The WONGA-WONGA PIGEON (_Leucosarcia picata_) is of a greyish hue on the
mantle, and white on the brow, throat, and under side. The sides of the
head are light grey; the bridles, a triangular patch and two broad lines
on the upper part of the head are black; the feathers on the sides of the
belly are decorated with dark, triangular, metallic spots; the anterior
wing-feathers are brown, the outer tail-feathers white at the tip, and the
feathers of the lower tail-covers dark brown, becoming lighter towards
their tips; the eye is dark brown, the beak purplish black, and the foot
of a reddish shade. The length of this species is fifteen inches; the wing
measures seven inches and a half, and the tail five inches and a quarter.
The Wonga-wonga Pigeon is an inhabitant of Australia, where, however,
seeing its value as an article of food, it is by no means so plentiful as
could be wished.
"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.