‘A COLUMBIDAE 226 
Otidiphaps nobilis of Western New Guinea and Batanta, 0. cervi- 
calis of South-East New Guinea, and 0. insularis of Fergusson 
Island, are greenish-black, chestnut, and purple, with the bill red, 
the feet reddish with rough yellow scales, and the nape green, 
grey, and black respectively. They have no less than twenty 
rectrices, while the first two have an occipital crest. These 
Pigeons, said to resemble Megapodes in habits, frequent hills or 
dense thickets, often near the sea-coast, but are difficult of observa- 
tion, owing to their shyness; they run swiftly with erect out- 
spread tail, perch on low boughs, and have a harsh cry, varied by a 
plaintive note; the food consists of fruits, roots, and snails. The 
nest, containing one egg, is said to be placed at the foot of a tree. 
Starnoenas cyanocephala, of Cuba and the Florida Keys, is brown 
above and purplish-rufous below, with a blue crown surrounded 
by black, a black throat with a white basal line, a white stripe 
across each cheek, and red bill and feet varied with bluish. 
This bird, the “ Perdiz” of the Cubans, frequents wooded hills 
and has somewhat gallinaceous habits; the food consists of 
seeds, berries, and snails, the hollow note having the effect of ven- 
triloquism. Another long-legged, terrestrial genus from New 
Guinea is Hutrygon ; E. terrestris being olivaceous lead-coloured, 
with rufous outer margins to the brown remiges, while £. 
leucopareia has a reddish hue on the wing-coverts.  Leucosarcia 
picata, the white-fleshed Wonga-wonga of Eastern Australia, is 
blue-black with white forehead, pectoral band, and central 
abdomen. It inhabits the brushes, and feeds chiefly upon the 
ground on seeds, fruits, and insect-larvae; the flight is of short dura- 
tion and the habits somewhat Pheasant-like ; the nest is in a tree. 
Phlogoenas contains a score of members ranging from the Philip- 
pines and Timor to the Society Islands. P. /uzoniea of Luzon 
has purplish upper parts, a greyish-blue head, and yellowish- 
white lower parts, with a patch of stiff red decomposed feathers 
over the crop; the inner webs of the remiges are more or less 
rufous, a characteristic found also in Chalcopelia, Columbigallina, 
Scardafella, and Leptoptila, from very different parts of the 
world. P. rufigula, of New Guinea and the islands to the north- 
west, has the crop-patch yellowish-ochre ; P. ¢tristigma of North 
Celebes is perhaps most striking of all, with its yellow breast 
and forehead, green head, purple nape, and green and purple 
tints on the brown upper back; P. stairi of the Fiji and Tonga 
