OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 373 



C. luctuosa the feathers of the thighs and the under tail coverts end 

 in deep black, and the outer tail feather is white throughout, 

 except in the outer web neai-est the base." Well, this may or 

 may not be the case; I am inclined to think it is altogether 

 incorrect, for on examining the white Carpophaga from New 

 Ireland I find that the flanks and under tail coverts end in black, 

 and the outer tail feather is blade at the tip, broadly on the inner 

 toeb, and extending in a narrow line along the margin of the outer 

 web for two-fifths (fths) of its length from the tip ; while in the 

 Queensland specimens (C. luctuosa, of Gould's Bds. of Australia), 

 the flanks and under tail coverts are spotted with black near the tip 

 (sometimes a distinct spot on either web, but more generally these 

 spots are confluent), and the outer tail feather on either side is 

 altogether white, except a stripe of black on the outer web about 

 the centre of the feather ; this black stripe is broad enough to 

 reach the shaft in some specimens, and this feather in others is also 

 margined more or less with black at the tip. These differences and 

 peculiarities are constant respectively in all the examples I have 

 examined. Moreover, in the New Ireland and Duke of York 

 Island birds (which I take to be the true C. luctuosa), the whole of 

 the plumage is, even in dried skins, suffused with rich cream colour 

 on the down next the body, some of the shafts of the tail feathers, 

 which are twelve in number, being of a rich yellowish tint, and 

 the wings are deep clear black. Now, in the Australian specimens, 

 and those from Port Moresby, in New Guinea, the wings are 

 mealy black, as if the black had been powdered over with a white 

 dust or powder, such as is found on the large white cockatoos 

 (C. galerita), and the tint of the down and concealed parts of the 

 feathers is of a rosy salmon tinge, and only noticeable in freshly- 

 killed specimens ; in the dried skins there is no trace of it after 

 a few months ; tail feathers, fourteen. 



Dr. G. R. Grey remarks * that " Carpophaga (Myristicivora) 

 melanura 0) differs from Carpophaga luctuosa as described and 

 figured by Temmink, pi. col. 247, in having the tail of a more 



* P. Z. S., 1860, p. 361. 



