RASORES. 139 



Genus OCYPHAPS, Gould. 



A genus consisting of a single species whose natural habitat 

 is the interior of Australia, over the vast expanse of which its 

 long pointed wings enable it to pass at pleasure from one 

 district to another whenever a scarcity of food prompts it so 

 to do : although mainly terrestrial in its habits, it is more fre- 

 quently seen on the trees than the members of the genus 

 Phaj)s. 



Sp. 469. OCYPHAPS LOPIIOTES. 



Crested Bronze- wing. 



Columba lophotes, Temm. PI. Col, 142. 



The Crested Pigeon of the Marshes, Start's two Exp. to tlie interior of 



Southern Australia, vol. i. pi. in p. 24. 

 Turtur ? lophotes, Selby, Nat. Lib. Orn., vol. v. Pigeons, p. 174, pi. 18. 



Ocyphaps lophotes, Gould, Birds of Australia, fol., vol. v. pi. 70. 



The chasteness of its colouring, the extreme elegance of its 

 form, and the graceful crest which flows from its occiput, all 

 tend to render this Pigeon one of the most lovely members of 

 its family, and it is therefore to be regretted that, owing to its 

 being exclusively an inhabitant of the plains of the interior, 

 it can never become an object of general observation. 



As might be supposed, this bird has attracted the notice of 

 all the travellers who have crossed the " Blue Moimtains ;" 

 Captain Sturt mentions it as being numerous on the plains of 

 Wellington valley, and in the neighbourhood of the Morum- 

 bidgee. The locality nearest the coast-line that I know it to 

 inhabit is the country near the bend of the river Murray in 

 South Australia, where it is tolerably abundant ; it abounds on 

 the banks of the Namoi, and is occasionally seen on the Liver- 

 pool Plains. It frequently assembles in very large flocks, and 

 when it visits the lagoons or river-sides for water, during the 



