266 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
purple band on the breast, which is green like the throat ; the orange-red patch on. 
the hind-neck and mantle, which is like the back ; the magenta of the head is replaced 
by a purplish-black spot on the occiput; and the blue shoulder patch of the male 
is absent; bill dark indigo-blue ; iris light yellow; feet scarlet. Total length 
212 mm.; culmen, 17, wing 128, tail 59, tarsus 17. 
Young female of the year—Like the adult female, but the occipital spot is 
represented only by a patch of darker green. 
Young female.—Is green above, including the head, with a certain amount of 
coppery reflections, and with pale narrow margins to the feathers on the lower back, 
rump and upper tail-coverts, as also the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts ; median 
and greater coverts more broadly margined with yellow, like the innermost 
secondaries ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills blackish, the latter narrowly 
edged with white on the outer webs ; middle tail-feathers golden-brown, the outer 
feathers being darker with whitish tips ; throat grey ; fore-neck and chest, as also 
the sides of neck and sides of body, green, with pale edges to the feathers ; abdomen 
and under tail-coverts white, more or less, washed with yellow ; under wing-coverts 
dark green, with pale yellowish margins ; under aspect of quills lead-grey. 
The young resemble those of P. swainsoni, particularly in having narrow 
yellow margins to the primaries and secondaries, and to the tips of the feathers 
on the chest and breast; they do not show the forked or split feathers on those 
parts before the end of the second year, although the green bands on the flanks are 
conspicuous in the nestling, 
Nest.—A platform, about three inches in diameter, composed of a few twigs. 
Usually situated in scrub or in a small tree at a height of two to ten feet from the 
ground, 
Eggs.—Clutch, one usually (sometimes two); elliptical in form; texture of 
shell somewhat fine, excepting the smaller end, which is slightly granular ; surface 
glossy ; colour white ; slightly toned, or of a faint creamy tint; axis 29-31 mm., 
diameter 22 mm. 
Breeding-season.—October to February, 
Distribution and forms.—Through the Moluccas and New Guinea and ranging 
down the East Coast of Australia, but as yet no definite subspecies have been 
determined. 
Genus MEGALOPREPIA. 
Megaloprepia Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel, p. xxv1., 1852 (? 1853). Type (by original 
designation) : Columba magnifica Temminck. 
Large Fruit Pigeons with medium bills, long wings, very long tail and small legs 
and feet. The bill is broader basally than any of the preceding, the tip strongly 
deflected, no marked dertrum noticeable ; the culmen ridge flattened posteriorly, 
anteriorly developed and decurved ; the nasal groove is long more than half the 
length, the nasal apertures linear and placed forwards in the groove, the nasal 
covering delicate and unswollen, though the bill is broad at base; the frontal 
feathers extend a little on the bill, the skull apparently very flattened ; the rami 
of the under mandible are a little bowed, the interramal space fully feathered, the 
gonys very short and sharply angulated. The wing is long and pointed, the first 
primary not at all scalloped, the succeeding four a little incised on outer webs, 
the feathers broad ; the first primary is equal to the sixth, the fourth the longest, 
the third and fifth subequal and very little shorter, the second scarcely less than the 
fifth ; the secondaries short. The tail is rounded, composed of fourteen broad 
feathers with rounded tips, and is three-quarters the length of the wing ; the upper 
and under tail-coverts are short, only about one-third the length of the tail. The 
tarsus is stout but very short, only about the length of the culmen ; the lower portion 
