84 PIGEON. 



This species inhabits the Molucca Isles, and New Guinea, and is 

 not unfrequent in Amboina ; kept alive in the Menageries of England, 

 as well as other parts of Europe : Scopoli mentions a pair, that not 

 only made a nest on the trees,* of hay and stalks, in the place they 

 were kept in, but laid eggs ; he observed, that the hen never sat on 

 the eggs, but stood over them, and it was probably from this cause, 

 that they did not prove prolific. In the East Indies they are kept 

 tame in the court yards, by many, among other Poultry ;f the note 

 is plaintive, yet cooing, like other Pigeons, only more loud in 

 proportion ; their mournful notes alarmed the crew of M. Bougain- 

 ville, when in the neighbourhood of them, thinking they were the 

 cries of the human species. 



Both Brisson, and BufFon, have ranked this bird with the 

 Pheasants, and the PI. enlum. have retained that name ; but it 

 certainly differs from other Pigeons only from its size, yet, in many 

 of its manners, has great affinity to the Gallinaceous Tribe. 



M. Sonnerat, as well as Dampier, found them in plenty at New 

 Guinea, but the Dutch chiefly procure them from Banda, into which, 

 no doubt, they were originally transported from the former place. 



107.— NICOBAR PIGEON. 



Columba Nicobarica, Ind. Orn.\. 605. Lin. i. 283. Gm. Lin.'i. 783. Bris.\. 153. 



Id. Svo. i. 40. Klein, 120. 23. 

 Colornbi-galline a Camail, Levail. Afr. vi. 102. pi. 279. Temm. Pig.fol. pi. 2. Id. 



8vo. i. p. 385. 

 Pigeon de Nincombar, Buf. ii. 541. PL en/. 491. 

 Nicobar Pigeon, Gen. Si/n. iv. 642. Edw. pi. 339. Albin, ii. pi. 47. 48.— male and 



female. 



SIZE of a middling Fowl ; length thirteen or fourteen inches. 

 Bill dusky; irides hazel; head, neck, and all beneath, dark bluish 



* Dampier says, they build on trees, and the eggs are as big as those of the Hen. 

 f The same at Batavia, where it is called the Crown Bird. " The most familiar about 

 " the House of the Embassador's Host, was the Crown Bird." — Staunt. Chin. i. 249. 



