FRUIT-PIGEONS. 



249 



makes no nest of any kind, and directly anyone ap- 

 proaches the sitting bird darts ott and flies away ae if 

 wounded, and is soon lost to sight; but Mr. Barnard 

 ^succeeded in .securing' one bird as it flew off its egg, 

 which was on a palm-leaf about 3ift. from the ground. 

 The egg is creamy-white and an elongated oval, and 

 measures 1.24 x 0.72 inch." 



An example of this extremely rare Fruit-Pigeon was 

 deposited at the London Zoological Society's Gardens on 

 August 17th, 1909. 



Be.\utifil FRriT-PiGEON (Plilopvs hellus). 



Bronzy green ; scapulars with Tounded ibluish-blaek 

 .<tpots in the middle; primaries dark greyLsh-greeii, 

 narrowly edged with wliite; secondaries and taiil- 

 feathers wiUi nan-ow yellow edges, the latter otherwise 

 gix>en; l>ack and sides" of head of a deeper and Ibrighter 

 green than the rest of the npi>ec surface ; front of head 

 and middle of lower hveast purpHsh-red ; a crescentiu 

 pectoral b;md, yellow in front and. wliite behind ; lower 

 aibdoraen and niider tail-coverts green with more or le.ss 

 yellow edges to the feaUiers; tail below dark grey, with 

 a pale gi'ey terminal band ; ball yellow ; feet dflo-k 

 carmine ; irides yellow. Female green ; crown and' sides 

 of head deeper" and brighter ; no blue-blaok spots on 

 the .scapulars ; no purple on the front of head aaid 

 middle of lower breast, and no crescentic bajid on the 

 <hest. Hab., New Guinea. 



Dr. Guillemard states (" Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1885, ]>. 658) that this fcird is not, as had 

 Ijeen previously supposed, confined' to the mountainous 

 districts. Tins is all I have come across respecting its 

 ■wild life. An e-xample was presented to the Zoological 

 Society of London by Sir William Ingram in July, 1908. 



Black-he.4J)ED Frtjit-Piceon 

 (Plilopus mflanocej]halus) . 



Green; primaries black on inner weibs, the first 

 primary slightly scalloped and narrowed at tip ; head 

 and neck ashy, with the back of head and neck black ; 

 chin and throat pale lemon-yellow ; vent and short under 

 tail-coverts yellow, long ones carmine ; edge of eyelids 

 pale yellow ; bill gi'eenish-yellow ; feet vinous-red : 

 irides wiith an outer ring of pale yellow, a middle one of 

 dark gi'ey, and an inner one of pale grey. Female 

 smaller than tlie male, the throat greyish ; the abdomen 

 broadly streaked longitudinally with ashy greyish, the 

 feathei's edged with yellow fringes; only tlie longest of 

 the imder tail-coverts carmine ; otherwise wholly green. 

 Hab., "Java, Flores, Sumbawa, Sumba, and Lombock." 

 (Salvador!.) 



Mr. H. O. Forbes -states {The Ih!s, 1881, p. 154):— 

 " Irides dark yellow ; cere round eye bright yellow. 

 Hard seeds of some species of Acacia in stomach. 

 ' He-kejoan. ' " 



The London Zoological Society purchased two females 

 of this species in 1865. a male in the year following, and 

 two other examples in 1872. Russ states that, it has 

 also been represented in the Amsterdam Gardems. 



Red-crowned Fruit-Pigeon 

 {AlectrcEiias pulcherrima). 

 Blue-black : the reflections beet marked on the back 

 and upper wing-coverts ; upper back grey ; wings and 

 tail black ; feathers of crown hairy and carmine ; sides 

 of head, neck, and upper breast grey, darkest on the 

 oar-coverts, the feathers locag and pointed ; vent and 

 under tail-coverts yellowish- white, the latter wit!i 

 longitudinal dark green spots on the inner webs ; naked 

 orbital .skin, lores, and wattles on sides of forehead 

 red ; bill dusky black, whitislh at tip ; feet greyish 

 "olive; irides red. Female very slightly smaller, her 



bill shorter and noticeably broader at base; the 

 plumage less lustrous, the blue reflections being less 

 pronounced. Hab., " Seychelles Islands— Mahi, Sil- 

 houette, Praslin, ilarianne, and Felioite." (Salvadori.) 



I have found no notes on the wild life, but it is 

 probable that, like A. sganzini, it is an unsuspicious 

 bird, and therefore easily shot, and that it feeds upon 

 wild figs. . ^ ^. 



According to Herr Blaauw, who possessed a pair of this 

 pigeon in 1883, its note is a deep murmur, or not unlike 

 the bark of a small dog, and sounds like u-ock^ wock. It 

 moves very awkwardly on the ground to which it does 

 not willingly descend". Two examples reached the 

 London Zoological Gardens in 1865, one in 1868, eight 

 in 1874, and four at least have been received subse- 

 quentlv : it first reached the Amsterdam Gardens in 

 1885, and Russ tells us that a pair existed in the Berlin 

 Gardens. 



Pacific Fbttit-Pigeon (Globicera pacifica). 



Above bronze-green, more or le.ss tinged with blue; 

 head and hind neck pale grey, the latter sharply defined 

 from the gi«en mantle ; margin of forehead and feathers 

 at base ot bill and chin whitish ; foi-e-neck, breast, and 

 abdomen pale vinous ; sides, flanks, and tibial feathers 

 grey, the last with a vinous tinge ; under tail-coverts 

 chestnut ; under wing-coverts asliy ; flights and tail 

 below brownish-black ; bill and ibasal knob black ; feet 

 red ; irides unknown. Female smaller than male, its 

 bill broader at the base, and possibly with a smaller 

 roughenetl knob at the base. Hab., Samoa Islands on 

 the eas;t to New Guinea. 



E. L. Layard says (" Pi'oceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1875, p. 438) : " This large Fruit-Pigeon is 

 not nearly so common as the two preceding " (C. 

 vitiensis and C. lafraiif), '"but it frequents similar 

 places, and cannot be distinguished from them bv voice 

 or appearance when at a distance. It breeds in Decem^- 

 ber, and its eggs, sent me from Wakaia, are pure white." 

 According to the Rev. S. J. Whitmee (t.c, p. 495), 

 the native name of the bird appears to be Luiie. 



Atxording to A. J. North ("(Records Australian 

 Mus. III.," n. 4, p. 85), this is the Fruit-Pigeon of 

 Funafuti. ,, 



In his " Ornithological Notes in the New Hebrides 

 {The Ibis, 1900, p. 607), Captain A. j\I. Farquhar, 

 R.N., says: "The forest here abounds in the fine 

 pigeon Globicera pacifica. the loud booming note of 

 which may be heard at a great distance. When looking 

 for smalfbirds, I found great difficulty in preventing 

 the natives taking me after these pigeons, as they could 

 not understand why I should trouble about such in- 

 significant little things as Honey-eaters, Flycatchers, 

 Zostercqjes, etc., when there was bigger game about. 

 Globicera pacHica has an cxtraordinaiy large lump at 

 the base of the bill. Later on, at Erromanga, I shot a 

 good many pigeons of this genus, and I then noticed 

 that the Erromanga bird differs considerably in colour- 

 ing, and that the lump on the bill is much smaller than 

 in Globi'-era jiacifica." . 



According to Col. Gudgeon {The Ibi-u 1905, p. 599), 

 " the native name of this Fruit-Pigeon is ' Rupe.' " It 

 will be noticed that Mr. Whitmee says it is "Liipe." 

 Mr. Scott B. Wilson, writing on '■ Birds of Tahiti and 

 the Society Group," calls it "Rupe," and he adds {The. 

 Ibis. 1907, p. 377) : " During my visit to the island 

 of Rarotonga I obtained several specimens. In their 

 ci-ops were banvan seedB, and I was told that they feed 

 on the wild plantain and the baJiana. I fear that this 

 bird is likelv to become e.xtinct shortly, as its flesh is 

 highly esteemed by the natives, particularly when made 

 into "eoup, while "wild cats and the frequent cyclones. 



