160 



me that it fed readily on boiled potato, rice, wheat, and berries of every kind, and that it 

 ultimately died of sheer fatness. It continued shy and untamable to the last, and on being 

 handled would strike fiercely with its wings. The late Dr. Allison, of Wanganui, however, 

 succeeded in rearing a young one which became perfectly tame and associated with his domestic 

 pigeons. I may also mention here, as a somewhat curious fact, that at the Chatham Islands, in 

 1855, I observed one of these birds flying and consorting with a flock of common dove-cot 

 Pigeons which had taken to the woods and become partially wild. 



The New-Zealand Pigeon is strictly arboreal, and appears, as a rule, to prefer the densest 

 foliage. When not engaged in filling its capacious crop with fruit or berries, it generally reposes 

 on a thick limb, with the tail drooping and half spread, the wings closely folded, and the head 

 drawn in ; but on the slightest alarm it stretches up its lustrous neck, and gently sways its head 

 to and fro, uttering a scarcely audible coo, slowly repeated. 



This species retires to the high wooded lands of the interior to breed; and its nest is 

 therefore seldom met with. It is a very rude, flat structure, composed of twigs loosely placed 

 together, and containing generally only one, but sometimes two eggs. These are rather elliptical 

 in form, measuring 1'5 inch in length by 1*1 in breadth; the surface is smooth without being 

 glossy, and as a rule pure white, but sometimes marked with obscure purplish spots at the 

 thicker end. Mr. J. D. Enys informs me that on the 8th of January, 1862, he found a nest 

 containing one egg perfectly fresh, on the 31st of the same month another containing a young 

 Pigeon fully fledged, and on the 3rd of February two more nests, in both of which there was a 



solitary half-grown bird. 



I have remarked a peculiar soaring habit which this bird indulges in during the breeding- 

 season. Mounting high in the air, in a direct upward course, it suddenly opens its wings and 

 tail to their full extent, and glides slowly downwards in an oblique direction, and without any 



apparent movement of those members. 



I very frequently observed this peculiar soaring flight during my ascent of the Upper Wairoa 

 river, north of Auckland, where the solitudes of the endless pine-forests afi'ord this species a secure 

 and quiet breeding-place. 



J 



i 



I 



I 



* 



i 



