118 BIRDS or AUSTRALIA. 



space of the same colour, but hardly so bright ; bill bright 

 rose-red, inclining to lilac at the tip ; fleshy part covering the 

 nostrils and at the base of the lower mandible greenish lead- 

 colour in the male, and lead-colour in the female ; feet pur- 

 plish red ; back of the tarsi and sole of the feet greyish brown. 



Genus CHALCOPHAPS, Gould. 



A genus of Brush Pigeons, which seek their food on the 

 ground and live on the fallen seeds and berries they find there. 

 Two species inhabit Australia, one of which is confined to the 

 eastern and the other to the northern coast ; other species are 

 found in Java, Sumatra, and on the continent of India, the 

 whole forming a group well worthy of investigation. 



Sp. 459. CHALCOPHAPS CHRYSOCHLORA. 

 Little Green Pigeon. 



Colomba javanica , Temm. Les Pig., pi. 26, but. not the description 



(Bonaparte). 

 chrysochlora, Wagl. Syst. Av. Coluniba, sp. 79, but not the 



habitat (Bonaparte). 



Chalcophaps chrysochlora, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v. 

 pi. 62. 



The Little Green Pigeon is sparingly dispersed in all the 

 brushes of New South Wales, both those clothing the moun- 

 tain ranges as well as those near the coast ; how far it may 

 proceed northwards has not yet been ascertained. The brushy 

 districts are the localities peculiarly adapted to it, and these 

 I believe it never leaves for the more open parts of the country; 

 hence it is but little known to, and seldom seen by, the colo- 

 nists, a circumstance the more to be regretted, as the beauty 

 and brilliancy of its plumage and the neatness of its form ren- 

 der it one of the prettiest of the Australian birds. When 

 flushed, it flies very quickly through the scrub, but to no great 



