the Genus Macropygia. 215 



At the outset the student of Macropygia is apt to be per- 

 plexed by the great variations in plumage in the same species. 

 On closer examination, however, it will be found that this diffi- 

 culty is more apparent than real, and that the plumages con- 

 form to a fairly definite and uniform system. But although 

 this is so among specimens of the same species, a real difficulty 

 presents itself when the attempt is made to differentiate the 

 species themselves in an intelligible manner — so inconstant 

 are most of the characters to which many of them owe their 

 specific rank. 



It is generally in the treatment of immature specimens 

 that most difficulty is encountered ; and I would here like 

 to note that there are certain marks indicative of imma- 

 turity, some, or all of which, are to be invariably found in 

 birds under a certain age. Of these I may mention black 

 bases to the feathers of the head, excess of rufous, especially 

 on the tips of the wing-coverts, secondaries, and tertiaries, 

 black or blackish feathers on the breast with rufous tips and 

 sometimes rufous centres, and a white or whitish chin and 

 throat, or the feathers of these parts having white shafts. 



I find that the species, with a very few exceptions, natu- 

 rally fall into several well-marked groups. In some of 

 these groups the sexes differ, but in others they are alike. 

 The rule holds good, I think, with two exceptions, that when 

 the plumage of the adult is more or less of a uniform colour 

 (as in M . phasianella and M. magna), the sexes are alike, 

 whereas in the groups in which the adult males are parti- 

 coloured (as in M. tusalia and M. amboinensis) the sexes 

 differ. 



The genus Macropygia, Swainson, is confined to the 

 Oriental and Australian Regions of Mr. Wallace (' Geogr. 

 Distrib. Animals'). Its known range is from Nepal on the 

 north and west, to the New Hebrides on the east, and the 

 Australian continent on the south. 



In habits Macropygia is a Ground-Dove of a tame nature, 

 very partial to open glades and clearings in dense forest, 

 especially when covered with a secondary growth of low 

 scrubby jungle. It is generally found singly or in pairs, and 



q2 



