PHAPS HISTRIONICA. 



(Harlequin Bronzeiving .) 



Forehead, a stripe from behind the eye forming a circle round the ear coverts, and a crescent-shaped mark across the throat, snow white ; 

 the rest of the head, throat, and ear coverts, jet black ; all the upper surface, wing coverts, flanks, and two central tail feathers, deep cinnamon 

 brown ; edge of shoulder, dull white ; primaries, brownish grey, outwardly margined with rufous, and tipped with white ; secondaries, banded 

 near the tips with crimson bronze ; lateral tail feathers, bluish grey, passing into black and tipped with white ; breast and centre of abdomen, 

 bluish grey ; under tail coverts, buff ; nostrils and bill, black ; bare skin around the eye, purplish black ; irides, dark brown ; front of feet and 

 legs, lilac red ; hind part, flesh red. 



The female is much less brilliant in her appearance than the male. 



Length, 10|- inches ; wing, 8 ; tail, 3^ ; bill, 1 ; tarsus, 1. 



This species is found in vast flocks in various parts of the interior. On the Mokai and Namoy rivers it was first observed by 

 Mr. Grould ; Leichhardt met with it on his journey, and followed it up to Port Essington. It sometimes appears in countless numbers in a 

 locality where not one has been seen before, and leaves the same for many years, until a combination of circumstances, as drought or scarcity 

 of food, renders a migration beyond its usual boundary a matter of necessity, when it again makes its appearance. It feeds on the open 

 plains, and comes to water at sunset, drinking but sparingly. It lives, in March and April, for the most part on the seeds of the rice-grass, 

 which is also used by the natives for food, when it is delicious eating, but at other seasons very inferior. It incubates in February, laying its 

 eggs, two in number, under the salt bush and other low shrubs found on the open plains ; the color of the eggs is white. 



PHAPS CHALCOPTEUA. 



(Bronzewing Pigeon.) 



♦-^ 



Forehead, buffy white ; stripe below the eyes and throat, white ; crown, brown tinged with reddish ; cheeks and sides of the neck, bluish 

 grey; breast, reddish grey; abdomen, purplish grey ; back, scapularies, rump, and upper tail coverts, greenish brown ; wing coverts, bluish 

 grey, the outer webs bronzed with large oval spots of various metallic colors : outer edges of primaries, brown ; tail, bluish grey, with a band 

 of black near the tip ; bill, black in front and red behind ; legs and feet, red ; irides, hazel. 



Length, 14 inches ; wing, 10 ; tail, 6 ; bill, 1 ; tarsus, If. 



This elegant species is found in every part of Australia, and in some of the South Sea Islands. It prefers sandy country, and 

 is generally found feeding on the ground underneath various trees, especially wattles, the seeds of which are shed and fallen to the earth. 

 Wlien disturbed, it rises with a loud burring noise, and pitches again at no great distance. It builds in various situations — in holes of trees 

 or among the branches, and even on the ground — ^the nest being a loose structure of twigs ; the eggs are two in number, and of a white color. 

 In consequence of the excellence of its flesh, great numbers of this bird are shot for the table. It drinks sparingly, and its presence at the 

 close of day is a sure indication of water being in the immediate neighborhood. It is generally seen in pairs, but sometimes in considerable 

 numbers. In the neighborhood of Goulburn, Tass, and the Hunter Eiver, this species is especially abundant after the harvest, in the stubble 

 of corn fields, and affords excellent shooting, equal to partridge shooting in England. Indeed, so plentiful are they at certain seasons, that 

 during Mr. Grould's visit to Tarrundi in January, 1810, from thirty to forty brace were shot in two mornings' shooting by that gentleman, 

 and Messrs. S. and C. Coxen, in the wheat stubble adjacent to the house. Mr. C. Coxen informs me that ifc was raining the whole of the 

 time, and that it is probable the birds were on a migratory passage, but delayed temporai-ily by the weather. 



