CHAPTER III.

_PIGEONS AND SAND-GROUSE._

Pigeons, as a rule, are birds of wonderful powers of flight. The young, which never exceed two in number, are hatched perfectly blind and helpless, and but sparsely clothed. They are nourished by a peculiar milky secretion of the parents' crop known as "pigeons' milk." The operation of feeding is performed by the parent thrusting its beak into the mouth of its offspring and ejecting therein the secretion just referred to. The nest is a very simple structure, being composed of twigs, generally placed in a tree, but sometimes in a cave or hole in a bank. The eggs, which never exceed two in number, are pure white.

Perhaps the most beautiful species occur among the large group known as FRUIT-PIGEONS. Many of these are invested in raiment of vivid green and yellow, forming a little coterie by themselves--the GREEN PIGEONS. Others, on account of their brilliancy, have been designated PAINTED PIGEONS, of which, perhaps, the most beautiful of all is EUGÈNE'S PIGEON. Try to imagine it! The head is pure white, the upper part of the breast a purple-red surrounded by a dull purple band; the under parts are greyish green, shading into white; the flanks green; whilst the upper parts are also green, but of a rich bronze tint. Another group from the Fiji Islands includes a magnificent species, the male of which is clothed in a glorious orange, save the head and throat, which are olive-yellow. His mate is scarcely less beautiful, her plumage being rich green. Another member of the group--the WHITE NUTMEG-PIGEON--is clad in creamy white, with black quills, and a black tip to the tail. It is a native of Borneo. The fruit-pigeons, it should be mentioned, include some of the largest of living pigeons.

Whilst many of the Pigeon Tribe seem to have succeeded in dyeing their feathers with all the hues of the rainbow, others have secured equal glory by a covering which at first sight would rather appear to be of burnished metal than of feathers. The most striking instance of this is found in the magnificent NICOBAR PIGEONS. There are two species of these birds, which occur not only in the Nicobar Islands, from which they take their name, but also in the Malay Archipelago and the Solomon and Pelew Islands. The general tone of the one species is black, but the upper parts are superbly glossed with bronze and copper reflections. The other, from the Pelew Islands, is indigo-blue in general tone. In one of the Nicobar Islands these birds occur in thousands. Furthermore, these two pigeons stand alone, in that the neck-feathers are greatly elongated, forming "hackles" like those of the common fowl.

The largest of living pigeons are the GOURAS, or CROWNED PIGEONS. There are six species, all of which are confined to Australasia. They are characterised by a huge and very beautiful fan-shaped crest of feathers which springs from the crown of the head.

At the other extreme stand the NAMAQUA and SCALY DOVES. The former is regarded by Professor Newton as one of the most graceful in form of all the Pigeon Tribe: the latter are scarcely, if at all, larger than the sparrows.

The power of flight of some forms is, however, extremely limited; they bid fair in course of time to become flightless, like the dodo and the solitaire. The most interesting of these is the GREY-NAPED GROUND-PIGEON. Pigeons for the most part display a marked preference for a life among the trees rather than on the ground; but there are some which are essentially ground-dwellers. The species in which this changed habit is most deeply rooted, and probably of longest standing, exhibit one very interesting point of difference from their neighbours of the woods. This difference consists in the very considerably longer legs which mark the ground-haunting bird. The GREY-NAPED GROUND-PIGEON of South-east New Guinea forms an excellent example, inasmuch as the legs are much longer than in any other pigeon. These birds (for there are three species in all) resemble the Megapodes in habit, and frequent hills or dense thickets. They lay one egg, which is deposited at the foot of a tree.

Among domesticated breeds is the ENGLISH POUTER, a bird characterised by its enormous gullet, which can be distended with air whenever the owner wills. The carriage of the body is vertical, not, as in pigeons generally, horizontal. The CARRIER is a breed illustrating the result of long-sustained selection to increase, amongst other characters, the development of the bare skin surrounding the eye and beak of all pigeons, wild or tame. In the SHORT-FACED TUMBLER we have a breed wherein those birds with the shortest beaks have been steadily bred from. To-day so little beak is left that some individuals are hatched which, when grown up, are unable to feed themselves. An example of a radical change in the feathers is the INDIAN FRILL-BACK. In this case the feathers all over the body are reversed, or turned forwards, giving the bird a quite extraordinary appearance. In the JACOBIN we have a breed--and we could cite others--wherein the feathers of the neck are much elongated, and turn upwards and forwards over the head to form a hood.

In general appearance SAND-GROUSE are small, very short-legged birds, with small heads and pointed wings and tail. Their general tone of coloration may be described as sand-coloured, and this has been adopted to render them in harmony with the barren sand-wastes in which they dwell. But some may be described as quite highly coloured, being banded and splashed with chestnut, black, pearly grey, white, and yellow, according to the species.

PALLAS'S SAND-GROUSE is a native of the Kirghiz Steppes, extending through Central Asia to Mongolia and Northern China, and northwards to Lake Baikal, and southwards to Turkestan. Here they may be met with in enormous numbers. In North China large numbers are often caught after a snow-storm. The snow is cleared away, and a small green bean is scattered about. Young sand-grouse differ remarkably in one particular from young pigeons, inasmuch as the former are hatched covered with a thick down, and are able to run about soon after leaving the egg, whilst the pigeon comes into the world very helpless and much in need of clothing. Three eggs are laid by the sand-grouse, and these are double-spotted; whilst the pigeon lays but two, which are white. The eggs of the sand-grouse are laid in a depression in the ground, without any nest.

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