114 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



White Nutmeg Pigeon 



No birds of the air which frequent these parts attract 

 more attention than the white nutmeg or Torres Straits 

 pigeons {Myristicivora spilorrhoot), which resort to the 

 islands during the incubating season. White with part of 

 each flight feather black, and with down of pale buff, it is 

 a handsome bird, strong and firm of flesh, and possesses 

 remarkable powers on the wing. Half of the year is spent 

 with us. They come from the north in their thousands 

 during the first week of September, and depart during 

 March. While in this quarter they seek rest and recrea- 

 tion, and increase and multiply on the islands, resorting to 

 the mainland during the day for food. Their flights to 

 and from are made in companies varying from four to five 

 to as many as a hundred — but the average is between 

 thirty and forty. Purpose and instinct guide them to 

 certain islands, and to these the companies set flight. 

 Towards the end of the breeding season, when the multitude 

 has almost doubled its strength by lusty young recruits, 

 for an hour and more before sunset until a few minutes 

 after, there is a never-ending procession from the mainland 

 to the favoured islands — a great, almost uncountable host. 

 Soon some of the tree-tops are swaying under the weight 

 of the masses of white birds, the whirr and rush of flight, 

 the clacking and slapping of wings, the domineering 

 "coo-hoo-oo" of the male birds and the responsive notes 

 of the hens ; the tumult when in alarm all take wing 

 simultaneously and wheel and circle and settle again with 

 rustling and creaking branches, the sudden swoop with 

 whistling wings of single birds close overhead, create a 

 perpetual din. Then as darkness follows hard upon the 

 down-sinking of the sun, the birds hustle among the thick 

 foliage of the jungle, with querulous, inquiring notes and 

 much ado. Gradually the sounds subside, and the subdued 

 monotonous rhythm of the sea alone is heard. 



An endeavour, from the outset destined to be futile, 



