h lias been olaimed fchal the VTo»ga Wonga is essentially a "Cornstalk" (New South Welshman), hut 
that i> no* a sufficiently exploded notion. The firsl specimen I met with was one I shot in the Eerntree 
Gully, Dandenong Kanges, about twenty-two miles from Melbourne. 
\,, t the least attractive ohaiaoteristio of the Wonga is its plumage, which is a rich soft tone of slate- 
gra ;im | white; the hark, Bhoulden, and tail, dark grey, with a brownish tinge on the wings, darkening towards 
the tips; the forehead and throat, a warm white; back of the head and upper part of breast, lighter grey than the 
back | the cheeks and eat butts, light neutral grey ; the breast is a warm white, divided into handsome markings 
\n a dark bib belom the throat, and a blade-like hand from the shoulders, which has the effect of shaping a white 
orescent above it; the lower part of the breast and abdomen present a lovely appearance from the regular grey 
crescent deckings outlined with white, which pattern the plumage. 
The total length from tip of bill to end of the tail is about twelve inches and a-half. 
PHAPS IIISTKIOMCA (Gould). 
EABZEQUIN BBONZEWING. Genus: Phaps. 
rp 1 1 IS bird is somen hat smaller than its congener, the Common Bronzewing, but wmat it lacks in actual size it 
•jains in the resplendence and variety of its plumage, whence it derives its qualificative name. Almost 
simultanet usly it came under the notice of two of our early pioneers, who were making their explorations 
in what was then a " terra incognita"— the vast interior. Sir Thomas Mitchell first observed an immense flock of 
these Pigeons one evening on the banks of the river he called Alice, which is now recognised as the Barcoo, in 
the south (it Queensland, and was so much struck with the beauty of their plumage that he shot and made a 
drawing of one, w hich, upon comparison, was found to belong to the genus Phaps histrionica. 
Captain Sturt, with greater means of observation, speaks thus in reference to the Harlequin Bronzewing: 
" This beautiful Pigeon is an inhabitant of the interior. It lays its eggs in February, depositing them under 
any low bush in the middle of the open plains. In the latter part of March and the beginning of April they 
colled in large flocks, and live on the seed of the rice-grass, which the natives also collect for food. During the 
short period this harvest lasts the flavour of the Pigeon is delicious, but at other times it is indifferent. It flies 
to water at sunset, but, like the Bronzewing, only wets the bill. It is astonishing, indeed, that so small a 
quantity as a hare mouthful should be sufficient to quench the thirst in the burning deserts it inhabits. It left 
us in the beginning of May, and migrated, I think, to the north-east, for the further we went westward the 
fewer did we see of it." 
So wrote Mitchell and Sturt over forty years ago — the one in the district of the Barcoo, the other in 
the vicinity of Cooper's Creek, Northern Territory. To the comprehensive epitome of the latter all our later 
observations have not added much in the matter of real know ledge of its manners and customs. AU we know 
farther is to he able to pronounce that it is a w andering bird of extensive range, with a shy and retiring disposition. 
Its wandering nature may be judged without the need of observation of its habits from an anatomical 
analysis of it-, win-, whose ^reat length gives it a power of volition that makes transition over a vast expanse in 
an incredibly short space of time a very easy matter. 
It is habitually gregarious, feeding on the seeds of indigenous plants and grasses that are seasonable 
in the districts it frequents. About Port Essington and the Victoria River the Wild Bice is its favorite food ; 
on the hilly country of the Eastern Coast districts it particularly affects the locale of the Native Cherry 
(Exocarpus), not, however, for the sake of the fruit, as it waits till the small jelly-like excresence is withered 
and dried, and then eagerly devours the seed growing beyond it. 
