The QUAIL PIGEONS (Geophaps) differ from the above birds principally in the comparative shortness of their powerful beak, their small, rounded wing, high tarsus, and the bare circle that surrounds the eye. The members of this group inhabit Australia, and breed upon the ground.
THE PARTRIDGE BRONZE-WING.
The PARTRIDGE BRONZE-WING (Geophaps scripta) is light brown on the mantle and breast; the rest of the under side is grey, shading into white, except on the yellowish brown belly. The quills and feathers of the wing-covers have light edges, the outer web of many of the larger feathers gleaming with greenish purple; the throat, upper breast, a broad line from the lower mandible to the eyes, and a spot on the sides of the throat are snow-white, adorned with very peculiar black markings resembling printed letters. The eye is dark brown, the eye-ring blueish grey, the beak black, and the foot deep, rich red. The length is twelve inches; that of the tail five and a half inches.
"This Pigeon," says Gould, "has more than ordinary claims to the attention both of the ornithologist and the epicure, since to the first it is of interest as being a typical example of a minor group of the Columbæ, whose habits and economy are very peculiar, and to the second as a most delicate viand for the table.
"It is to be regretted that a bird possessing such high qualifications as an article of food should be so exclusively a denizen of the plains of the interior of Australia that it is available to few except inland travellers, for it would be of especial interest to the sportsman from its offering a closer resemblance to the Gallinaceæ than any other Pigeon. I sometimes observed it in pairs, but more frequently in small flocks of from four to six in number, which, when approached, instead of seeking safety by flight, ran off with exceeding rapidity in an opposite direction and crouched down either on the bare plain or among any scanty herbage that appeared to offer the best shelter, where they often lay until all but trodden on."
When this Pigeon does rise, it flies with extreme rapidity, making a loud burring noise with the wings, and generally spinning off to another part of the plain, or to the horizontal branch of a tree, on which it immediately squats in the same line as the branch, from which it is not easily distinguished or driven off.
The two eggs are placed on the bare ground without any trace of nest. The nestlings run and fly when only the size of a Quail. The food of this bird principally consists of seeds of grasses and small plants, and in some seasons insects and berries. Water seems quite an essential to its existence; and many writers inform us that it is abundant on such plains as are intersected by rivers and water-holes.
Gould met with this bird on the Liverpool Plains, and as he proceeded on the Lower Namoi its numbers seemed to increase; it is said to be equally abundant on the banks of all rivers between New South Wales and the Murray, in South Australia. Mr. Gould has never observed it in collections from the northern or western parts of that continent; thus it would appear to be limited to the south and east.
The WHITE-FLESHED PIGEONS (Leucosarcia) are recognisable by their powerful, compact build; long, round beak; short, shell-shaped wings; moderate-sized, rounded tail, and very long tarsi.