The nest is a frail and beautiful structure, formed of the stalks of a few flowering grasses, crossed and interwoven. "One sent me from Western Australia is composed," says Gilbert, "of a small species of knotted everlasting plant (_Composita_), and was placed on the overhanging grasses of the _Xanthorrhæa_. During my first visit to this part of the country, only two situations were known as places of resort to this species, and I did not meet with more than four or five couples; since that period it has become exceedingly abundant, and now a pair or two may occasionally be seen about most of the settlers' houses on the Avon, becoming apparently very tame, and familiarised to man. This bird utters a rather singular note, which at times somewhat resembles the distant crowing of a cock. The term _Men-na-brun-ka_ is applied to it by natives, from a traditionary idea that the bird originally introduced the _men-na_, a kind of gum which exudes from a species of acacia, and which is one of the favourite articles of food among the natives." * * * * * The RUNNING PIGEONS (_Geotrygones_) are heavy, and powerfully framed, with rounded wings, the first primary quill of which is often much shortened; high, thick tarsi, and short toes. All the species belonging to this group occupy Southern and Central America. THE PARTRIDGE DOVE. The PARTRIDGE DOVE (_Starnænas cyanocephala_), the most remarkable of these birds, has a thick-set body, short wings, the slender, sabre-formed quills of which are pointed at the extremity, the third and fourth being longer than the rest, and a moderately long and rounded tail; the high, broad, and very strong beak is vaulted at its culmen; the feet are long, with thick tarsi and short fleshy toes, armed with large and very decidedly hooked claws. The plumage is dense, and the cheek-stripes bare, overspread with small, oval warts. A beautiful chocolate-brown predominates in the coloration of the feathers, shading into reddish brown on the mantle, and into rich deep red upon the breast. The crown of the head and a few scale-like feathers on the throat are slate-blue; the face, nape, and throat, black; the cheek-stripes, and a line on the lower part of the throat, pure white; the wings dark brown, edged with reddish brown, and shaded with deep grey on the lower side; the centre tail-feathers are chocolate-brown, and those at the sides blackish brown. The eye is dark brown; the beak bright coral-red at the base and greyish blue at the tip; the foot is pale reddish white, with horny plates of deep carmine-red; the toes are deep blueish red, and the skin between them sky-blue. This species is twelve inches long and seventeen broad; the wing and tail each measure five inches.