PERISTERA ELEGANS. 
Brush Bronze-wing’ed Pig*eon. 
Columba elegans, Colombe Labrador, Temm. Pig., fob 2d. fam. pi. 22. p. 50. — Temm. Pig. et Gall., tom. ii. 
pp. 240 and 466. — Wagl. Syst. Av. Columba, sp. 58. — Shaw, Gen. ZooL, vol. xi. p. 43. 
Opaline Pigeon, Lath. Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 33. 
Columba Lawsonii, Sieber, Isis No. 67. 
Ob-da, Aborigines of Western Australia. 
Little Bronze Pigeon, Colonists of Swan River. 
This species is neither so plentiful nor so widely distributed as the Common Bronze-wing {Perhtera chal- 
copterci) ; it is, however, tolerably abundant in Van Diemen’s Land, the islands in Bass’s Straits, and the 
whole of the southern portion of the Australian continent, from Swan River on the west to Moreton Bay on 
the east. In Van Diemen’s Land it is very numerous, all along the north coast from Circular Head to, the 
north-eastern corner of the island. Its habits and economy are somewhat peculiar : I have never seen it 
perch on the branches of a tree, nor have I heard of any one who has ; neither is it an inhabitant of the open 
plains, but affects the most scrubby localities, giving preference to such as are low and swampy. When 
flushed it rises very quickly with a loud burring noise similar to that made by the rising of a partridge, which 
bird it also much resembles in its carriage and contour when on the ground. The shortness of its wings 
and tail, and the extreme depth of its pectoral muscle, render its appearance more plump and round than 
that of the generality of Pigeons. It is a very difficult bird to shoot, from its inhabiting the most dense 
parts of the scrub, from which it is not easily driven. It flies but little, rarely for a greater distance than to 
cross a gully or top a ridge before it again abruptly descends into the scrub. 
Its food consists of seeds and berries of various kinds, particularly in Van Diemen’s Land of a plant there 
called Boobyaller. 
I believe it never migrates, but merely removes from one locality to another, as food may be more or less 
abundant. 
Its note is more lengthened than that of the Common Bronze-wing, and is also a more low and mournful 
strain, and is more often repeated towards the close of the evening than at any other time. As an article 
of food it is by no means to be despised, being, I should say, even preferable to the Common Bronze-wing, to 
which species it offers a nearer alliance in colour than in form. On a comparison of the structure of the 
two birds they will be found to differ materially, the wings of the present species being shorter, and the tail 
comprising a smaller number of feathers than that of the other. 
The sexes differ so little in the colouring of their plumage that dissection is requisite to distinguish them. 
In Western Australia it has been observed to breed sometimes on the ground and at others among the 
grass, or in a fork of the Xanthorrhcea or grass-tree; the nest being formed of a few small sticks, and the 
eggs as usual being white and two in number, fifteen lines long by eleven lines broad. 
Forehead light chestnut ; lores black ; crown of the head and nape dark grey ; a broad line of rich deep 
chestnut commences at the posterior part of the eye and unites at the occiput ; on the throat a small gorget- 
shaped mark of reddish chestnut ; all the upper surface rich deep lustrous chestnut, becoming gradually 
paler on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; primaries dark brown with pale edges, and broadly margined on 
the base of their external webs with ferruginous ; a few of the wing-coverts with an oblong spot of rich 
lustrous coppery bronze on the outer web near the base, the outline of which towards the extremity of the 
feather is sharply defined and bounded by a line of whitish grey ; others of the coverts are similarly orna- 
mented with a spot of golden-green, and others with deep bluish green, bounded by a more conspicuous 
line of white ; four central tail-feathers brown ; the remainder grey at the base and tipped with brown, the 
two colours separated by a broad band of dull black, which band is continued, but is much less apparent 
upon the central feathers ; sides of the neck and all the under surface grey, which becomes paler on the 
abdomen and under tail-coverts ; irides very dark brown ; feet bright pink-red. 
The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size. 
