PTILOFUS. 97 



Order COLUMB.^. 



Family TRERONID^. 

 Sub-family PTILOPODIN^. 



Ptilopus swainsoni. 



SWAINSON'S FKUIT-PIGEOX. 



I'/i/ii/(j/iits sirainsonii, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soe , 1S42, p. IS ; if/., lids. Austr., fol. V^ol. Vll., pi. 55 

 (1S4S); Id., Handhk. Bds. Austr., Vol. II., p. In6(l.s65). 



I'/i/opiif: .^inainsoiii, Salvad., Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XXI., p, 95 (IS93j; Sharpe, Haiid-1. Bds., 

 Vol. 1., p. 57 (1899). 



Adult .m.^lk. — Grmra/ cu/our abore green, sltylitlj icaslied iviUi iieUuiv, the scapulars liavhuj u 

 ileep blue spot tuirards t/ir tips: hind-neck greyish-greeit; ivings green, the secondaries externally edged 

 ■iiHth )je.lhj)r ; tnil-Jeathers ijree'n, broadli/ margined ivith yellow at the lip, the central pair having the tips 

 K-ashi'd with green ; forehead ami crvn-ii of the head rose-pink, narroirly margined, except in front, 

 tritlt yellotc, the feathers on the occiput and nape haring a bluish-grey shade, which becomes more 

 prouonnc d on the sides of the liead : chin and centre of tlie throat yelloudsh : fori-neck and breast 

 pale (/rem nnth silvery-grey tips, ivhich are smaller on the lower portion of the breast; abdomen 

 orange, S'-parated from the latter in, the centre by a transverse lilac band or spot : centre of the loiver 

 portion iif the nhdomen and venAyllow : under (ail-coverts orange. Total length ',_t-5 incites, wing 

 •7-;.', tail -ij, hill n-^;^ farsns OS.'i. 



Adult FKMALK. — Similar in plnmnge to the nialf. 



Distribntuin. — Queensland, New South Wales, Islands of Torres Strait. 



tr?^ \\'.\INSON'S B'ruit-Pi.qeon is a migratory species, appearing in the coastal scrubs and 

 V — 7 lirushes and contiguous mountain ranges of Eastern Australia in September or October, 

 remaining to breed, and leaving after the season is over at the end of February or March. Its 

 normal range in Australia e.\tends in favourable situations from Cape York in North-eastern 

 (Queensland to the Bellinger River in New South Wales; it also occurs on some of the larger 

 islands of Torres Strait, and as a straggler to the soutli-eastern portion of New Guinea. During 

 the voyage of H.M.S. " Alert," specimens were obtained by Dr. Coppinger at Booby Island, 

 Torres Strait, also Prince of Wales Island and Thursday Island. In Oueensland it has been 

 procured by many collectors at Cape York, Mr. F. Hislop has observed it in limited numbers 

 in the liloomfield River District, Messrs. E. f. Cairn and Robert Grant obtained specimens 

 near Cairns, and Dr. E. P. Ramsay at Cardwell, where in all these localities it is regarded as 

 a comparatively rare species. Further south, at Port Denison, it is more freely distributed, the 

 late Mr. J. Rainbird procuring many adults and young. The late Mr. George Barnard obtained 

 it near Rockhampton, and the late Mr. George Masters, collecting on behalf of the Trustees of 

 the Australian Museum, obtained numerous e.xamples at Pine Mountain, Wide Bay and Moreton 

 Bay. It is still more common in the coastal brushes of the Tweed, Brunswick- and Richmond 

 Rivers, in North-eastern New South Wales, the stronghold of this species, and from those 

 districts is a fine series of skins in the Australian Museum Collection ; it occurs also 

 throughout the Clarence, Bellinger, and Macleay, becoming rarer as the Hunter River is 

 approached. 



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