Moreover,
it fattens on such diet, but still the wonder grows at the happy
provision which enables nuts proportionately of such enormous size to be
swallowed by the bird, and ejected with ease after the pulp or flesh has
been assimilated. As the birds alight on the island after their flight
from the mainland, a portion of the contents of the crop seems to be
expelled. A shower of nuts and seeds comes pattering down through the
leaves to the ground as each company finds resting-place. Perhaps those
only who are suffering from uncomfortable distention so relieve
themselves. The balance of the contents of the crops seem to go through
the ordinary process of digestion. Thus, by the medium of the pigeons,
there is a systematic traffic in and interchange of seeds between the
mainland and the islands. The nutmeg pigeon resorts to islands where
there is no fresh water, and builds a rude platform of twigs, and
occasionally of leaves, on all sorts of trees, in all sorts of
localities. Palms and mangroves, low bushes, rocky ledges, saplings, are
all favoured, no particular preference being shown. It rears generally
two, but sometimes three young, one at a time, during the long breeding
season, which continues from the end of September until the end of
January, and for each successive egg a fresh carpet of twig or leaves is
spread.
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