16 
RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM, 
III. — On the NIDIFICATION of MEGALOPREPIA 
MAGNIFICA , the MAGNIFICENT FRUIT PIGEON. 
Columbia magnified, Temm., Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 125(1821). 
Carpophaga magnified , Gould, Bds. Austr. v. pi. 58 (1848). 
Megaloprepia magnified , Salvad., Cat. Bds. Brit-. Mus. xxi. 
p. 1G7 (1893). 
The Magnificent Fruit Pigeon is freely dispersed throughout 
the rich coastal brushes of Eastern Australia, from the neighbour- 
hood of Cairns in North-eastern Queensland to Berry in New 
South Wales. In the latter colony it is far more frequently met 
with in that rich belt of luxurious vegetation lying between the 
Tweed and Bellinger Rivers, than it is in the humid valleys and 
mountain ranges of the south coastal district. At Cairns it over- 
laps the closely allied, but decidedly smaller species M . assimilis , 
which ranges northward from that locality to Cape York. 
Although M \ magnified is plentifully distributed throughout 
these brushes nothing has hitherto been recorded of its nidification. 
For an opportunity of examining a nest and egg of this species I 
am indebted to Mr. George Savidge, a most enthusiastic oologist, 
who has lately found this line Pigeon breeding on the Upper 
Clarence. Mr. Savidge has also forwarded me a skin of the 
female shot at the nest, together with the following notes relative 
to procuring the nest and egg : — 
“ Having been told by some timber-drawers that they had 
discovered three nests of Megaloprepia magnified at Pine Scrub, 
Oaky Creek, Upper Clarence, each with a single egg, and upon 
which the birds were sitting, I determined to pay a visit to these 
scrubs to search for the nests. Accompanied by a friend, Mr. 
Thos. Woods, and an aboriginal called Freddy, we started at 
daylight on the morning of November 8th, 1896, and arrived at 
our destination, twenty-five miles distant a little after ten. Several 
nests were seen but they contained neither eggs or young, and after 
a long search we decided upon going further into the scrub. The 
peculiar call of M. magnified could be heard on all sides, and at last 
after searching for several hours we saw one lly from a tree about 
twenty-five yards in advance. Upon nearing the tree we dis- 
covered the nest, and the egg could be plainly seen in it. Wishing 
to obtain the bird we sat down for some time, but eventually 
decided to move lower down the creek into closer concealment, as 
I thought the bird might be watching us and would not return. 
After waiting a quarter of an hour we observed the Pigeon fly 
