on some Australian bird types.



95



visit the State, it appears in such countless numbers as to darken

the air. It feeds to a large extent on the seeds of the Nardoo

(Marsilea quadrifolia ), growing in profusion in marshy localities.

Chiefly in the brushes of the northern coastal districts, the beau¬

tifully plumaged Magnificent Fruit Pigeon (Megaloprepia magnified)

and the Little Green-winged Pigeon ( Chaleophaps chrysochlora ) are

found. Here, too, occurs the Top-knot Pigeon ( Lopliolcemus antarc-

ticus), a species much sought after by sportsmen, and better known

locally as the “ Flock Pigeon,” which feeds chiefly on different

species of palm seed and those of the Lilly-pilly ( Eugenia smithii).

About the neighbourhood of Sydney, which in the early days of

settlement and for a long while after was resorted to by many species

of this Order, can now only be sparingly found the Brush Bronze¬

wing ( Phaps elegans), chiefly in healthy and stunted vegetation

about Middle Harbour, Manly, and Botany; and the Peaceful Dove

(Geopelia tranquilla), which, although nowhere common, has

increased of late years.


Of the Order Gallince, two of the three species of mound¬

raising birds inhabiting Australia are found in the State. The

Mallee-fowl, more commonly called “ Mallee-hen, frequents the

dry inland scrubs, chiefly of the central and western districts ; and

the Brush Turkey ( Catheturus lathami ) is found in the rich and

humid brushes of most of the coastal districts, although stragglers

have occurred in western central New South Wales. Both of these

species, instead of forming nests and incubating their eggs in the

usual manner of birds, scrape up large mounds of soil or gravel

debris , with which is intermingled leaves, decaying vegetable

matter and grasses, and deposit their eggs therein, which are

hatched with the heat engendered in these hot-beds. These birds

are much sought after as articles of food. In the central and

western districts, Mallee-Fowls are often destroyed by the acclima¬

tised foxes, and by eating poisoned baits laid for rabbits. The

Family Phasianidce largely contributes to the satisfaction of sports¬

men, also to the food supply of the metropolis, for it includes in it

the favourite Stubble Quail ( Coturnix pectoralis) and the Swamp or

“ Brown ” Quail ( Syncecus aicstralis). The long string of birds

known as Quail, seen hanging in the poulterers’ shops of Sydney, in



