256 



NATURAL HlSronV OF lilUDS. 



in the will! juiink's ami thick, damp forests, fuutls on fruits, and will readily eat 

 plantains in confinement. The top of the head and side of the neck are ash-gray; the 

 neck and lireasi liritjlit yellow trreen ; abdomen bright yellow in the middle; there is 

 a jiale yellow bar across the wing, the ii))per parts are green; the tail ash-gray above, 

 tinged with green, iinder-coverts maroon with white tips. T. sphenurus has a wedge- 

 shaped elongated tail, with the usual green plumage, but the breast is brightly tini;ed 

 with orange buff. The male has a very agreeable note, prolonged antl musical, having 

 some resemblance to the hinn:iii voice in singing. It is a native of the Himmalehs. 



T.faloicollis fi-om Ma- 

 lacca and IJorneo, dif- 

 fers from the other 

 species by having the 

 head and neck chestnut. 

 The genus Drepa- 

 noptihis, with one sjie- 

 cies, D. holosericeus, 

 from Xew Caledonia, 

 is remarkable chiefly 

 for the peculiar shape 

 of tlie tijis of the wing 

 feathers, which have 

 the outerwebs notched, 

 andgraduatedtoa point 

 beyond the shaft and 

 se])arate from the inner 

 webs. The j)lumage of 

 the species calls to mind 

 that of the members of 

 the genus Ptiloptts in 

 which this bird has been 

 fre(|uently included. 

 The general color is 

 green, throat white, 

 five silver-gray bars 

 cross the wing, one 

 reaching the back : a 

 similar bar crosses the 

 tail ; a yellow band and 

 a black one traverse the breast. Middle of breast and abdomen greenish yellow; rest 

 of under jiarts bright yellow. A peculiar character of this bird is found in the u|iper 

 tail-coverts, which are very numerous and long, ami regularly jilaced one over the 

 other, causing this part to be unusually (hick. 



We now reach the great genus Ptilopiis, containing between seventy and eighty 

 species, or over one fourth of .all known ])igeoiis. The genus, like manv others in the 

 order C'olumba', has been divided into many genera u|)on various |>retexts, more or 

 less j)lausii)le, Imt none are of sufficient importance to make their retention necessary. 

 The birds of this genus are dispersed throughout the islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, 

 Philipi)iues, Moluccas, Papuan, and the various archi])elagos and islands of the Pacific 



riG. l--t. — iitron (raoVii, grceD-plgeuu. 



