of the Genus Haplopelia. 9 



An examination of the females showed^ however, that the 

 hen bird 



in H. s. inornata has the under tail-coverts pale 



cinnamon, 

 in H. s. poensis „ „ „ g''ey, 



and in H. s. plumbescens „ „ ,-, white ; 



while the hen of//, s. hijpoleuca is not yet known. 



I am therefore compelled, somewhat reluctantly, to keep 

 these forms separate, and treat them as subspecies of 

 H. s. simplex. 



Haplopelia simplex simplex. 



Turtur simplex Hartl. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1849, p. 467 : 

 St. Thomas Island. 



Range, Restricted to St. Thomas Island, Gulf of Guinea. 



In 'The Ibis/ 1915, I published a paper on the Birds of 

 St. Thomas Island, the type-locality of H. s. simplex. On 

 page 119 of that volume I wrote : "A careful examination of 

 the series of H. simplex obtained in St. Thomas shows that 

 in adult examples, if the sexes have been correctly ascertained 

 by Alexander, males and females do not differ, and have the 

 same dark brown back washed with grey and grey under- 

 parts. Younger examples of both sexes have the upper- 

 parts more umber-brown and the underparts pale brown 

 tinged with rufous or buff.'' 



Since I wrote this, I have examined the whole genus 

 Haplopelia, and am now convinced that Alexander (or his 

 collector) made a mistake in determining the sex of specimens 

 Nos, 100 and 104, which he marked female, and which are 

 in grey plumage similar to the adult male. If I am correct 

 in this decision, then : — 



The adult male has the upperparts dark bronze-brown, 

 glossed with purple on the wings, back, • and rump ; the 

 mantle is glossed with bronze-green or pinkish-amethyst, 

 according to the reflections of the light on the feathers. 

 The sides of the neck are strongly washed with copper- 

 colour. The forehead is white, becoming greyer towards 

 the crown. The general colour of the underparts is grey^ 



