much as 28 days, 

 or much longer than that of other Pigeons known to Mr. Evans (37), with the 

 excej^tion of Goura, in which it is also 28 days. 



The Nicobar Pigeon has a vast range, occurring as it does from the Nicobars 

 to the Solomon and Louisiade Islands, a distance of some four thousands miles. 

 But the most remarkable thing about the bird is its preference for small islands ; 

 it avoids the large masses of land and establishes itself on the small neighbouring 

 islets. Thus, there is no positive evidence that it has ever been met with in Tenas- 

 serim, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java and Borneo; in Celebes it has only been 

 encountered on the Northern Peninsula (van Musschenbroek) and there it 

 must be very rare and most likely a casual visitor; it seems to be almost equally 



1, The skeleton has not yet been figured, only the scapula by Fiirbringer : Unters., 1888, pi. Ill, fig. UJ, 

 but there is a specimen in the Dresden ]\Iuseuni. 



83* 



