117 
while those found by Gilbert at Port Essington either contained 
a single egg or a single young bird. 
The eggs vary in shape from an ellipse to an elongated oval, 
are pure white, the texture of the shell being fine, one specimen 
being lustreless, the other slightly glossy. Length (A) 1*8 x 1*3 
inch ; (B) 1-83 x 1*2 inch. 
Tt may not be out of place to mention here that migratorial 
birds are in some seasons more abundant in the localities they 
usually visit than others, which is not always due to climatic 
influences or an abundance of food. The Top-knot Pigeons (Lopho- 
laimus antarc, ficus ), especially, have been very numerous this 
season in New South Wales, my attention first being drawn to 
the fact by the unusually large number of these pigeons that were 
exposed for sale in the poulterers’ shops about Sydney during 
July and August. 
On the 9th of August some notes were contributed to the 
“Sydney Mail,” referring to the unusual number of Top-knot 
Pigeons which were on the brushes at that time in the neighbour- 
hood of Gosford, several of which had made nests and laid their 
eggs. Mr. W. J. Grime also informs me that “the Top-knot 
Pigeons were particularly plentiful this season in the neighbour- 
hood of the Tweed River, and that flocks of them, numbering 
some thousands, could be seen during September, flying round at 
any time through the day from the mountains to the coast, and 
back.” Mr. Boyd writes, “ The Top-knot Pigeons have been very 
plentiful this season ; they have not been so numerous since 
1882.” 
This season has not been a better one than the last for the 
berry-bearing trees that provide the food for these pigeons, yet 
in both colonies has the Top knot Pigeon been more than usually 
abundant this year.* 
I fab. South Coast of New Guinea, Islands of Torres Straits, 
and off* the Coast of North-eastern Queensland, Northern and 
N o r t h-easte r n Q ueen si an d . 
Macropyuia piiasianella, Temminck. The Large-tailed Pigeon. 
Gould, Ifandbk. Bds. Austr Vol. ii., sp. 475, p. 148. 
The Large-tailed Pigeon is freely dispersed throughout the rich 
brushes of the Eastern coast of Australia, from Cape York to the 
southern boundary of New South Wales. Young birds were 
obtained by Messrs. Cairn and Grant in the scrubs that clothe 
the sides of the Mulgrave and Russell Rivers in tropical Queens- 
land during November 1887, and Meston in his Report of the 
Scientific Expedition to Bellenden-Ker Range in the near vicinity 
* North, Proc. Linn. Soc., N.S.W., Vol. v.. Second Series, (1890) p. 880, 
