Part 34

This splendid bird, the finest of the Pigeons yet discovered in Australia, is abundant in all the brushes on the south-east portion of that country, but is less numerous in the Illawarra district than in the neighbourhood of the rivers Namoi, Macquarrie, Clarence and MacLeay; how far its range may extend from thence to the northward has yet to be ascertained; I did not observe it in any of the brushes clothing the ranges of the interior. Its chief food is the wild fig and the nut-like fruit of the large palms. It is rather a shy bird, and from its quiet habits is not easily discovered, unless it betrays its presence by the hoarse, loud and monotonous note, which is frequently uttered by the male during the season of love. This note is so extraordinary, and so unlike that of any other bird, that it causes the utmost surprise and wonderment as to what it can proceed from, in the minds of those persons who hear it for the first time.

I regret that the few opportunities I had for studying this fine bird in a state of nature were insufficient for me to obtain any particulars respecting its habits and economy; it appears never to descend to the ground, but to be constantly engaged among the branches in procuring its food; its broad hand-like feet enabling it to cling to the outermost and even the smaller boughs with ease; and hence the utility of these singularly constructed feet, which are common to all the Fruit Pigeons, is readily perceptible.

The sexes present no external difference by which the male can be distinguished from the female; dissection must, in fact, be resorted to, to discriminate the one from the other with certainty, although the smaller-sized individuals may generally be regarded as females.

Head and neck pale grey; all the upper surface and wings rich golden green; the greater coverts and the tertiaries with a patch of light yellow near the base of the outer webs, forming an irregular oblique band across the wing; primaries green; under surface of the wing brown, passing into cinnamon-brown at the base of the feathers; tail rich deep bronzy green; line down the centre of the throat, and the whole of the breast and abdomen rich deep purple; under surface of the shoulder, the thighs and vent deep gamboge-yellow; under tail-coverts greenish grey, washed with gamboge-yellow.

The Plate represents an adult male somewhat less than the natural size.

CARPOPHAGA LEUCOMELA.

J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

CARPOPHAGA LEUCOMELA. White-headed Fruit Pigeon.

Columba leucomela, Temm. in Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. xiii. p. 126.—Ib. Pl. Col., 186.

Columba leucomelana, Wagl. Syst. Av., pars i. Columba, sp. 56.

Columba Norfolciensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. lx.?

Norfolk Pigeon, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. Add. p. 374?—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 30?

This fine species of Pigeon is an inhabitant of those vast primæval forests of New South Wales to which the colonists have applied the name of Brushes. I found it very numerous on Mosquito and the other low islands near the mouth of the river Hunter, as well as in the cedar brushes of the Liverpool range; I believe that it breeds in both those districts; and that it never quits these luxuriant forests is the more probable, as a plentiful supply of fruits and berries is furnished by the various species of trees at every season of the year; the wild fig, the palm-nut and the grape, constitute a considerable portion of its food. I have frequently observed it sweeping over the forests in flocks of from ten to fifty in number, and often seen it also in pairs. It feeds on the wild fig, whose slender branches are borne down by its weight, particularly when it clings to the extreme end of the spray to obtain the best and ripest fruit; in this mode of clinging and in many of its actions it far more resembles the larger Honey-eaters and Parrots than the Pigeons; an examination moreover of the structure of the foot of a typical Carpophaga will show that it deviates from that of the true Pigeons, and that it is beautifully adapted for the duties it is intended to perform. I have never seen this bird on the ground, not even to procure water, and the form of its foot is as little adapted for terrestrial progression, as it is admirably constructed for use among the smaller branches of the trees.

The powers of flight of this species are very great, its voluminous wing enabling it to pass from one part of the forest to another, or to a new district in a comparatively short space of time; hence flocks may frequently be observed passing over the tops of the trees, forsaking a locality they have exhausted of its supplies and in search of another where food is more abundant.

The nest of this species, like that of the other Columbidæ, is a slight flat structure formed of small sticks and twigs; the eggs are frequently only one, and never more than two in number, of a pure white.

The sexes may be distinguished by the smaller size of the female, and by her colours being less strongly contrasted than those of her mate, the yellowish white of the head and breast blending into the darker colouring of the other parts.

The male has the head, neck and breast white, washed with buff, particularly on the crown; all the upper surface, wings and tail greyish black; all the feathers of the back, rump and lesser wing-coverts bordered with bronzy-purple in some, and greenish purple in others; flanks slate-colour; abdomen dingy-buff; bill for two-thirds from the base beautiful pink-red, covered with a mealy substance; tip of the bill yellowish white tinged with lilac; irides large and of a rich yellowish hazel in some specimens, reddish orange in others; naked skin of the orbits mealy pink-red; feet buff, with the scales pink-red and the nails white.

The figures are of the natural size, and represent the bird feeding on one of the fruits of the brushes called wild cherry by the colonists.

CARPOPHAGA LUCTUOSA.

J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

CARPOPHAGA LUCTUOSA. Torres Strait Fruit Pigeon.

Columba luctuosa, Temm. Pl. Col., 247.—Wagl. Syst. Av. Columba, sp. 23.

M̏o-koit, Aborigines of Port Essington.

This bird is commonly known by the name of the Torres Strait Pigeon, from its being so abundant there that few voyagers pass the straits during its breeding-season without encountering it. It arrives in the Cobourg Peninsula at the beginning of November and departs again in April or May. Like every other true Carpophaga it is strictly arboreal, living among the branches of the highest trees and feeding upon various fruits and berries. Mr. Gilbert’s notes respecting it are as follows:—“This bird may generally be seen in great numbers wherever the wild nutmeg is to be found, and so exclusively does it confine itself to the trees in search of food, that during the whole time I was in the country I never saw one rise from the ground, nor did I meet with any person in the settlement who had. It flies very rapidly, and generally mounts up to so great a height as to be beyond the range of a gun. The only time at which I could succeed in procuring specimens was the evening, when it resorts to the mangroves on the small islands lying off the shore, or to the dense thickets a short distance inland; at this time it may be seen arriving in small flocks of from ten to fifteen to roost for the night. Its note, like that of the other pigeons, is a coo, but at times, particularly when it has paired, it is much louder and deeper than that of any other species I ever heard.

“It pairs and commences breeding immediately after its arrival in November, and I have obtained eggs as late as the middle of January. The nest is formed of a few sticks laid across one another in opposite directions, and is so slight a structure that the eggs may usually be seen through the interstices from beneath, and it is so flat that it appears wonderful how the eggs are retained upon it when the branch is waving about in the wind; it is usually built on the horizontal branch of a mangrove, and it would seem that it prefers for this purpose a branch overhanging water. That it never lays more than one egg appears to me without a doubt, for upon visiting Table Head River on the eastern side of the harbour of Port Essington I found no less than twenty nests, all of which contained either a single egg or a single young bird.”

The whole of the plumage buffy white, with the exception of the primaries, secondaries and greater wing-coverts, which are greyish black, and the tips of the tail-feathers, which are black, the black becoming of less extent as the feathers recede from the centre of the tail, until the outer feather is only slightly tipped; this feather is also broadly margined with black on the outer web for three-fourths of its length from the base; the under tail-coverts also have an irregular band of black near the tip of each feather; irides dark brown; bill dark greenish grey, except the tip, which is light yellow.

The figure is of the natural size.

LOPHOLAIMUS ANTARCTICUS: G. R. Gray.