254 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA, 
The billis very similar to those of the preceding genera, but stouter, the dertrum 
a little more swollen, and less deflexed, the gonys scarcely angulated and little 
ascending, the interramal space anteriorly unfeathered. 
The wing is very long, with the first primary longest, the secondaries short and 
none of the primaries showing any scalloping either on the outer or inner webs. 
The tail is very short, composed of fourteen rectrices, not very broad, with rounded 
tips and forming a rounded wedge, less than half the length of the wing, The upper 
tail-coverts are very long, reaching almost to the end of the tail while the under tail- 
coverts are as long as the tail itself. The legs are short and very stout, the front of 
the tarsus covered with two rows of strong hexagonal scales, the sides and back 
with very fine reticulations, the tarsus a little longer than the culmen. The toes 
rather slender, the middle toe longest, the inner longer than the outer, the hind-toe 
with a scant lateral margin and comparatively shorter but with a very long claw 
similar to the long claws of the anterior toes, narrow and little curved but not 
flattened. 
Coloration upper sandy-reddish to brown, wing-feathers pale grey, under- 
surface blue; eye, fore-head and spot on chest white; top of head, cheeks and 
throat black ; metallic spot on inner secondaries ; female not so boldly marked. 
172. Histriophaps histrionicaa—FLOCK-PIGEON. 
Gould, Vol. V., pl. 66 (pt. .), March Ist, 1841. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 3, pl. 37, April 29th, 
1911. 
Columba (Peristera) histrionica Gould, Birds Austr., pt. 1., March Ist, 1841; Liverpool 
Plains, New South Wales (interior). 
Phaps histrionica alisteri Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 189, Jan. 31st, 1912: Parry’s 
Creek, North-west Australia. 
DistrIBUTION.—New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, North-west Australia. 
Adult male——General colour above, including the entire back, wings, and tail 
sandy-brown ; marginal coverts round the bend of the wing, bastard-wing, and 
primary-coverts blue-grey, more or less margined with white on the outer webs ; 
primary-quills pale grey with sandy edges and white tips to all but the outer two, 
inner webs rufous with the exception of the first quill, outer secondary-quills grey, 
darker towards the tips, inner ones sandy on the outer webs with a metallic-purple 
and green gloss followed by grey and an ovate spot of white ; middle tail-feathers 
like the back, the outer feathers grey, with a dark, subterminal band and tipped with 
white, sometimes in the form of a spot, some of the lateral ones sandy on the outer 
webs ; sides of face, ear-coverts and crown of head black; fore-head, lores, a line 
behind the eye, almost enclosing the ear-coverts, and a patch on the lower throat 
pure white ; fore-neck, breast, and abdomen blue-grey, like the axillaries and under 
wing-coverts ; lower flanks sandy-brown, becoming paler on the shorter under 
tail-coverts, the long ones grey, with sandy-white tips ; quills pale brown, with a 
patch of chestnut towards the base ; bill brown; iris dark brown; tarsi and feet 
in front leaden-blue, back of tarsi flesh-red. Total length about 317 mm. ; culmen 
24, wing 198, tail 83, tarsus 26. 
Adult female.—Differs from the adult male in having the entire upper-parts, 
including the head, darker sandy-brown, as also a wide greyish-brown band on the 
fore-neck and breast, the black on the chin and throat only faintly indicated, and 
the fore-head inclining to whitish ; wing-speculum very faintly indicated and the 
white tips to the primaries absent. Total length about 303 mm.; culmen 24, 
wing 190, tail 83, tarsus 26. 
Immature male.—Similar to the adult female but with the fore-part of the 
head white, as in the male, and with the white spots and white tips to the primaries. 
Immature female —Differs from the adult in having the wing-coverts and tips 
