Swainson's Fruit-pigeon.' 
BIRDS. The Crowned Pigeon. 391 
TBEE PIGEONS. 
The birds to wliich the name of Tree Pigeons has 
been given, are distinguished from the preceding by 
their generally short stout bill, in which the ridge of 
both mandibles is nearly equally arched, and by their 
very short tarsi, which are usually clothed with feathers 
for a greater or less distance below the heel. The 
inner front toe is also shorter than the outer one. The 
shortness of the tarsi in these birds indicates that they 
are less adapted than the preceding pigeons for walking 
upon the ground, and in their habits they are pre- 
eminently arboreal, passing nearly their whole time 
amongst the branches of trees, and feeding principally 
upon the fruits which they lind in such situations. 
They are confined to the warmer parts of the eastern 
hemisphere, and the majoritj' of the species are inhab- 
itants of Southern Asia, with its islands, and Australia. 
A few species are also met with in Africa. 
SWAINSON’S FRUIT-PIGEON {PtiUnoims Swain- 
sonii), a native of the Clarence river district of Australia, 
is a beautiful little bird, measuring about seven inches 
and a half in length. It is of a shining green colour 
above, with the whole top of the head crimson, sur- 
rounded by a j'ellow ring ; the feathers of the wings 
are more or less distinctly margined with yellow, and 
the tertiaries are deep blue towards the extremitj' ; the 
tail-feathers are broadly tipped with yellow ; the neck 
is grayish, and the breast green, each feather of the 
latter part being forked at the e.xtremity, and marked 
with a silvery spot, giving a singular aspect to this 
portion of the plumage ; the flanks are green, but the 
centre of the abdomen is orange-red, with a reddish- 
lilac crescent-shaped band separating it from the green 
of the breast, and the under tail-coverts are orange- 
yellow. 
THE AROMATIC PIGEON {Treron aromatica) is a 
native of India, Java, and some other neighbouring 
islands, where it resides principally upon the banyan 
trees. It is a shy bird, to which the concealment 
afforded by the dense foliage of the banyans is most 
welcome ; and as the fruit of these trees affords it a 
constant and abundant supply of food, it is rarely under 
the necessity of quitting its shelter. During the greater 
part of the year considerable flocks of these birds live 
together ; but during the breeding season they pair, and 
build a slight nest of twigs, upon which the female 
deposits two white eggs. 
The Aromatic Pigeon measures between ten and 
eleven inches in length, and has the whole lower sur- 
face, except the chin and throat, which are yellow, of 
a yellowish-green colour; the crown of the head is 
grayish ; the neck is green ; the back and lesser wing- 
coverts are purplish red ; the greater wing-coverts and 
secondaries black, with bright yellow margins, and the 
primaries are black. The lower part of the back, the 
rump, and the two middle tail-feathers are green ; the 
rest of the tail-feathers are bluish- gray, with a dark 
central band. Many other species of Tree Pigeons 
are met with in the Eastern Islands. The White- 
booted Pigeon {Treron SieboldU), represented on 
Plate 18, fig. 65, is a native of Jajian. 
THE 'WAAIIA PIGEON {Treron ahyssinica) — Plate 18, 
fig. 69 — a native of Abyssinia, and of several other 
parts of Africa, flies in large flocks, and reposes during 
the heat of the day amongst the foliage of trees. It is 
said by Bruce to be particularly fond of a species of 
ash, upon the seeds of which it feeds. At the com- 
mencement of the rainy season it migrates from 
Abyssinia towards the south and south-west. The 
Waalia Pigeons are very fat, and good eating ; but they 
are regarded as unclean by the Abyssinians, who will 
not even touch their bodies. 
ground pigeons. 
In this group the bill is of the same form as in the 
true Pigeons, which these birds resemble in their 
general characters ; but they have the tarsi much elon- 
gated, and considerably stouter than in the preceding 
groups, and their toes greatly resemble those of the 
gallinaceous birds. The wings of the Ground Pigeons 
are also short and rounded, indicating far less power of 
flight than is possessed by the Pigeons generally ; and, 
in fact, both in their structure and mode of life they 
may be regarded as forming a transition from the true 
Pigeons to the true Gallinse. These birds are found 
almost exclusively in the warmer parts of the world. 
Most of them are inhabitants of the eastern hemi- 
sphere, especially the Indian islands and Australia. 
THE CROWNED PIGEON {Goura coronata) — -Plate 
18, fig. 66. This bird, which is the largest living 
species of its order, is an inhabitant of many of the 
islands of the Eastern archipelago, in some of which it 
is tolerably abundant. It feeds upon seeds, which it 
picks up from the ground, and also upon berries; it 
builds its nest upon the branch of a tree, and lays only 
two eggs. The young are fed by their parents with 
food regurgitated from the crop. 
The length of this fine Pigeon is from twenty-eight 
to thirty inches. The general colour of its plumage is 
a pale bluish-graj’, but the feathers of the back, the 
scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts, are black at the 
base, and purplish-brown at the apex, and the greater 
wing-coverts are Slso purplish-brown, with a broad 
white band across their middle. The quill feathers of 
the wings and tail are gray. The most striking 
character presented by the bird consists in an elegant 
and ample crest of delicate decomposed j)lumes with 
which the head is adorned. This is of the same pale 
bluish-gray colour as the plumage of the head and 
lower parts. 
THE NICOBAR PIGEON ( Valcenas nicobarica) is found 
not only in the island of Nicobar, but also on the 
continent of Asia, and in several other islands, including 
the Moluccas and New Ireland. It measures about 
fifteen inches in length, and is remarkable for the 
splendour of its plumage, which is of a rich metallic 
green colour, and exhibits the most brilliant golden, 
coppery, and purplish tints, according to the direction 
in which the light strikes it. The feathers of tlie back 
of the neck are much elongated, and form a brilliant 
mantle, which falls over the back and wings. 
THE TAMBOURINE GROUND-DOVE {Peristera tym- 
panistria), a native of Southern Africa, has received 
its name from the resemblance of the cooing of the 
male, when heard at some distance, to the sound of a 
