CIO 



Family IV. GOURID.E*. 



1. GOURAt. 



Type. 



Lophyrus, Vieill. Analyse, p. 49 (1816) (nee Latreille, 



1802) G. coronata. 



Goura, Steph. Gen. Zool. xi. p. 119 (1819) } G. coronata. 



Megapelia, lump, Das Thierr. system, beschr. ii. p. 47 



(1836) G. coronata. 



Ptilophyrus, Sw. Class. B. ii. p. 349 (1837) G. coronata. 



Range. Confined to the Papuan Islands. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Feathers of the crest with the webs entirely 

 loose. 

 a. Underneath greyish blue ; band across the 

 back chestnut, like the tips of the upper 

 wing-coverts ; wing-speculum white .... coronata, p. 620. 

 //. Breast purple-chestnut ; back greyish blue. 

 a 1 '. Smaller wing-coverts chestnut ; wing- 

 speculum white sclateri, p. 622. 



b". Smaller wing-coverts greyish blue. 



a'". Larger; wing-speculum whitish grey, albertisii, p. 623. 

 b'". Smaller; wing-speculum darker, bluish 



grey scheepmaheri, p. 623. 



* Confer Sclater (Ibis, 1868, p. 407), Sundevall (Meth. nat. Av. disp. Tent, 

 p. 101), and Goodehild (P. Z. S. 188(5, p. 193), who have expressed the opinion 

 that the Crown-Pigeons ought to be separated from the normal Pigeons as a 

 distinct family (Gouridse). Sclater mentioned the very peculiar conformation 

 of the tarsi, which are covered all over with hexagonal, nearly rounded scu- 

 telhe, and Goodehild has summarized other differences as follows: — 1st, in the 

 normal Pigeons an oil-gland is present, but is absent in Goura ; 2nd, in the 

 normal Pigeons the tail-feathers are 12 in number, while there are 16 in 

 Goura ; 3rd, in the normal Pigeons the pterylosis is Columbine, but is Galline 

 in Goura (!); 4th, in the normal Pigeons ca?ca are present, but are absent in 

 Goura ; 5th, in the normal Pigeons a gall-bladder is present, no gall-bladder 

 in Goura ; 6th, in the normal Pigeons incubation lasts 16 days, but extends to 

 28 days in Goura. 



Besides, it is worth while noticing that Huxley (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 302) found 

 the vertebral formula of ordinary Pigeons to be : — Cervicals fourteen, dorsals 

 five, lumbars three, sacrals and uro-sacrals ten, and free caudals six; while 

 Goura coronata has cervicals fifteen or sixteen, dorsals four or three, sacrals and 

 uro-sacrals twelve, and free caudals six. 



Prof. Parker (Tr. Zool. Soc. v. p. 151) has noticed in Goura, as in Dodo and 

 Didunculits, that the "pedicles of the embryonic skull-bone become arrested in 

 the course of their growth." 



t Some fossil remains have been described as belonging to a bird con- 

 sidered to be an Australian ancestor of Goura; and this bus been named Pro- 

 (/uni (lege Progoura?) gallinacea, De Vis, Pr. R. Soc. Queensl. v. pp. 127-131 

 (1888). 



| Stephens attributes the genus Goura to Teuiminck. 



