"This Pigeon," says Gould, "must always be an object of interest, from its large size, and its white flesh rendering it a great delicacy for the table, in which respect it is second to no member of its family, the only one at all approximating it being the _Geophaps scripta_. It is to be regretted that a bird possessing so many qualifications should not be generally dispersed over the country, but such is not the case. To look for it on the plains or in any of the open hilly parts would be useless, no other districts than the brushes which stretch along the line of coast of New South Wales, or those clothing the sides of the hills of the interior, being favoured with its presence. The same kind of situations that are suited to the Brush Turkey (_Tallegallus Lathami_), the Menura, and the Satin Bird are equally adapted to the Wonga-wonga. Its distribution over Australia mainly depends upon whether the surface of the country be or be not clothed with that rich character of vegetation common to the south-eastern portion of the continent. As the length of its tarsi would lead one to expect, this species spends most of its time upon the ground, where it feeds upon the seeds and stones of the fallen fruits of the towering trees under whose shade it dwells, seldom exposing itself to the rays of the sun or seeking the open parts of the forest. While traversing these solitudes, the explorer is frequently startled by the sudden rising of the Wonga-wonga, the noise of whose wings is not very different from that made by the rising of a Pheasant. Its flight is not of long duration, its wings being merely employed to remove it to a sufficient distance to enable it to avoid detection by again descending to the ground or mounting to the branch of a neighbouring tree. I had frequent opportunities", continues Mr. Gould, "of personally observing it at Illawarra, on the low islands at the mouth of the river Hunter, and in the cedar brushes of the Liverpool range. During my encampment in those parts I shot them whenever an opportunity occurred, for the purpose of eating." We have no precise information respecting the nidification of this important bird. THE HACKLED GROUND PIGEON.