256 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



in the wild jungles and thick, damp forests, feeds on fruits, and will readily eat 

 plantains in confinement. The top of the head and side of the neck are ash-gray ; the 

 neck and breast bright yellow green ; abdomen bright yellow in the middle ; there is 

 a pale yellow bar across the wing, the upper parts are green ; the tail ash-gray above, 

 tinged with green, tinder-coverts maroon with white tips. T. splienurus has a wedge- 

 shaped elongated tail, with the usual green plumage, but the breast is brightly tinged 

 with orange buff. The male has a very agreeable note, prolonged and musical, having 

 some resemblance to the human voice in singing. It is a native of the Himmalehs. 



T. fidvicollis from Ma- 



^^Oftt^ lacca and Borneo, dif- 



fers from the other 

 species by having the 

 head and neck chestnut. 

 The genus TJrepa- 

 noptiluS) with one spe- 

 cies, D. holosericeus, 

 from New Caledonia, 

 is remarkable chiefly 

 for the peculiar shape 

 of the tips of the wing 

 feathers, which have 

 the outer webs notched, 

 and graduated to a point 

 beyond the shaft and 

 separate from the inner 

 webs. The plumage of 

 the species calls to mind 

 that of the members of 

 the genus Ptilopus in 

 which this bird has been 

 frequently included. 

 The general color is 

 green, throat white. 

 Five silver-gray bars 

 cross the wing, one 

 reaching the back : a 

 similar bar crosses the 

 tail ; a yellow band and 



a black one traverse the breast. Middle of breast and abdomen greenish yellow ; rest 

 of under parts bright yellow. A peculiar character of this bird is found in the upper 

 tail-coverts, which are very numerous and long, and regularly placed one over the 

 other, causing this part to be unusually thick. 



We now reach the great genus Ptilopus, containing between seventy and eighty 

 species, or over one fourth of all known pigeons. The genus, like many others in the 

 order Columbaa, has been divided into many genera upon various pretexts, more or 

 less plausible, but none are of sufficient importance to make their retention necessary. 

 The birds of this genus are dispersed throughout the islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, 

 Philippines, Moluccas, Papuan, and the various archipelagos and islands of the Pacific 



FIG. 123. Treron waalti, green-pigeon. 



