As might be supposed, this bird has attracted the notice of all our travellers who have journeyed across the colonial line of demarcation; Captain Sturt mentions it as being numerous on the plains of Wellington valley, and in the neighbourhood of the Morumbidgee. It would seem to affect marshy situations in preference to others, for Captain Sturt observes that he took its appearance to be a sure sign of his approach to a country more than ordinarily subject to overflow; since, on the Macquarie and the Darling, those birds were only found to inhabit the regions of marshes, or spaces covered by the _Acacia pendula_ or the _Polygonum junceum_. The locality nearest the coast line that I know it to inhabit, is the country near the great bend of the river Murray in South Australia, where it is tolerably abundant; it abounds on the plains at the back of Moreton Bay on the banks of the river Namoi, and is occasionally, but very rarely, seen on the Liverpool Plains. It frequently assembles in very large flocks, and when it visits the lagoons or river-sides for water, during the dry seasons, generally selects a single tree, or even a particular branch, on which to congregate; very great numbers perching side by side, and all descending simultaneously to drink: so closely are they packed while thus engaged, that I have heard of dozens of them being killed by the single discharge of a gun. Its powers of flight are so rapid as to be unequalled by those of any member of the group to which it belongs; an impetus being acquired by a few quick flaps of the wings, it goes skimming off apparently without any further movement of the pinions. Upon alighting on a branch it elevates its tail and throws back its head, so as to bring them nearly together, at the same time erecting its crest and showing itself off to the utmost advantage. I met with the nest of this species in a low tree, on the great plain near Gundermein on the Lower Namoi, on the twenty-third of December 1839; like that of the other species of Pigeon, it was a slight structure of small twigs, and contained two white eggs, which were one inch and a quarter long and nearly an inch broad, upon which the female was then sitting. The sexes are alike in plumage.