of the
petrels, which rear their young on fish-oil partly digested after the
same fashion. Indeed, all the pigeons are devoted parents. Though the
majority build only a very pretentious platform of sticks for the two
eggs, they sit very close and feed the young ones untiringly. Some of
the pigeons of Australia, indeed, go even further. Not only do they
build a much more substantial nest of leafy twigs, but the male bird
actually sits throughout the day, such paternal sense of duty being all
the more remarkable from the fact that these pigeons of the Antipodes
usually lay but a single egg. Australia, with the neighbouring islands,
must be a perfect paradise for pigeons, since about half of the species
known to science occur in that region only. The wonga-wonga and
bronze-wing and great fruit-pigeons are, like the "bald-pates" of
Jamaica, all favourite birds with sportsmen, and some of the birds are
far more brightly coloured than ours. It is, however, noticeable that
even the gayest Queensland species, with wings shot with every prismatic
hue, are dull-looking birds seen from above, and the late Dr. A. R.
Wallace regarded this as affording protection against keen-eyed hawks on
the forage. His ingenious theory receives support from the well-known
fact that in many of the islands, where pigeons are even more plentiful,
but where also hawks are few, the former wear bright clothes on their
back as well.

The woodpigeon has many names in rural England. That by which it is
referred to in the foregoing notes is not, perhaps, the most
satisfactory, since, with the possible exception of the smaller
stock-dove, which lays its eggs in rabbit burrows, and the rock-dove,
which nests in the cliffs, all the members of the family need trees, if
only to roost and nest in. A more descriptive name is that of ringdove,
easily explained by the white collar, but the bird is also known as
cushat, queest, or even culver. The last-named, however, which will be
familiar to readers of Tennyson, probably alludes specifically to the
rock-dove, as it undoubtedly gave its name to Culver Cliff, a prominent
landmark in the Isle of Wight, where these birds have at all times been
sparingly in evidence.

The ringdove occasionally rears a nestling in captivity, but it does not
seem, at any time of life, to prove a very attractive pet. White found
it strangely ferocious, and another writer describes it as listless and
uninteresting. The only notable succes