Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
or at a Christmas exhibition of the oxyhydrogen microscope. And all this excitement was
produced by a little pocket lens, an inch and a half focus, and therefore magnifying only
four or five times, but which to their unaccustomed eyes appeared to enlarge a hundredfold.
On the last day of my stay here, one of my hunters succeeded in finding and shooting the
beautiful Nicobar pigeon, of which I had been so long in search. None of the residents had
ever seen it, which shows that it is rare and shy. My specimen was a female in beautiful con-
dition, and the glossy coppery and green of its plumage, the snow-white tail and beautiful
pendent feathers of the neck, were greatly admired. I subsequently obtained a specimen in
New Guinea, and once saw it in the Kaióa islands. It is found also in some small islands
near Macassar, in others near Borneo; and in the Nicobar islands, whence it receives its
name. It is a ground feeder, only going upon trees to roost, and is a very heavy fleshy bird.
This may account for the fact of its being found chiefly on very small islands, while in the
western half of the Archipelago, it seems entirely absent from the larger ones. Being a
ground feeder it is subject to the attacks of carnivorous quadrupeds, which are not found in
the very small islands. Its wide distribution over the whole length of the Archipelago, from
extreme west to east, is however very extraordinary, since, with the exception of a few of
the birds of prey, not a single land bird has so wide a range. Ground-feeding birds are gener-
ally deficient in power of extended flight, and this species is so bulky and heavy that it ap-
pears at first sight quite unable to fly a mile. A closer examination shows, however, that its
wings are remarkably large, perhaps in proportion to its size larger than those of any other
pigeon, and its pectoral muscles are immense. A fact communicated to me by the son of my
friend Mr. Duivenboden of Ternate, would show that, in accordance with these peculiarities
of structure, it possesses the power of flying long distances. Mr. D. established an oil factory
on a small coral island, a hundred miles north of New Guinea, with no intervening land.
After the island had been settled a year, and traversed in every direction, his son paid it a
visit; and just as the schooner was coming to an anchor, a bird was seen flying from seaward
which fell into the water exhausted before it could reach the shore. A boat was sent to pick it
up, and it was found to be a Nicobar pigeon, which must have come from New Guinea, and
flown a hundred miles, since no such bird previously inhabited the island.
This is certainly a very curious case of adaptation to an unusual and exceptional necessity.
The bird does not ordinarily require great powers of flight, since it lives in the forest, feeds
on fallen fruits, and roosts in low trees like other ground pigeons. The majority of the indi-
viduals, therefore, can never make full use of their enormously powerful wings, till the ex-
ceptional case occurs of an individual being blown out to sea, or driven to emigrate by the
incursion of some carnivorous animal, or the pressure of scarcity of food. A modification
