490 Mr. J. Whitehead on Birds 



Mr. Grant has put my Negros specimens down in his list 

 (Ibis, 1896_, p. 564) as belonging to this species. The Negros 

 birds are, however, quite distinct from P. carola of Luzon 

 and Mindoro. 



This and the following species should, I think, be separated 

 from the genus Carpophaga, not only on account of the 

 peculiar scooping-out of the inner web of the wing-feathers, 

 but also because in true Carpophaga the sexes resemble each 

 other, which in Ptilocolpa they do not. 



Iris pale whitish yellow; orbital skin greenish blue; 

 nostrils scarlet-pink ; bill tipped with white ; feet coral-pink. 



296. Ptilocolpa nigrorum Whitehead. (Ibis, 1897, 

 p. 439.) 



Ptilocolpa carola Grant (nee Bonap.), Ibis, 1896, p. 564. 



When camped just below the bare cone of Canloon (the 

 great active volcano in Central Negros), for several mornings 

 just after sunrise a peculiar rushing sound, like the distant 

 whiz of rockets, passed over our camp. Knowing such a 

 sound could be caused only by the swift passage of a flock of 

 birds, one morning I started just before daylight, and in less 

 than twenty minutes reached the open mountain-side above 

 tree-limit. Shortly a flock of Pigeons came over the moun- 

 tain some 1000 feet above me, and dived down the mountain- 

 side at a terrific pace. I had no doubt at the time that they 

 were a flock of P. carola. On shooting a male some morn- 

 ings later, the black patch on the crop-region struck me as 

 peculiar, but having no specimens with which to compare it, 

 I doubted the probability of meeting with a new species of 

 the genus in Negros, and thought no more about it until 

 after my return to England, when, on comparing the Negros 

 and Luzon birds, the difi"erence was obvious. 



The curious habit of these Pigeons in passing over the 

 mountain daily at a fixed time I could not account for, 

 except that perhaps they roosted at a great elevation, or 

 that they worked round the base of the volcano during the 

 day, crossing the mountain to make the journey shorter. 

 The presence of a nesting pair of Peregrines {Falco ernesti) 



