486 
Mr. G. L. Bates on the 
been set for ducks, over or in the water. According to the 
account it must have come into the snare not at night, but 
about 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning. When alive, and for 
an hour or two after death, there was a bluish tint or 
“ Bloom" on the plumage of the head, which disappeared 
later. The same peculiarity has been noted in the plumage 
of other Herons and in a species of Hove. 
Vinago calva. [Obeng.] 
Sharpe, This, 1907, p. 419. 
Nos. 3867, 4390, and 4487 were young birds just able to 
fly, that were caught and brought in to me, as were also 
some other individuals like them. They have the head “ sap- 
green '' and the feathers of the other upper parts grey with 
sap-green" edges. 
No. 4389, $ adult, had sixteen rectrices; a number of 
others examined, of both sexes, had fourteen. The wing in 
this species is diastataxic. 
I have records of eight Obeng's nests taken or seen, in 
every case with one egg only. Three eggs that were pre¬ 
served measure 32 x 25, 29 x 23, and 28 x 22 mm. 
In connection with one of the nests there was a curious 
circumstance worth recording. This nest was placed in a 
small atondok tree at the edge of my clearing. In the 
morning I saw an Obeng fly off, leaving its one egg lying as 
if lodged on a few chance dry sticks—the only nest this 
Pigeon makes. About two hours later I approached the 
place again, and heard the w r histling noise made by the 
bird's wings in flying off. The little nest was there, but no 
egg. I searched carefully on the ground and among the 
bushes under the nest, but, as I found no traces of the egg, 
can only suppose it was carried off by the bird on being 
disturbed a second time in one morning. 
As to the way in which the egg had been transported, I 
may add that the bird hardly had time to take the egg in its 
mouth before it flew. When the Obeng sits, the egg is kept 
between the feathered feet. It would be possible, I should 
think, for the bird to carry the egg thus between its feet, 
