o?i the Partridge Pigeons of A7tstralia. 293


colouring being olive brown, the flanks white, the eye surrounded

by a large patch of naked red skin which in its turn is surrounded

by a narrow band of white feathers, the speculum on the wings

is purple with greenish reflections. I have possessed four

specimens of G. smithi and found them similar in habits to G.

scripta. The Zoo. has possessed one pair, and another pair was

kept for some time by Mrs. Johnstone. I have been unsuccessful

in my attempts to breed this rare Pigeon although I have got as

far as chipped eggs.


A pair were most anxious to nest, but would insist on

doing so in the winter when they inhabited a somewhat crowded

aviary where the eggs invariably came to naught. They usually

elected to make their nest, which consisted of a scratch in the

ground and a few bits of hay or small sticks, in the corner close

to the door of the aviary, so that it was impossible to enter with-

out disturbing them. When disturbed the sitting bird would

run away and beat violently at an imaginary enemy with its

wings. The two birds took turns on the nest like other pigeons.

In April they were allowed to go out into the large open aviary,

and here they immediately nested under a thick clump of brush-

wood, an excellent place where all would doubtless have gone

well, had it not been for our most tr}nng English weather. So

far as I could judge incubation lasted seventeen or eighteen days,

but I was not quite certain when it commenced. One day I

noticed both birds off the nest together, an ominous sign, and I

discovered one egg with a dead chick half way out of it, the

other with a dead chick just about ready to hatch. There had

been quite a sharp frost in the night. After this the birds

evidently considered the breeding season to be over as they made

no further attempt at nesting. The chick was thinly covered

with whitish down, not naked as with most pigeons.


It will perhaps be of interest to quote Gilbert's notes on

this species in a wild state, as quoted by Gould in his "Hand-

book." He writes : " Like the G. scripta this bird, which at Port

Essingtou is termed the Partridge, differs considerably from its

congeners in its general habits, flight, voice, mode of incubation,

and the character of its newly hatched young. It is rather^

abundant in all parts of the Peninsula, is mostly seen in small



