(67) fog and moist,cold upper atmosphere that causes this. Of all the altitude birds taken the pigeons are the most interesting because of their feeding habits,distribution,and beauty.They include some of the rarest birds taken.Only one species is a ground-feeder. There may be some species that we have missed,but I doubt it;remaining as long as we did in the Kupei camp we should have at least seen any that eventually might have escaped our eagle eyes.(In my subsequent visits to high land at other localities on the island I saw only one pigeon that we lack in the collection.It looked about the same size and build as the long-tailed dove,so much so that I did not offer at it.Then some natives who were with me informed me that it was not"bokute"but "nother fella- stop along ground,kai-kai along ground";this fellow and the common,chocolate-colored ground dove are not represented.)The most common above 3000 feet is the long-tailed or black-winged pigeon.I think it has been taken before on the larger islands of the Solomons.One does not fail to bring in a couple or more every day.They are in small flocks of ten or so and like the rest of the family are fruit eaters and very graceful in flight, often volplaning long distances.Their favorite food is a latge brownish- black berry,more of a nut perhaps,which is very plentiful and grows on fairly tall trees.As usual the whole fruit is swallowed and the pit and epidermis digested.I have not noted their call,but I have frequently heard a low,hollow cooing up in the tree tops, which must have been their work. It sounds just like the ordinary"baluse"or gray pigeon,which is not seen much above 2500 feet.The noise of the wing-beats is the best harbinger of their approach.On hearing the hunter in the bush as high up as they are they become wary and usually hop off,but invariably alight in a close-up tree,frequently returning to the same perch.Evidently another species or sub-species of this pigeon occurs which is similar in every respect except for its smaller size and yellow iris.The larger bird has an orange iris.This presented a puzzle for it is not at all common although inhabiting the same terrain.The real rare ones are the yellow-leg ground pigeon, the crested pigeon,and the white-throated pigeon,all found above 3500 feet We have taken four of the crested species and one of each of the other two.(Later we added another crested and one black-winged during the Balbi trip.)The ground pigeon I shot one rainy afternoon while coming down the mountain.It flew from somewhere behind me and wheeled off to my right. After a climb down the side of the ridge I saw it sitting on a large limb. We exchanged glances,the bird crooking its head around in a most querulous fashion.I mistook it for one of the red-knobbed until we got back to camp where the others quickly noted its marked differences that I had been too fed up to notice,particularly after I thought I had slid down the ridge to shoot a bird not desirable.Our experience with the crested pigeon has been like hunting some elusive wraith.G.R.,first saw one,whose mournful call we both had heard,and brought it down but minus the handsome tail.The call is a low,muted whistle with a rising and falling tone,then a short note following in the same key as the ending of the first.And it sounds much farther away than the bird actually is which deceived us at first.Certainly it is a remarkable bird with its fine tail and elongated crest.In Stewart's"Handbook of the Pacific it is mentioned as"extremely rare"(the long-tailed Turcaena crassirostris of Guadalcanal is also referred to as scarce and highly desirable to ornithologists- probably our "black-winged pigeon").It is among those birds hypothetically protected by the list made out years ago by former Resident Commissioner Woodford who collected insects primarily.The purpose was,no doubt,to keep planters from shooting them for kai-kai,but very few venture up to 3000 feet above