372 Notes on the Fauna of the Nicobar Islands. [No. 173. 



plantains are hung up, it combats with the different species of Hurrials 

 (Treron) and other birds, in a singular manner, to obtain undisturbed 

 possession of the fruit. Its manner is to hover round them, and not 

 exactly to strike with its feet, but to push with them the intruder off 

 its perch, and this it will sometimes repeat two or three times in suc- 

 cession without alighting. It never descends to the ground, except to feed 

 on fruit that may be lying there ; yet, though so fond of this aliment, it 

 was fed, when on board-ship, exclusively on maize, and in default of fruit 

 will thrive on rice and other grain. This bird is chiefly active in 

 the morning and evening, and scarcely moves from its perch during the 

 day. Its coo is hoarse, deep, and subdued, a sort of croaking sound, 

 only audible when very near, and resembling ' o-o-o-o-ah' repeated sever- 

 al times successively.* M. rufipennis was observed only in the South- 

 ern Nicobars. 



Turtur suratensis, (Lath) : Columba tigrina, Temminck. Common to 

 India and the Malayan peninsula and archipelago. 



Megapodius nicobariensis, nobis, ante p. 52. Of this very interesting 

 bird, Capt. Lewis obtained the egg and chick, and Mr. Barbe an adult 

 pair, with also two eggs, which latter are noticed in my description of 

 the species. That procured by Capt. Lewis was uniformly tinged with 

 reddish- brown, which still further bears out Mr. Gould's description of 

 M. tumulus of Northern Australia, the eggs of which he describes to vary 

 somewhat in hue, according to the soil in which they are deposited. f 



Demigretta concolor, nobis, n. s. This Demi-Egret was long ago 

 forwarded from Arracan by Captains Phayre and Abbott, and I am 

 assured that it also occurs in Assam. In the central Nicobars it would 

 seem to be not uncommon. From D. asha, (Sykes,) it is readily dis- 

 tinguished by its shorter legs; the tarse measuring but three inches 

 instead of three and three-quarters : wing eleven inches, or eleven and 

 a half, in adults ; about an inch shorter in the young : bill to forehead 

 three inches and a half, and to gape four and a quarter : middle toe and 



* This bird is since dead ; its plantain diet by no means agreeing with it so well as 

 the maize on which it was kept formerly. As for its mode of fighting, I lately saw a 

 pair of Doves (Turtur suratensis) on the ground, which repeatedly flew up and 

 attacked each other much in the same way. 



T Mr. Barbe informs me that this bird is common on all the Islands ; but that he 

 never saw it perch, as Mr. Gould represents M. tumulus to do, in the back-ground of 

 his plate. The pair he shot were together, upon a hillock, and upon his shooting one, 

 the other did not make off, upon which he killed it with his second barrel. 



